Evergreen Iris - Tumblr Posts
Pacific Coast Hybrids (PCH) iris. Hybrids between several "grass irises" native to the Pacific Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington. This group of native iris species are largely evergreen and grow only 8"-1ft tall, with narrow leaves - not as narrow as grass though! More like Siberian iris. And they interbreed quite willingly creating a kaleidoscope of colors and ruffly flattish forms. Have lost the tags for these two, and thought they were different (imagine that! Me buying two of the same plant! LOL).
Theae are truly blue on the lavender side.
The individual flowers do not last long, but the plant keeps sending up stalks of one or two flowers for several weeks.
These iris actually prefer dryish soil and not very rich. Wonderful plants! Will share photos of others as they bloom.
Another form of Pacifc Coast Hybrid iris is in bloom - a lovely bicolor royal blue/purple and white with yellow throat. Wish I could share the name as well as that of the lovely large lavender blue form in background.
Gladwyn Iris - the yellow form. Iris foetidissima 'Citrinus'. Weirdly wonderful flowers that produce fat pods full of bright orange pea-sized seeds in ths Fall. The strappy evergreen leaves of this plant look fabulous all through the winter and add such structure to the garden. And then...these whimsical short-lived flowers of incredible detailing. Started blooming June 1st.
Aargh! Just had a long post all typed out, went back to look more closely at the photo on the camera of my phone and "poof" - the post disappeared. No warning no nothing. Just gone. I will get better at this - in time.
Anyway... Here are the two different color forms of Iris foetidissima, the Gladwyn iris, that are in our garden. The purple blue form is the standard species. The light yellow is 'Citrina'. Note the beautiful and very different coloring of each. The blue form is only bluish on the netted falls. In the center of the flower the colors are bronze and burnt orange over an ivory background. In Citrina, the netted falls are ivory edged in light yellow, with purple veining, while the central flower parts are dusky purple infused over light yellow. Both flower forms are quite lovely.
Foliage doesn't seem to be much different - long strappy dark green leaves 18"-2ft long. And the clumps are evergreen. The Citrina seems to grow a bit taller than the blue form. There is also a variegated form that I will showcase when it flowers.