Late spring is iris time, when iris, from the little crested varieties\u2014Iris cristata\u2014to the tall, buxom, cultivated descendants of German or Iris germanica burst into bloom.\u00a0 A few miles from my home, the fabulous Presby Iris Garden is a mass of color, with an almost unimaginable array of iris spilling from its beds.<\/p>\n
My gardens are much tamer, but this year the bearded and Siberian varieties are blooming simultaneously, providing color, contrast and abundance in the beds.\u00a0 Of all iris, I think the Siberians are the most elegant.\u00a0 The flowers have the same configuration as other closely related types\u2014three tall petals or \u201cstandards\u201d towering over somewhat wider, downward-turned petals or \u201cfalls\u201d.\u00a0 Siberian flowers are generally smaller than those of bearded iris, but the biggest difference between the two is that Siberians have no fuzzy \u201cbeards\u201d on the falls.<\/p>\n
The stalks that bear those beardless blooms sprout from rhizomes or fleshy roots and stand atop tall, slender stems that can rise up to three feet.\u00a0 The foliage has been widely described as \u201cgrass-like\u201d, much thinner than the fat, sword-shaped leaves of bearded iris.\u00a0 The leaves persist until fall before fading away for the winter, though the plants bloom only once a season.\u00a0 Even the seedpods are attractive, slender and brown with several seed-filled chambers.\u00a0 I generally leave them on the plants for winter interest.\u00a0 My more artistic mother would have plucked them, spray painted them gold and arranged them as holiday decorations.<\/p>\n
Siberians are actually only Siberian descendants.\u00a0 Originally two, blue-flowered species, Iris siberica and Iris sanguinea, found their way from western and\/or central Asia to northern Europe.\u00a0 Both bore blue flowers.\u00a0 According to the experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England, Iris sibirica appeared in western Europe in the Middle Ages and was originally planted in monastery gardens, as well as the gardens of the wealthy.\u00a0 Over time, the two species were cross-bred to produce the Siberian-type iris hybrids that are widely cultivated today.\u00a0 By contrast, the blue-flowered parent species that gave the group its name is virtually unavailable in commerce now.<\/p>\n
Siberian iris bloom in most of the same colors as their relatives in other iris groups: blue, blue-purple, white, yellow and bi- or tri-colors that combine those shades.\u00a0 Opening from slender buds, the flowers are not particularly long-lasting\u2014on the plant or cut for indoor arrangements. Cool late spring weather helps them last just a bit longer.<\/p>\n
Siberian iris like sun and consistently moist soil, but can withstand all kinds of garden difficulties like heavy clay, drought, erosion and various browsing critters.\u00a0 In fact one of the distinguishing traits of many cultivated members of the Iridaceae family is their critter-resistance.\u00a0 This is something to bear in mind for those of us who suffer from regular visits from Mr. Antlers and his posse.<\/p>\n
Vendors offer a host of varieties, but all have the same cultural requirements.\u00a0 Plant the rhizome one to two inches below the soil surface and separate them by a couple of inches.\u00a0 The best time to plant is earliest spring or very late summer.\u00a0 Water regularly to get the roots established.\u00a0 After a few years, you may notice that your Siberians have expanded into a circle, with nothing sprouting from the center and fewer blooms coming up in the spring.\u00a0 This means that they need dividing.\u00a0 Dig up the entire clump, remove the dead plant material from the center and divide the clump into four or more pieces.\u00a0 Replant the divisions separately and each one should produce new, healthy flowers by the following year or year after.<\/p>\n
My garden is home to an ever-increasing supply of vigorous white-flowered iris that I have divided many times.\u00a0 For contrast, I have also installed some dark purple ones that seem a little less vigorous.\u00a0 Perhaps they have just not found their ideal planting location.\u00a0 The white ones are like vivid punctuation marks in the landscape and they are an inspiration, even though their bloom time is relatively short.<\/p>\n
Siberians make an especially nice picture when planted on the side of a stream or pond, where they can be reflected in the water in a fashion reminiscent of Monet.\u00a0 They thrive on the moisture in such conditions.\u00a0 A swathe of the plants on a hillside is also a wonderful sight.<\/p>\n
If you are not lucky enough to have a water feature or a hillside, Siberian iris will work very well in a garden bed or border, probably towards the middle or rear.\u00a0 If you have a container garden where you can switch out liners filled with seasonal plants as they go in and out of bloom, Siberians can fill a late spring container, possibly accented with some shorter plants that spill over the sides.<\/p>\n
For an excellent selection of Siberians and other iris, try Schreiner\u2019s Iris Gardens, 3625 Quinaby Road NE, Salem OR 97303<\/a>, 800-525-2367, www.schreinersirisgardens.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Catalog $5.00.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Late spring is iris time, when iris, from the little crested varieties\u2014Iris cristata\u2014to the tall, buxom, cultivated descendants of German or Iris germanica burst into bloom.\u00a0 A few miles from my home, the fabulous Presby Iris Garden is a mass of color, with an almost unimaginable array of iris spilling from its beds. My gardens … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2],"tags":[1644],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","tag-siberian-iris-iris-siberica-spring-blooming-plants-iris-varieties-water-garden-plants-iris-species-siberian-hybrid-iris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2125,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions\/2125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}