Sherry - a girl's gotta try!

(But they do have great green iris). Hee

The only one I have that approaches green is County Cork.. It's been a tremendous grower.. and is kind of nice to put between others, but it doesn't excite me that much.. I almost threw it out this year when I divided it. Just couldn't pull the trigger though.. Pride of Ireland is supposed to be greenish, but it's really just yellow with a bit of green near the beard for me...

Thanks all so much for the very warm welcome!!!!! It's so funny Leslie that you brought up Winterberry. Because my favorite Iris comes from there and it is....Teagan (Spoon Iris). Interestingly enough, I found out about Winterberry from lurking this site. So see, you all helped me find my favorite to date

Mary Ann: Of course I will post pictures this coming Spring. I have benefited so much from this forums photos. So I can't wait to share as well.

Sheri: Thanks for sharing your input about County Cork, It is now on next Springs order list. I noticed I did mention Teagan under the greens and actually overall it's not green but it has the prettiest green color on the shoulders. I just have it my mind that someday, someone will succeed at getting the color on those shoulders to cover a whole Iris. Who know, many people may find that on the unattractive side but it is my dream Iris.

County Cork grows well here too.

Elsa!

...from another former lurker, who is happy she finally decided to join!

Interesting list of plants, Poly! Are any of them good iris companion plants?

I seem to remember reading a thread about companion planting, wonder if it was here on ATP/ NGA?

SDB Greenfingers--new at Winterberry this year has green on the falls.

And Granny Apple is a light green.

A non-Spoon but Greenland has a lot of green too.


And I love the green veins of Snow Tree


I love Teagan too, but also because it has that lovely blue green color on the falls.

Oooooh! 'Snow Tree'!!

How about Kilarney Green:

I'm getting rid of "Easy Being Green".
Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Easy Being Green')

...because as we all know 'It's not Easy Being Green'???

Well, you guys might see green, but I see yellow, and sometimes a small hint of a greenish tinge.

A lot of the green TB's have only a greenish cast, such as Green Prophecy and Green & Gifted (but I do love both of these). It is only in the SDB's and IB's that I have seen the real green. Especially those with green veining.

Lilli, I am not exactly the person to ask about companion plants for irises; apart from certain garden limitations here (drought, critters), my irises in-ground at the moment are rather scant. Also, my climate may not be similar to yours. That said...

Non-flowering 'Stachys' such as 'Helen von Stein' can be a good companion for bearded irises, however you have to be diligent to keep it in bounds, and from smothering the irises. It always looks ratty during the winter, though, and needs a late winter/early spring cleanup.



I have a fair amount of Iberis for spring bloom; those can be considered a companion of sorts, and they don't have the invasiveness problem that the Stachys does. In back of the irises, or bordering the beds, you can always use various shrubs and sub-shrubs. Currently I have one Euryops in an iris bed (with plans to add at least one more), and another bed (which I should be planting right now) will have some Cuphea nearby. (In that bed the irises will be backed by some daylilies, which I hope will get enough sun to bloom; that bed is a part shade/part sun bed. I don't consider the daylilies to be "companions" though; they will be dormant daylilies and the foliage will be fresh and growing and green during iris season, but it will be too early for bloom. If the daylilies can't manage to bloom, then I will yank them out and replace them with either more Cuphea or else perhaps dwarf azaleas.)



One thing that I have learned is to NOT put anything that needs frequent deadheading behind the irises, such that you have to tromp through the irises in order to deadhead them. I have 4 of the summer blooming Verbena 'De La Mina' behind my yellow 'Luminosity', and I am going to yank them all this fall. (Apart from the deadheading issue, they are somewhat tender and almost died on me one winter.) I'm not sure whether or not to replace them with more Euryops (which also need deadheading but only in the winter/spring, and their yellow blooms are so valuable then), or with some Cuphea (which might fry in that afternoon sun location, backed by stone), or with some dwarf boxwood. (Come to think of it, I have some box in a small bed that I am reworking right now, which had/will have 'Darkside' and 'Afternoon Delight' in there. So yes, I guess box makes a good companion.)



(Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' might be a good companion for reblooming irises, but only if it is off to the side or where you don't have to tromp through the irises to deadhead it. Shown in the second image behind the iris 'Luminosity'.)

I took a quick look through my images, and I see that I forgot to mention Osteospermum. I have some of that grown in one of the iris beds, and it can tolerate the sun and drought that the irises need, as well as provide companion bloom. It comes in different colors, so you can pick and choose to go with your iris color scheme.

I got interrupted so I just want to make two more comments on "companion" plants for irises.

As companion plants for daylilies, I like to use Pelargoniums, and I also have a few different Society Garlic plants. The Pelargoniums have a plant habit and foliage that differs nicely from the strappy daylily foliage, and I think that contrast in foliage is important. Pelargoniums can take the same kind of sunny dry conditions that the bearded irises want, and they also have a different foliage habit than the irises, so that's a win. The Society Garlic plants unfortunately have their own (small) strappy foliage, but they are in bloom for a very long time, are also sun and drought tolerant, so that's another win.

Euphorbias can be interesting, in small doses, and some of them can take the sun, but I think you have to be careful combining them with the irises, otherwise the garden starts looking a bit... desert-y. (I don't want a desert garden, even though I have to deal with drought. I want as lush a garden as I can get.)

Now, all of these plants are ones suited for a moderate climate with dry summers and (hopefully) modestly wet winters, where it does not get too cold. (I do get die-back every year on the Pelargoniums, so they do need protection or in some years replacing.) That is not everybody's climate, so unless you want to grow these as annuals, you may have to find some other plants to pair with your irises.

The bottom line, however (for bearded iris companions), is:

drought tolerant
sun / heat tolerant
different foliage habit (to make things interesting, and to make the garden lusher)
long bloom season (if at all possible, and preferably also in bloom the same time that the irises are)
non-invasive (you don't want to have to keep beating it off the irises)
can take your climate (and your garden pests)

Nice to see what you combine with Iris Marilyn..

Some things I like that would work for you too (and fit your criteria)
Sisyrinchium californicum.. small flowers are a nice contrast to Iris (and are in the Iris family)


California poppies and Achillea 'Moonshine'


Heuchera 'Rosada' adds an airiness to a landscape much the same as baby's breath does to a bouquet of roses.


I also like Echeveria pulverulenta, Festuca 'Elijah Blue' for foliar contrast, Penstemon heterophylla for it's intense blue, Nepeta faaseniii, various Dianthus, and of course roses..

Many of these won't work in cold climates.. but then the colder climates can grow Peonies much more effectively than I can..
I was quite smitten with how lupins looked with Iris up at Schreiners, so I bought a bunch of them... They wait until July here.. so unless I'm growing them with reliable re-bloomers, they don't give the same effect in the garden here...

Your garden is lovely, Sherry.

I love Heuchera, but the rabbits have eaten most of them here. The two cultivars that they have left alone, 'Lime Rickey' and 'Key Lime Pie', both have chartreuse foliage that fries in the sun, and thus are unsuitable as companions.

I have some Penstemons, but they are mostly such scraggly floppy beasts, and one of them has been trying to take over my side yard. (The Foothills Penstemon is okay - a nice short plant - but it didn't bloom this year. ) I used to grow some Achillea at our last house, but I failed with it here. (I don't really miss it, nor the somewhat weedy Centranthus.)

As I get more decrepit, I want my garden to be easier to maintain - another reason for punting the Verbena.

I forgot to mention that I have some "Flower Carpet White" roses near the irises in the Moon Garden, but I am seriously considering yanking them out. They are somewhat prone to blackspot, they take a fair amount of deadheading to look good, I still don't have them pruned and trained off the ground... I just want something white flowering that always looks good and is easier to maintain, and that doesn't grow much higher than 2-2.5 ft. I don't know whether to replace the roses with different white flowering (tea) roses, or maybe that variegated gardenia, or what.

tveguy3 said:Well, you guys might see green, but I see yellow, and sometimes a small hint of a greenish tinge.

In the case of Kilarney Green, the color is a greenish yellow -- but the veins are really green.

I have Kilarney Green.


Looks like a brownish yellow to me. maybe a hint of green along the outer part of the falls until you expand the picture, then it seems to disappear. Or, I could be color blind and don't know it.

Soil can influence those colors too, Tom.............