Bearded Iris
Classics of the traditional herbaceous border, and popular in contemporary garden designs. Bearded Iris are easy to grow hardy plants for full sun to light shade, in a garden border or in pots.
There are thousands of cultivars in a huge range of colours and colour combinations that are are rarely seen in other garden plants, varieties flowering from early April through to July and many varieties re blooming again in autumn.
Bearded iris are classified by their height and flower size into 6 Groups. Because these groups flower at different times you can add colour and fragrance to your garden throughout spring and summer, even into autumn.
Did you know many bearded iris are fragrant?
Use the Tabs and filters on the web site to help you select the colour, height, flowering period and scent of the iris you want.
Subcategories
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Height
From short and dainty, through to tall and proud - select your irises for the rise and fall of your borders, and to create eddies of interest.
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Fragrance
The fragrance of the iris flower varies almost as much as that of the rose. It can be earthy and spicy, musky and woody, or sweet and fruity.
Some people think that the iris has no fragrance - they just haven't found the right varieties!
Note that Orris - used in scented products does not come from the blooms - it is distilled from the rhizomes and carries more earthy notes.
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Historic
The term 'historic' is an official designation used to describe any iris over 30 years old. The idea, mainly led by the American Iris Society, was to try to prevent the loss of important old irises. Of course this has led to some debate as now a 'modern' iris from 1989 could be called Historic !
In my experience iris varieties pre 1960's have a distinctive form, indicative of the earlier times. I have used this as a bench mark on this site, although there are some exceptions due to their rarity.
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Re-bloomer
That's right many iris bloom more than once a year. In addition to blooming in the Spring, the reblooming iris varieties bloom again in the Summer and Autumn.
Remontant iris, commonly called re-bloomers, or re-blooming iris include several types within one category.
"Cycle Re bloomers" may produce two or more flushes of blooms each year or produce a spring crop of flowers, then lie low during summer, and grow and flower again in the autumn. "Repeaters" produce new flowers soon after the first spring flush dies back, extending the bloom season to one to two months, and finally "All-season re-bloomers" produce flowers irregularly throughout the season.
Re blooming isn't guaranteed, being dependant on your location, climate and cultural conditions. But don't give up, some varieties need to establish and acclimate before they re bloom well.
Remontant irises have accelerated life cycles. They grow and flower faster than the one-timers so they need additional fertiliser and water.
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Space Age
The Space Age Irises have horns that extend from the end of the beard. The horn is a spear-like appendage that emerges from the fall at the end of the beard. The tip of the horn is sometimes flat which is referred to as a spoon or may be split and laced making a flounce which looks like little petals.
