No matter where you garden, in the cool North, or humid South, California, Connecticut, or Colorado, there is a native iris that will be happy with you because it is either indigenous to your region or able to adapt itself well enough to it.
Native iris fall into either the beardless or crested divisions. Except for one tiny semi-exception, none are bearded.
They generally thrive on moderate amounts of moisture, mulch, and manure. They have no objection to acid soil as most of them have become accustomed to it in the wild.
Delta Iris
Not all American iris are little. However, one of the most popular can hold its own, in height and size of bloom, with wide spectacular bearded varieties.
This is the Louisiana or Delta iris. Varieties of this group are either natural hybrids (of species like fuiva, foliosa, giganticaerulea), which have been collected by plant hunters and named, or offspring bred from collected plants.
Their group names indicate that the Louisianas are from the southern swamps. This might make you think they are tender and will not grow in the North or a dry climate.
Surprisingly, many have proved themselves perfectly hardy in mile-high, dry Colorado and states as far north as Minnesota.
If you live in the South, where tall bearded iris does not flourish, you are probably already growing Louisianas.
Older Yet Dependable Varieties
If you live in the North and want to grow a few, you will find several of the older, less expensive varieties quite dependable.
Among others, you can order with confidence are
- The dark purple Dorothea K. Williamson, on the market and a favorite these 40 years,
- Soft orchid Mary Love
- Fulvous pink Cajun Joyeuse
- Beautiful orchid-pink Mary Swords deBaillon
- The rich red-purple Haile Selassie
Newer Varieties
Feeling adventurous, you might try some of the newer ones like the following:
- The large black-violet The Kahn with the orange signal patch,
- Pink and yellow Caroline Dormon rose and
- Copper Saucy Minx.
All these have won awards and done well in various parts of the U.S.
No More Difficulties With Louisiana
Louisianas are no more difficult than any worthwhile perennial. Just remember the three Ms:
- Moisture
- Mulch
- Manure
Put plants in the border (they do not have to have a pool or stream), water them as you water your lawn, mulch once or twice a year with your favorite material, and give them cow manure or a reasonable substitute.
A dressing of iron sulfate, applied once or twice a year, will modify soil if it is too alkaline for them.
Other American iris you can grow exactly the way you do the Louisianas are the water Iris versicolor (pseudacorus is the European water iris), virginica, setosa, prismatica, and cristata.
Claret Cup “Kermesina”
Claret Cup (also known as kermesina) is a particularly charming versicolor variety.
The clump beside my little pool gives wine-colored blooms freely every summer in late June and early July, though, here in Denver, Colo., it is far from its native habitat, the marshlands of the East.
This little plant, bought some years ago, has given many seeds which germinate readily and make new plants.
Growing Kermesina From Seeds
To grow iris of any kind from seed, sow as soon as seeds ripen, about an inch deep in peat moss, and keep the seed bed moist at all times.
If shoots come up in the fall, place a protective mulch of peat moss around them (to prevent the soil from freezing and thawing and heaving them up in winter).
But chances are shot won’t come until next spring and, like many perennials, will need at least another year’s growth before they really begin to bloom.
Iris Virginica
Despite its name, Iris virginica is not a Virginian alone. It ranges from Illinois to Louisiana.
Slender, graceful, and over 2’ feet tall, it has glossy foliage and fragrant lavender flowers. It, like most other Americans, needs a moist location.
Iris Setosa
Iris setosa is interesting in that it occurs in the northernmost parts of both old and new worlds, in Asia, as well as in Alaska, Labrador, and Maine.
Its name means that its standards are mere bristles! Its falls, 2” inches Long and an inch wide, are variable in color.
Its height varies, too, ranging from 6” inches to 2’ feet. Though native to bogs, it adapts itself to ordinary garden conditions.
Iris Prismatica
One of the most adaptable is Iris prismatica. It used to be listed in the Siberian group with its Eurasian cousins.
Now it is classed alone, as it has a different chromosome count from the Siberians and won’t crossbreed with them.
Prismatica is as reliable in a Virginia cornfield as in a Massachusetts blueberry bog or a Colorado rock garden.
It is delightful in the wild garden and in the arrangement. Yellow veinings on a lilac ground give blossoms a prismatic look.
And the narrow, twisted seed pods are startingly like French-cut potatoes. It is easily grown from seed.
Iris Cristata
One of the loveliest iris found in moist places in Ohio to Texas and cultivated in gardens from the Eastern Shore to the Pacific Northwest is a little thing that is neither bearded nor beardless.
This is Iris cristata, the sole American representative of an otherwise Oriental group, the Evansias or crested iris. Some experts say crested iris are an evolutionary link between the beardless and bearded forms.
Where the beardless often display a signal patch on the falls, the bearded grow a beard, and the Evansias raise a crest.
Cristata, greatly prized by fanciers of the dainty and rare, is 6 inches high and comes in white, blue, and lavender shades.
Iris Lacustris
Iris lacustris, found principally in the Great Lakes region, is considered a variety of cristata, though some class it as a separate species entirely.
Missouriensis, first found on the banks of the Missouri River, they say, occurs on the plains of Nebraska, through the Rocky Mountains, and west right to the coast.
It is lavender, from light to dark, and a white variety, quite rare, is offered by one or two growers.
It is deciduous, so do not be alarmed when your plant disappears. If it has taken hold, it will return in spring.
Establishing A New Plant
Keep it well-watered to establish a new plant until it blooms in May or June. After that, it withstands dry spells quite well.
I had planted seeds that failed to germinate in three years of drought but sprang right up when a wet spring finally came along.
West Coast Native Irises
The West Coast natives are important, but like their human counterparts, they are so happy where they are.
They do not care very much about being moved to other parts of the U.S., which all boils down to the unfortunate fact that they are not too reliably hardy in any place but their native grounds.
Wide Range Colors
Second, only to the Louisianan, West Coast iris embrace a wider range of color than other natives, coming in yellows, pinks, fulvous reds, white, blue, lavender, and purple.
They are quite marvelous, if somewhat difficult, to transplant. Therefore, it is best to grow them from seed.
And the last, shy little iris that defies classification? The experts, disagreeing about where to place it, leave it in a class by itself but cannot settle on a name for that class!
The Controversy Of Iris Verna
Iris verna, the controversial, is listed as a beardless species. But it has a wee, faintly fuzzy spot like the fuzz that inspires a teenager to eye his father’s razor.
Verna somewhat resembles the obviously bearded dwarf pumilas. Though hard to grow, it is prized nonetheless.
“At home” in the southern Appalachians, temperamentally demands cool, acid soil.
There is another American iris. You will find them, and I know if you like persuading wildflowers to grow for you if you down-deep prefer the delicately wrought, discreet, rather than showy beauty. And, once you do, you will never be without them.
44659 by Lys Housley