{"id":5591,"date":"2013-06-05T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T22:19:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T18:01:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T22:01:05","slug":"support-your-local-artisional-iris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2013\/06\/support-your-local-artisional-iris\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by Artisional Iris"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\n
\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
The fields at Joe Pye Weed’s Garden show off some of the incredible and talented breeding results performed by \npassionate life-long iris breeders Jan Sacks and Marty Schafer in Carlisle, MA.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nToday. I want to talk about my favorite group of iris, those known as Siberian Iris, and for that, I am visiting a friends Siberian Iris breeding farm, to show you not only some amazing new colors and forms, but to help rally more interest in this overlooked group of Iris.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFirst, some Iris 101 – Everyone can close their eyes and visualize what an Iris looks like, but this massive genus ( with 300 plus species) can make a new gardener feel over-whelmed, and an experienced gardener, well, overwhelmed too. Without getting too geeky on you – if you are interested in growing iris,my executive brief for you would simplify the top line groups – you know, those that grow from bulbs vs roots, vs rhizomes. If you prefer to generalize, which can be easy in a huge genus where close-ups of each flower may all look at first, to be similar, I would organize all the different types of iris into 6 buckets. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBearded Iris <\/b>– those flouncy huge Iris which gardeners either adore, or hate – you know, those with thick rhizomes that look like ginger roots. Your grandmother grew these…<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSiberian Iris<\/b>, with grassy foliage, hardy as and oak tree yet harder to find, and yeah, your grandmother grew these too, usually purple, often surrounding a gazing ball…<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Japanese Iris<\/b>, – unless your granny was a serious gardener, most likely, you’ve only seen these painted on Japanese screens at a museum. Lovely, but a bit more demanding.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFlorist Iris<\/b> – you know, Dutch Iris – those blueish-violet ones you get at the florist, often as tight buds, but the flowers last for a few days. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLouisiana Iris<\/b> – Iris that I cannot grow, but similar to Japanese Iris for more southern gardeners<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nRock Garden Iris<\/b> – here I included dwarf, bulbous ones, or those dwarf species that grow from creeping Rhizomes<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCollector Iris<\/b> hard to grow Alpine House forms – from the Middle East and Turkey – Aril’s. Junos and the like <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\n
\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
A ginger colored seedling – expands the color range of Siberian Iris<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis sorting is rough, and not anything like the way the American Iris Society organizes groups, but it helps me think about what I can and cannot grow. One needs to be realistic with a plant family such as iris, as someone walking into a nursery asking for and iris plant, could be thinking about any one of these. The AIS divides first all iris as bearded or non bearded, and then includes species as a group, but truth be told, there are species in all of these groups ( species, meaning how that particular iris appears as a wildflower where it is native).<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\n
\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Siberian Iris a known for being long-lived and floriferous. Making them ideal candidates for perennial borders.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n