Hi, I was at a lady house yesterday to buy a couple pecan and willow trees. She said she liked exotic and hard to find plants and said she ordered this as a iris. I am clueless, can anyone help me ID it. Thanks

Foliage looks like a crinum lily

@irisarian Lucy, we need you help here.

I suspect crocosmia, which is not really an iris but which is in the family iridaceae.

Thanks I will look that one up.

Look up "Blackberry Lily" (which is a species of iris) while you are at it. I have both that and Crocosmia, and the leaves are very similar. The blooms will make the ID very clear in another year or two.

I have both crocosmia and blackberry lily, and to me the pictured plant doesn't have the distinct fans like blackberry lily has. Plus the center leaves are corrugated like crocosmia. So, I still think it will turn out to be crocosmia when it blooms. We'll see! Judging from the size of the plant, it should bloom for you next year. Keep your eye out for red, orange or yellow blooms after the German iris are finished blooming. Crocosmia blooms along with the daylilies. Blackberry lily blooms even a little later. If it's crocosmia and you ever decide to get rid of it, be prepared to rent a backhoe. The first time I ever saw it was at Cherokee Gardens, a now closed gardens since the owners died. They had Crocosmia "Lucifer" (bright red) flowering here and there among the daylilies, and it was quite pretty. I remarked to the owner how pretty it was. She told me the name of it, and added, "Once you have it, you'll always have it."

Interesting comment about crocosmia's tenacity. I tried to grow a couple of crocosmia cultivars several years ago, and both died before blooming.

Zone 6b is on the edge of crocosmia's hardiness range. We are in zone 7a, just a little bit warmer.

That explains why my in ground Crocosmia is still alive, but the one in a big pot died. I'm in zone 6A, and the pots get colder (and hotter) than the ground.

Yes, that'll do it. And the temperature extremes that pots encounter is another reason I don't like the idea of potting up irises. That and the fact that they do so well in the ground here. For example, I planted one rhizome of Champagne Elegance iris summer before last and it's now a clump 2 feet wide. How expensive would it be for 2 foot pots that would soon be outgrown shortly after 2 years if they were able to flourish as well as they do in the ground?

I know ,Daisy.I have planted mine from early July to Late Sept.here in the ground.In fact the latest 40 + new iris were planted in a stretch of 92 -94 degree weather several weeks back, and most are putting out new growth.
I have planted my iris straight in the ground for 30+ years.I think I have only lost a handful in all those years.Iris are hardy if planted right.I prefer to not have to fool with them more than once with potting and then transferring.
Of course that is just me.I am sure some haven't dug the bed yet ,or know where the new iris are going or have limited space and so grow them in pots.

Yes, having to dig them up every 3 or 4 years to space them out is work enough! I cringe at the thought of having to plant them twice in the first year on top of all that. I just want to plant them once properly and be done with it. And while I realize that pots are a stopgap measure if you don't have a bed prepared, yet I can't imagine ordering irises when I won't yet have a bed prepared. I guess I'm just an advance planner by nature. Some people aren't.

I try to plan, but sometimes homeless irises just show up.

Daisy, I wish I could say that but I think I am an impulsive buyer. I see a beautiful one and I want it!

LOL I knew it was that all along. I just wanted to hear it.

Sometimes there are unplanned circumstances.

I'm with Ed if the leaves grow in whorls...But... If they're in fans, consider one of the crested types of Irises.. They have broader leaves... https://www.pacificbulbsociety...