Irises By The Water’s Edge

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29725, 19 January 1962, Page 6

Irises By The Water’s Edge

Most gardeners are quite familiar with the various types of bulbous and tall bearded irises. They are. understandably, less familiar with the varieties suitable for growing by the water's edge, for few gardens offer this opportunity for cultivation. But this does not mean that irises for these conditions should be neglected; they are decorative and delightful, and have an added advantage in that some of them are December and January flowerers. The iris season starts off in May in favoured districts, and these water-siders bring up the rearguard, so adding to the eight months total of attraction.

Not all the water-sider irises will grow happily with their feet constantly in water: some of them like moist soil but are intolerant of stagnant moisture, others like marshy conditions, whilst still others grow quite happily actually in shallow water. The conditions have to suit the specific plant being grown.

For actually growing in water, the species Iris laevigata' and kaempferi, will do very well, although Iris kaempferi does not like water above the level of its rhizomes in the winter months. The flowers of these species, produced in December and January, are amongst the largest of any in the family. Iris kaempferi blooms grow to 10 inches across. The plant is sometimes known as the clematis-flowered iris, which gives a quite fair impression of the attraction of the species. Iris laevigata flowers are up to six inches across. The range of colours in this latter iris is rather limited, being only found in rich blues, but Iris kaempferi has a much wider range, varities occuring with rubyred, misty-blue, violet, purple and white flowers. The flowers in the irises consist of drooping petals, known as the falls, and of upright petals, called standards. The finest varieties of Iris kaempferi are apparently double, for in these the standards are very broad and hang down, creating a fall-like impression, and an apparently double flower as a result. Neither of these plants likes a limy condition, and they are best transplanted in the autumn or spring—certainly not left until too late in the season.

Perhaps yju have a section near a stream. There are a few species which are suitable for naturalisation along the bank, which will look after themselves in the moist soil there. The English flag iris. Iris psuedacorous, with its yellow flowers on tall stems, and Iris fulva, a much shorter plant with blooms of tangarine-brown, are two which come into this category, although it is surprising how infrequently they are seen in gardens.

The range of irises which like moist soil by a stream, a little higher on the bank than the last two, is quite wide. Many gardeners grow Iris siberica, , in its various varieties, and there are sevral attractive plants quite closely allied to it which are suitable for these conditions, too. Iris chrysographes, an 18 inch beauty with deep velvet falls and gold markings on them; Iris graminea, with glossygreen leaves and purplish flowers smelling of ripe plums; and the yellow flowered Iris forrestii. All three are much shorter than Iris siberica itself, but just as easy to grow’. They die down to a little tuft of foilage buds in the winter, and the only attention they need is shearing off the dead leaves each

year to keep them tidy. Iris ochroleuca is a tall and strong growing species for the same conditions which is much later flowering, carrying blooms until quite late in December. The flowers are yellow and white, and like a large edition of a bulbous Dutch iris. This does not exhaust the possibilities by any means, but these suggestions are something to be getting on with. Apart from the water loving irises which are best planted in spring or autumn, the rest of the sorts mentioned are transplanted in the winter or early spring in the same way as the ordinary herbaceous plants. They will give you little difficulty to grow and much pleasure in the process.