Iris was the messenger of the ancient Greek gods and she appeared to the mortals on earth in the form of a rainbow.
When in England, which will be from this month, I plan to visit near to my sister Selena, a garden nursery that specialises in irises.
They are among the most versatile of garden plants and my mother had a vast collection of them.
I already have two bog irises, but you know me – always gluttonous-enough to want ever more.
Some irises bloom in winter, others in summer, some grow in shade, while others demand direct sun. Their flowers, too, display a great assortment. Virtually all the colours are embodied and the flower structure may well cabaret attention-grabbing variations.
Around 150 years ago, a number of growers of bearded irises observed that their flowers at times developed outlandish growths.
Bearded irises have three sets of petals and reproductive organs. More often than not, they carry three standard ones (erect petals), three falls (lower petals) and three sets of connected reproductive organs.
The distinctive falls each assume a “beard”, which is a woolly, caterpillar-shaped accessory that lends a hand by guiding pollinating insects – generally bees – to caress their backs against the style and anther on route to collect the flower’s sugared nectar. It was from these beards that the growths materialised.
Still, it was not until the 1950s that anyone truly decided to scrutinise these growths.
The Californian breeder, Lloyd Austin, lay hands on some bearded irises from the garden of his friend, author and grower of irises, Sydney Mitchell, for he was mesmerised by the bulges at the ends of the beards.
He put in full swing a breeding programme and produced thousands of crosses. He obtained irises with horns, spoons and even flounces, every one an appendage of the beard.
These he christened “space-age irises”, as the exploits of the Sputniks were in the media and from this time there has been, indeed, no looking back.
Fifty years ago, these “space-age” aberrations were valued by some and loathed by others.
To begin with, cultivars with linear thickening of the fall under the beard were selected for attention, an example being the 1958 Iris “Amethyst Flame”. The breeding then expanded to developing horns of an assortment of sizes on the terminals of the beards.
Pink “Wondrous” introduced in 1989 are barely indiscernible, whereas the vivid blue ones on rich yellow and white “Triple Whammy” from 1990 can scarcely be ignored.
The fluffy horns of “Conjuration” bestow a whim that the end of the beard is contorted upwards, as does “Bye Bye Blues”.
Various of these irises are adorable, the majority are somewhat bizarre, but at times, you see one that is utterly, beautiful, such as the Mesmeriser.
The name speaks for itself, for it is truly ravishing with exaggerated flounces, presented time after time. What’s more – it’s seriously perfumed too.
Mesmeriser won the American Iris Society’s Dykes Medal in 2002.
Though some cultivars unfailingly generate horns, spoons and flounces, some fail to at times. Sometimes their production or not depends on their geographic setting whereas others appear to be influenced by the season or garden setting.
Concur-rently, while breeding for aberrations of the flower’s make up, there are liable to be other effects that enter the equation. The most likely of these in the subject of space-ager breeding is that the flower shape is spoiled.
At times, the petals or reproductive parts are lost. This can also happen in dwarfs, or to be politically correct – as Sheikha Janet pointed out – plants that are disadvantaged in height. It can also happen in intermediates and the border bearded iris.
In soils that are wet in winter, the rhizomes can be affected by bacterial rot and die. In dry weather and warm-hot seasons, however, watering may benefit the plants.
Undoubtedly, watering is beneficial after flowering, especially for rebloomers (remontants), and feed the plants at the same time.
Remove dying leaves, as they are likely to haven fungal diseases. Compost them – do not leave them lying about, for this will encourage the disease to endure. Conversely, do not remove clean, green leaves in winter, for it will result in poor flower production.
The majority of space-age irises flower in the same vein as other tall bearded irises, for around six weeks from May to early July, depending on the location. Rebloomers may flower again for an extended period in autumn.
Plant your rhizomes around 40-45cm apart. They make great companion plants planted together with others of a vertical-look in the border such as “Agapanthus” and “Knipholofia”.
Iris rhizomes should be placed on the surface of the soil. Do not bury them. Every three years, lift and divide the plants. I hope this has provoked in you a passion for the iris and that it will grace your garden in the future.
Elizabeth Shaheen – GDN – 1 July, ’07