Debbie's Garden: Irises

Plant: Iris Reticulata
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 24
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted in side garden among Iris Danfordiae. I get maybe one a year now.

Plant: Iris Reticulata "Katharine Hodgkin"
Source: Van Dyck's
Quantity: 15
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted in the back garden. These have the widest petals and the most unusual coloring of all of our iris reticulata. They also appear to be the most short-lived but that's because they all bloom at exactly the same time, rather than staggered over several days. Still blooming well, but down to about half.

Plant: Dwarf Iris "Harmony"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 24
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted on the north side of the house. These come back strong year after year.

Plant: Dwarf German Iris "Little Blue Eyes"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Late April
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden. This iris is amazing. It blooms very well in the spring and then again in the fall (September - November). The flowers last a couple of days each. Less than half of the plants produce blooms with a blue splotch on them but the rest have a white splotch instead. It bloomed very well in spring 2006, but only one bloom appeared in fall 2006. They rebloomed well again in spring 2007. Divided these in fall 2007; gave away half the plants to my aunts and still had enough left over to spread out into a larger area. Gave a few more to my cousin in spring 2009, and quite a few more to friends in spring 2010.

Plant: Dwarf German Iris "Cyanea"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/29/05
Blooms: Late April
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden. This is a cute little white-blue iris. I highly recommend dwarf German irises! These are supposed to rebloom in the fall but haven't ever for me. Moved and split these in May 2009 and had enough to fill two large locations and still had to discard some. Gave quite a few to friends in spring 2010. My far back garden is sloped and I put these in a location where I had lots of erosion problems -- all of these little rhizomes now disperse the water and retain the soil very well.

Plant: German Iris "Low Ho Silver"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/29/05
Blooms: Early May
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden. Did not bloom in spring 2006, but made up for it with a beautiful show in October 2006. Bloomed nicely every spring and fall from that point on. Gave quite a few to friends in spring 2010.

Plant: German Iris "Sugar Blues"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Mid-May
Notes: Planted in back garden. This is a lovely shade of blue with an incredible fragrance of grape soda. Reblooms heavily September - November. These poor things got dug up and replanted, then moved back into place in summer 2006, because the heinous dragonflowers I removed in 2005 kept coming up beneath them. I used this as an opportunity to split the rhizomes. I'm relieved to report that they have survived their trauma, but they didn't rebloom quite as well in fall 2006. Gave away several plants to my mother-in-law in fall 2006, and many more to my aunts in fall 2007, with plenty left to spare. Dug up a bunch more in spring and summer 2009 because they spread so quickly, and gave a few to my cousin. Gave quite a few to friends in spring 2010, and some more to an iris club in Texas in fall 2010.

Plant: German Iris "Immortality"
Source: Van Dyck's
Quantity: 3
Planted: 9/22/06
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in far back garden. Doing very well. Doesn't rebloom but it should. Gave some to a friend in spring 2010.

Plant: Siberian Iris "Gull's Wing"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in back garden. We planted these the same way as our bearded iris, which was a mistake. They need to be planted below the soil's surface. As a result, only one or two survived. Didn't bloom in 2005, but I got three blooms in 2006 and a few more in 2007. By 2010, I had dozens of blooms.

Plant: Siberian Iris "Butter & Sugar"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery, Van Dyck's, Sundown Gardens, Bluestone Perennials
Quantity: 7
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Late May
Notes: I accidentally ordered only one of these from Spring Hill originally. Ordered 5 more for planting in spring 2005, but Van Dyck's only shipped 2, which we planted 4/26/05. Planted 3 missing plants 5/3/05. Added a mature plant from Sundown Gardens on 10/23/05. Didn't bloom in 2005 and the only bloom in 2006 withered and died. We finally got decent blooms in 2007. Planted another from Bluestone Perennials on 6/2/08. Split the largest plant into three 6/29/08. Gave the next largest plant to my cousin in May 2009. Split one plant into two in spring 2010.

Plant: Iris Siberica "Big Blue"
Source: Bluestone Perennials
Quantity: 3
Planted: 9/17/09
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden among snowdrops. Got one bloom its first season. Very pretty flower. Doing very well and I'm very happy with it.

Plant: German Iris "Jennifer Rebecca"
Source: Van Dyck's
Quantity: 6
Planted: 11/08/05
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in back garden originally, then moved to far back garden in 2006 in an attempt to save them when fungus struck the mulch around them. Two had previously rotted but the other four were healthy. Didn't bloom at all in 2006, but bloomed nicely in 2007, followed by a lot more rotting. The one remaining rhizome in 2008 is multiplying very, very slowly.

Plant: German Iris "Total Recall"
Source: Friend
Quantity: 1
Planted: 10/8/10
Notes: Planted in far back garden. Still alive but did not bloom in 2011.

Plant: German Iris "Autumn Circus"
Source: Friend
Quantity: 1
Planted: 10/8/10
Notes: Planted in back garden. Still alive but did not bloom in 2011.

Plant: Dwarf Iris "Joyce"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 24
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Early March
Notes: Planted to the right of the weeping cherry. These are darker blue and slightly larger than standard iris reticulata. Only a few bloomed in 2009 and they were gone by 2011.

Plant: Iris Reticulata "Cantab"
Source: Van Dyck's
Quantity: 18
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden. Pleasant, light blue blossoms. Only one bloomed in 2009 and none bloomed in 2010 so I pulled the bulbs.

Plant: German Iris "Loop the Loop"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Mid-May
Notes: Planted in back garden. This is an absolutely gorgeous flower. It does not rebloom and was somewhat susceptible to rot. Removed it when I decided that I was tired of how bad iris plants look when they're not in bloom. I'll tolerate it for rebloomers but that's it.

Plant: Dwarf Iris "Danfordiae"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 24
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: These are very tiny yellow blooms. A few have touches of white in their blooms. Planted 14 in the side garden with a set of standard iris reticulata. Planted 10 more from Brent and Becky's Bulbs in fall 2007. They stopped blooming by 2009.

Plant: Dwarf Iris "J. S. Dyt"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 24
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted to the left of the weeping cherry. Did not bloom in 2009 so I'm pronouncing them gone.

Plant: Iris Reticulata
Source: Lowe's
Quantity: 30
Planted: 10/30/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted in front garden. Flower petals are much thinner than our original iris reticulata which used to be planted in the back garden. These came out when we dug up our front garden in 2009 but it looks like there are still a few that escaped Tom's shovel.

Plant: Iris reticulata "Natascha"
Source: Brent & Becky's Bulbs, Wayside Gardens
Quantity: 40
Planted: 10/15/04
Blooms: Mid-March
Notes: Planted 20 from Brent & Becky's Bulbs in back garden. Six of the bulbs were a different variety than I ordered, but the color contrast was nice so I tried to be okay with the error. Planted 20 more from Wayside Gardens on 10/29/05. Stopped blooming by spring 2009 so I removed them.

Plant: Louisiana Iris "Ann Chowning"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/18/04
Blooms: Early June
Notes: Planted in back garden. Didn't bloom in 2005, most likely because we planted these too shallowly. Bloomed fairly well in 2006 and even better in later years. These multiplied well but I removed them in 2008 because their foliage is so messy out of season and I was ready to use the space for something new. These are a deep maroon color.

Plant: Iris Reticulata
Source: Lowe's
Quantity: 30
Planted: Fall 2003
Blooms: Early March
Notes: Very tiny flowers that lasted for several days mixed with white crocuses in a vase. I used a tall shot glass for a vase because the stems are only 4 - 5 inches long. These flowers inspired me to plant all of the other iris reticulata bulbs listed on the Irises page. They provided a huge splash of color very early in the season. I only removed them to make room for a patio extension, plus I have plenty of iris reticulata bulbs planted all over. These little bulbs are amazing and I strongly recommend them.

Plant: German Iris "Baboon Bottom"
Source: Spring Hill Nursery
Quantity: 6
Planted: 9/17/05
Blooms: Mid-May
Notes: This is a pale pink iris that was shown in the catalog as being dark pink with vivid white striping. The striping is barely visible because the pink is so light. I finally removed it to make room for other plants and because I just didn't like the washed-out color.

Plant: Dutch Iris "Blue Pearl"
Source: Van Bourgondien
Quantity: 20
Planted: 10/9/04
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in back garden. These all bloom at the same time and are spectacular, but in a week they are done. After two years, I decided to use the garden space for a plant that blooms longer and looks better when not in bloom.

Plant: Dutch Iris "Van Vliet"
Source: Van Dyck's
Quantity: 20
Planted: 10/9/05
Blooms: Late May
Notes: Planted in kitchen garden. Just like Dutch Iris Blue Pearl, these bloom simultaneously and are done in a week. They're pretty, but it's hard to recommend a plant that blooms for less than one week out of 52. I removed them in 2006 when I removed the other Dutch irises.