I am convinced that a hobby helps to complete our enjoyment of life, and to me, there is no more safe, sane hobby than a garden, for the love of gardening is a seed that, once sown, grows to an increasing and enduring source of happiness.
Flowers are precious things to be cherished in our minds and hearts, and of all the flowers, none, to me, is more worthy of recognition than the iris.
My interest in growing blooming iris commenced over 30 years ago. Since then, I have become increasingly interested in the iris and have grown all the hardy types of this family in New England. Bearded Kinds
Looking back to the early days of growing the bearded iris, it is hard to realize what great strides have been made in their improvement. Often visitors in my garden say, “What fertilizer do you use to make the iris blossoms so large?
My iris have much smaller flowers.” little do they realize the years of patient breeding that hybridizers have carried on to produce the modern bearded iris.
The older iris are far removed from the beautiful ones of today with their large flowers, transparent colors, firm substance, and well-branched stalks.
It is fascinating to observe this newer iris’s development and note the various lines of approach many of the hybridizers are following in creating unique colors and forms.
The rich pink iris with their tangerine beards was an entirely new break in color; we now have very pure whites, and the blues are rapidly approaching true blue that is so much needed in our gardens.
The reds and yellows have been greatly clarified, and great strides have been made in the larger flowered amoenas with their white standards and darker falls.
Related: Lengthening Iris Season
Oncocyclus Hybrids
Particularly notable is the group known as the oncocyclus hybrids. These are large-flowered crosses of our well-known bearded iris with Asiatic species that have oddly shaped blooms and unusual markings.
Since these are not hardy in many parts of the country, most of the preliminary breeding was done on the Pacific coast.
From this work, hybridizers have produced a new race of bearded iris with exotic-looking blooms that are hardy and good growers in all parts of the country.
Dwarf Forms
Dwarf bearded iris is most happy and refreshing with their early bloom. They benefit the rock garden or bordering a path interspersed among the crocuses and other early-flowering bulbs.
The Fall-blooming bearded iris is the last to flower, and while most of them are not as large as the tall bearded, if given fertilizer and water during the Summer, they will provide plenty of bloom until taken by the frost.
Louisiana Species
The bearded iris is best known to the average gardener. Still, the beardless group has many delightful forms, and none is more distinctive and lovely than the Louisiana beardless species and their hybrids.
These iris have an exciting history; for many years, they remained almost unknown, but species and natural hybrids were found growing in the bayous and swamps. The best of these iris were collected and brought into Southern gardens. In recent years, extensive breeding has been carried on.
Never will I forget my first sight of them blooming in great profusion. Imagine a sparkling planting with flowers of white, blue, pink, mauve, copper, yellow, and velvety red; their tones of color varied but always harmonious. The beauty of these flowers reminds me of the Japanese iris.
The Louisiana iris are delightful when planted around a pool or in half shady places, and as cut flowers are ideal for flower arrangement. They flower after the bearded iris and prolong the season. A Winter covering of peat moss or marsh hay makes them hardy in New England.
The spuria iris, in many ways, resembles an orchid, and the flowers are often used for corsages. These iris are not well known but are rapidly increasing in popularity, and the newer ones are a welcome addition to the beardless class.
Significant improvements have been accomplished in size and form; this has been done by crossing the older hybrids and species. Now we have these beautiful butterfly-like blue, white, yellow, and bronze flowers. They are very hardy and bloom after the bearded iris.
Siberian Hybrids
The Siberian iris is an old standby in the garden, thoroughly hardy and dependable bloomers. Although the flowers are not large, they give a maximum of clustered bloom early in June and are the best known of the beardless iris.
A most exciting group, it contained only blues, whites, and purples for many years. Modern varieties have been developed with larger flowers and new colors.
For The Rock Garden
They are fairy-like flaring flowers about four inches in height and are ideal for tucking in the rock garden.
Someone has said that “colors are the smiles of nature,” and I believe this applies especially to the iris family; for what other groups of perennials do we have with such diversity of form, color, and length of blooming season starting with the early dwarf kinds and ending with the fall kinds.
Each year, as I see the new iris, I am more and more impressed with the splendid work in breeding better flowers that are being done throughout the country, and this, to me, is a sure sign of the great continued interest in the iris.
By N Nesmith
14134 by NA