Reticulated Iris
Iris reticulata 'Lady Beatrice Stanley'
(EYE-ris) (reh-tick-yoo-LAY-tuh)
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It will be probably be a few more weeks until these babies are up and blooming. Depending on the weather they can often bloom in February but not with a winter like this year. This picture was taken March 28, 2007 with Karen's Nikon D80 body and 60mm 2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens.
These Iris are fun to have in the garden. There several hybrids and varieties available including a dark purple, light blue and white. The color blue of ‘Lady Beatrice’ is a color you don’t get too often with flowers so it is a nice way to start out the season. The dark purple of I. reticulata 'Violet Beauty' is very special. The flowers are fragrant but need to be smelled up close, which isn’t always easy when the flowers are only a couple of inches tall. The deer do eat these and often wait until they are up and flowering before grazing them off. If you are going to make a planting of these type of Iris (order early in the fall from my experience) don’t be shy on the amount as they look much better in large clumps and drifts then little patches. They will multiply slowly under the right conditions (not too much water).
3 comments:
So pretty, Iris's often get overlooked but I love them.
really beautiful color...the blue is so vibrant
Hello to both of you. Petals this Iris does get overlooked because of its diminutive size.
Charles, you are right. There just isn't that many flowers this color in the garden.
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