The first flush of the tall bearded irises has begun. In fact, it looks as though I will have irises continually now until the season is fully over. (Cue the celebrations!)
The very first in bloom was “Indian Chief”, which you have seen in these pages before. As it always does, it is flowering abundantly this year, and, as always, it is so dramatically and effortlessly beautiful.
In fact, here is a shot I took during the latter part of the eclipse, when the light seemed to smolder out of the brilliant heart of the bloom.
I was actually surprised that Indian Chief was the first to flower because it looked as though that distinction would be claimed by “Conquistador”. However, Conquistador took several extra days in order to open, not one, but two flowers at once, promptly followed by a third. Splendid… but with the overhanging mesquite tree, I can only photograph one of the enormous blooms at a time, so can’t really show you the effect.
“Conquistador” was raised in 1921 by William Mohr, a very influential American hybridizer of early modern irises. The variety was the result of a cross between an an existing tall bearded iris, “Juniata”, and the species Iris mesopotamica. Because of this mesopotamica heritage, its hardiness was considered questionable across large swathes of the country, so it was quickly superseded by other varieties. Sadly, it is now so rare as to be listed as endangered by the Historic Iris Preservation Society.
Gardening in a mild-winter climate, I don’t have to worry about its hardiness, so I can enjoy its regal blue beauty to the full. It is enormous, both plant and bloom; and its cool blue-violet stands out across the garden.
The third iris in this post is also endangered, although it is a slightly more recent variety. This is “Sheriffa”, a lovely metallic, brown-brushed purple and blue iris.
Sheriffa is of a type known as an arilbred. Without going into too much detail, these are hybrids between the standard bearded irises and the so-called aril irises, a group of species from the dry regions of the Near East. Aril irises are notoriously temperamental garden subjects, and the hybrids are an attempt to combine their striking hues and patterns with the greater ease of cultivation belonging to their I. germanica kindred.
This unabashedly spectacular example was raised in 1941. The plant itself is quite tall; the growth so far is rather slender. The blooms are a masterpiece of brown brushed on purple veined on metallic blue with a small beard the color of a glowing ember.
Sheriffa does a lovely butterfly imitation. Here are two such pictures from today.
With the various irises coming into flower, each walk round the garden is more exciting than the last.
Gorgeous!
They are all beautiful Amy. What a great collection, and lovely photos too. 😃