Irises. Where do I begin with irises, bearded iris specifically? I just love them. I've been recently looking at garden.org and returning to it to essentially 'fact check' irises I have seen throughout the web, or breeds I want to buy.
Hi, everyone. I am Monty. As the little header reads, I've been exploring this site for a few weeks now and have inly now noticed I could sign up for it.
I suppose my first post is for something I have ALWAYS wanted to figure out about the irises in our yard since the day we moved here (in 2004!) or, more specifically, when I grew old enough to start to develop a passion for plants, and more definitely, irises.
I think as of recent, I, along with a friend have discovered a few names of the irises...or, well, we think so.
I think the type of iris I am most certain of is our pretty and apparently very old fashioned lavender irises that I see everywhere in the region of Virginia I live in. Iris 'Dalmatica.'
My basis is that because it has those white/transparent bud pockets unlike any other iris I have ever seen, that clues me in. These look exactly like 'Dalmatica' to me.
One thing to note is that our property is big, and there were a ton of flower gardens that we simply could not keep up with, and left them mostly alone. Now, most of where our irises bloom are in a long "segmented" strip across from a gravel bit of road. By segments, I mean, there is a distinct beginning and end to group 1, and same for group (or segment) 2, 3 and 4.
Over 14 years, these irises have really multiplied far beyond what I could ever dig up and divide in a single day.
The most common, and I suppose the best grower are these tannish-bronze irises. Some details: I'd wager mid-bloom with one thick stalk which carries two or three branches and two buds per socket. Tall bearded at around 35-40 inches. It does not rebloom. What do y'all think this is? My thought is perhaps 'Bronze Beauty.'
The next, and second most common colour is a purple/white bitone. The common iris I hear for this is "Wabash," but, what throws me off is that Wabash's falls have a white line around the edges of the petals, and whatever this iris is, does not. Pretty good grower. Blooms a couple days after my tan irises. Pretty good amounts of blooms with two or three branches and double socketed buds. It also does not rebloom, or has never been seen to rebloom in 14 years. I'd say that these cover roughly 25% of the irises that bloom in our yard.
Next up would be these pink irises that are tall bearded, but evidently have very poor multiplying habits. When we moved here in 2004, and over the years, the tan to pink ratio was probably 3:2, but they've slowly started to vanish out of all four segments with tan irises being absolutely abundant, and the pink irises about depleted. Not a very great amount of flowers per stalk, with most two branches and primarily two socketed pockets.
It was in rare enough quantity this year that I only have one picture of it.
The last iris that I would love to find out what it might be is a shorter iris, perhaps around 28-34 inches, so maybe border bearded? It hasn't seemed to expand very much, but it is extremely consistent in the one segmented garden it is blooming every single year that I can recall. Usually two or three branches with a good 6-8 blooms a stalk. It also does not rebloom. It blooms about mid-season as with the entire bunch above, but along with the pink iris, a couple days after the purple/white, and tan, and two weeks after the lavender irises.
I said it was the last one, but this last iris is one that I haven't seen anywhere else and have not seen on the internet, and I am starting to feel as if I may have my own original iris due to birds and bees cross-polinating them. (Which if true, that is pure awesome!!) They're mostly white, but the falls have a tannish-bronze colourisation that looks very, very similar to that of my tan irises, and beautiful orange beards. They have bloomed sporadically throughout perhaps six or seven years, but white irises we had and I am sure of are not around anymore in my garden have not bloomed since, but these bloom I guess as a replacement? They bloom a few days after the tan irises do, but it is close enough to me to be a passed down trait if these truly are unique to only my garden and because of a cross between our vanished white irises, and our abundant tan irises. Same height differential to the tan irises, with very similar bud counts (7-9 per stalk) and very thick stems that have not ever broken that I've seen them. It also has not rebloomed, which would be acceptable since both potential parents never have either. Anyways, here they are!
And here's one of these surrounded by their tan counterparts for reference.
With that, it could entirely be a fluke and I have somehow missed these beautiful irises on the web, but considering I have seen nothing on the web, and nothing from any other garden in Virginia, it gives me some promise.
I know this is a long post, but I have wanted to figure this mystery out for years and years. I've got some more irises that I have purchased recently (that a rebloomers and I am soooo excited for that! Always, always and I do say always have wanted to have some rebloomers) and a year or two ago some from Walmart. I fail to remember the names of what I got except for Cherub's Smile. There were more than came from Lowes (Edith Wolford) and two other colours, but with the exception of Edith Wolford, have vanished completely and I long to have them back.
Anyways, I hate to post so much, but I really do appreciate if even you read all that. If you can solve some of my mysteries, that would just be an added bonus!
I look forward to sticking around here and seeing beautiful plants and flowers you all have to share! Thank you everyone,
-Monty
