Our friend who gave us starts of these several years ago said someone told her they're Dutch Iris. They certainly grow better than any Dutch Iris I've ever tried to grow! (My next post should be "What do Dutch Iris want?" ) The tallest leaves of the plants in the pictures are 32" or so. About the time I got comfy with the idea that the plants might be Iris orientalis, a garden visitor told me: "Nope. They're Siberian Iris. The [Cheyenne] Botanic Garden has a whole bed of them." Gads! I still want to believe they're I. orientalis, but what do I know Thoughts anyone? Thank you!

It's certainly not a Siberian Iris. It does appear to be a type of Spuria Iris, but unfortunately I don't know them well enough to say if it's I. orientalis, one of the other Spuria species, or maybe even a cultivar.

Agree, not siberian.

Yes, some type of Spuria, not a Siberian.

Both the bloom and the foliage is wrong for it to be a Sib.


It is definitely more like this:

Many thanks everyone.

If I try germinating seeds again, I'll look for a method recommended for Spuria types. The Dutch Iris method I tried on last year's seeds sure didn't work. Imagine that! Hah!

And to have a more complete set of photos, I hunted up a couple pics of the developing seed pods and of the rhizomes.

thanks for the photos Michelle . I've never seen a seed pod on a spuria before.

Thanks Michelle! They certainly do look alike. But not your tuber pic. Checked out the thread and a bit of Google. I'd not realized Dutch iris (hollandia ) was hybridized from two species - neither spuria).

You're welcome Maggie. Here's the post we lost in our conversation. https://garden.org/thread/view...

I wasn't familiar with the hybridization history of Dutch iris either. Fascinating stuff