Iris cristata and small woodland Iris

[McDonough]

There you go again, making me jealous with those wonderful shade-loving Irisses which are impossible to find in Europe! 

Maybe there will be some seed set this year (last year there was none, on both species).  With I. koreana, even with good seed set in the past, so far I've only had 1 seedling ever germinate!  With odaesanensis I've had slightly better results.

[WimB]

There you go again, making me jealous with those wonderful shade-loving Irisses which are impossible to find in Europe! 

Maybe there will be some seed set this year (last year there was none, on both species).  With I. koreana, even with good seed set in the past, so far I've only had 1 seedling ever germinate!  With odaesanensis I've had slightly better results.

 

Don't worry Mark. I'm sure I'l find it sooner or later!

[RickR]

Flowers are a bit shorter this year due to the dry spring (and winter): 2 inches high, as oppose to the usual 3 inches.

Iris minutoaurea, given to me as a seedling Iris sanguinea by a fellow NARGS chapter member.  Had she known what she had, she may not have been so generous!

               

[cohan]

That's a sweet one, Rick!

[McDonough]

That's a sweet one, Rick!

My mature clump of Iris minutoaurea must need division, because instead of smothering itself in flowers as it has in the past, it only has a sprinkling of 10-12 tiny blooms.  Rick, glad you got a good photo of yours.  After a long dry spell, it rained pretty good yesterday, thus the crummy photo I'm showing, and then overnight the heavens let loose with deluge downpours and wild winds; everything is beaten down from the downpours.  Iris koreana was at near peak, glad I got some good photos while the weather was better, before squashed from the downpours.

Anyway, I uploaded this photo of I. minutoaurea, to give a sense of scale, the flowers aren't much bigger than my thumbnail?  Do you think this tightly clumping Iris get too congested, and that's the reason for the floral decline?

Just noticed the first bloom on I. henryi is partially open, and the form of I. odaesanensis with the brown-rimmed signal spot is budded at long last.

Iris minutoaurea scale:

[RickR]

I received it as a first year seedling in 2005 - not long enough to know if it needs periodic division.  It only began flowering in 2009, a long wait for an iris, in my opinion.  There are a lot of advantages to having photographic records of your plant materials.  Here's a progression of the one plant:

               2009                                        2010
        

               2011                                        2012
        

Mine are bigger than my thumb.  The flower measures exactly one inch across.

              

[McDonough]

I must have fat thumbs .  Interesting to see that annual progression, I can detect the tendency for this iris species to create a "rhizome donut", with flowers and growth moving to the outer ring.

[RickR]

  Interesting to see that annual progression, I can detect the tendency for this iris species to create a "rhizome donut", with flowers and growth moving to the outer ring.

Probably.  Is this how Iris minutoaurea behaves for you, Mark?  After I took the photo, I remove the leaves in the middle, and there was still some green in the very center.

[Hoy]

                     
Mine are bigger than my thumb.  The flower measures exactly one inch across.

Isn't an inch defined as the width of a thumb

A very nice species anyway!

[McDonough]

Today was my annual field trip to Garden Vision Epimediums "open nursery weekend"; a fine spring day.  Not only are there epimediums, but also some nice woodland Iris.  The photos show a booty box of newly purchased treasures.  The biggest surprise was I. cristata 'Montrose White', a 2010 Joe Pye Weed's Garden 2010 introduction. The beautiful flowers are really large, surprisingly so, 3" diameter.  It is said to be a robust grower.




One that I lost due to mole/vole tunneling is I. cristata 'Powder Blue Giant', with 3-1/2" light blue flowers, happy to get it back for a mere $6.




Two others I bought were I. cristata 'Little Jay', a dwarf deep blue selection, and I. verna 'Cleo Chapel Road', a 2012 Joe Pye Weed's Garden introduction, a colorful form collected bt Darrell Probst near Cleo Chapel Road, South Carolina.

[cohan]

Nice batch of plants- sounds like a great event to attend What are the pink flowers- first glance I was thinking Phalaenopsis (tropical orchids), which of course can't be...lol

[WimB]

I. cristata 'Montrose White'

I. cristata 'Powder Blue Giant'

I. cristata 'Little Jay'

I. verna 'Cleo Chapel Road'

Sigh....

[McDonough]

Nice batch of plants- sounds like a great event to attend What are the pink flowers- first glance I was thinking Phalaenopsis (tropical orchids), which of course can't be...lol

The pink flowered plant is Phlox stolonifera 'Wister Pink'.  All of these carpeting woodland phlox are wonderful garden plants, easy and indestructable, but as the name implies (stolonifera) it's a spreader, and must be given room to spread.  There are many many named cultivars of this Eastern USA species.  Here's a photo showing the plant and the creeping stoloniferous runners.

[McDonough]

I'll have to catch up with some more Iris that have bloomed, but I'll jump ahead with one I found in bloom tonight.  When I get home in waning light, I do my "garden walkabout" and I find new things in flowers.  Here's Iris verna 'Brumback Blue', a wonderful dwarf woodland species, this one selected for its bright color.  I'm so pleased to see the first flowers open.

[cohan]

Nice batch of plants- sounds like a great event to attend What are the pink flowers- first glance I was thinking Phalaenopsis (tropical orchids), which of course can't be...lol

The pink flowered plant is Phlox stolonifera 'Wister Pink'.  All of these carpeting woodland phlox are wonderful garden plants, easy and indestructable, but as the name implies (stolonifera) it's a spreader, and must be given room to spread.  There are many many named cultivars of this Eastern USA species.  Here's a photo showing the plant and the creeping stoloniferous runners.

*INCORRECT USE OF [attachthumb=#]. You need to specify the attachment number, for example [attachthumb=1].

Interesting, don't think I've seen any of these, something to look into and watch for if they are hardy enough..