"Talking Irises" LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING - Tall Bearded Irises With Spring Companion Plants

By Susanne Holland Spicker

I love experimenting with different color combinations in the beds. By combining a variety of companion plants, as well as complimentary, or harmonious combinations of tall bearded irises, the beds provide a nice palette of color, as well as a long bloom season by using early, mid and late bloomers that flower at the same time as other perennials in the gardens. The beds are always a work in progress--I evaluate my beds each year at this time and make changes where I want to replace older varieties with newer iris hybrids or add any favorites from my long "wish list." 


I love the colors in this yellow, pink and blue bed: Tall bearded irises 'Skywalker' (Schreiner '96), 'Tulip Festival' (Clough '75), 'Edith Wolford' (Hager '86), 'Aegean Wind' (Schreiner '08), and 'Out of the Blues' (Van Liere '10) with companion plants Singing in the Rain Itoh peony, assorted lupine, hybrid tea rose New Day, clematis Josephine, assorted pansies and petunias, and herbaceous peony Mons. Jules Ellie.

Striking colors of tall bearded irises and companion plants: 'Salzburg Echo' (Schreiner '09), 'Spiced Custard' (Weiler '87), 'Supreme Sultan' (Schreiner '88), 'Dazzling Gold' (Anderson '81),  'Taco Supreme' (Ernst '87),  'Throb' (Weiler '91),  'Flamenco' (Keppel '77), 'Mulled Wine' (Keppel '02),  and 'Tiger Honey' (Kasperek '94), with companion plants early gladiola, lupine, daylily Bela Lugosi and various daylilies and Harlem poppy.

Bold and beautiful!  Tall bearded irises 'Bold Expression' (Ernst '03), 'Dreamcake' (Ernst '02), 'Close Up' (Tompkins '02),  and 'Ringo' (Shoop '79) with companion plants rosy purple pulsatilla, Caribbean Crush verbascum, Fascination hybrid tea rose,  poppy Queen Alexander, America climbing rose, and lilac.

A favorite bed of subtle yellows and blues: Tall bearded irises 'Good Hope' (Moldovan '69), 'Absolute Treasure' (Tasco '06), 'Grecian Skies' (Brown '84), 'Edith Wolford' (Hager '86), 'Bertwistle' (Innerst '90), 'Lavender Luck' (Ernst '88), 'Wedding Candles' (Schreiner '82) and 'On Edge' (Schreiner '86), with companion plants assorted pansies, Blue Star columbine, yellow, blue and white lupine, Crystal Fountain clematis, dwarf Snow Lady daisy, Konigskind clematis, tradescantia, High Noon tree peony, Silver Beauty Dutch iris, and hybrid tea rose Sunblest.

This bed always stands out: Tall bearded irises 'Aristocracy' (Keppel '06), 'Artist's Time' (Schreiner '74), 'Ever After' (Keppel '86), and 'Bubbling Over' (Ghio '92),  with companion plants Elisabeth variegated phlox, pansies, single late tulip Don Quixote, heartleaf bergenia, Jacob's Ladder, bleeding heart, and assorted pansies.

I love these rose and apricot colors together: Tall bearded irises 'Discretion' (Boushay '78), 'Naples' (Johnson '01), 'Mystic's Muse' (Schreiner '93), 'Magharee' (Blyth '86), 'Aphrodisiac' (Schreiner '86), and 'Role Model' (Denny '88), with companion plants assorted lupine, and Itoh peony Singing In The Rain.

Do you like experimenting with your flower beds? What are some of your favorite combinations?  I'd love to hear from you!

"Talking Irises" TALL BEARDED IRIS FROM THE '70s AND '80s

OLDER TALL BEARDED IRIS~TIMELESS BEAUTIES 
By Susanne Holland Spicker

One of the first recollections I have as a child are those of my Grandma Holland's flower beds.  She was a lover of flowers of all kinds, but had a special fondness for Tall Bearded Irises; I've inherited that passion. I spent many hours as a child watching her lovingly care for her prized hybrids. Now, years later, the scent of fragrant iris blooms in the spring takes me back to special memories. Their stately stalks, bearing colorful blooms of the rainbow, are a source of almost giddy happiness. Today there are so many new, beautiful seedlings from talented hybridizers, but I will always love many of the older varieties from the '70s and '80s--the ones from my grandma's garden. Their beauty, vigor, and proven reliability, along with good growth habits and form, make them  timeless in my eyes.

"LACE JABOT" (Gaulter 1982). This award-winning (HM 1985) lavender self, flushed blue-white in the center of the falls, is still a standout in the garden.  The well-branched stalks show off the large, lacy blooms early in the season here.  It is a long-lived bloom in arrangements.

Another favorite from Grandma's garden is "DATE BAIT" (Meek 1985).  A few of the things I love most about this lovely tall plicata is how it glows in the sun, as well as its lovely aroma and prolific growth habits.  It is always one of the first to bloom in my garden.

An iris that always gets noticed and is a favorite of visitors in the garden is "RINGO" (Shoop 1979).  This iris photographs especially well, and blends with several perennials, making it a most desirable iris to put in your landscape.  The contrasting white rim on the grape falls with the bright red beard is especially nice.

Grandma had lots of plicatas, and one I remember most is "BEYOND" (Gibson 1979).  The deep apricot-brown standards, and  ruffled and fluted falls of a white ground stitched deep apricot, with bright orange beards is one I haven't seen in many gardens, but her large clump was something to behold!  An arrangement of "BEYOND" is stunning.

Grandma loved pink irises.  There were many pink Tall Bearded Irises in her garden--that's probably one of the reasons why pinks are so attractive to me. Two that have proven to be reliable and hardy in Northern Utah over the years are "PINK ANGEL" (Rudolph 1973) and "PINK SWAN" (Gibson 1984).  I like the long, flowing falls, nice branching and ramrod stalks on "PINK ANGEL."  It also makes an impressive clump.  The blue-pink color of "PINK SWAN" with its unique red beards sets it apart from other pinks, making it an all-time favorite of mine.  I like companion plants of dark blue lupine and delphinium to compliment the hint of blue on its standards. 

Plicatas were another popular iris in Grandma's garden, and "THEATER" (Keppel 1986) has established itself as a personal favorite for its excellent growth habits  here in the top of Utah. It's light violet standards, and rounded pristine white  falls, overlaid  with dotted  darker plicata markings make an excellent choice for a place you want  to make an exclamation in the garden. 

The last three I'm going to mention are award-winning "SWEET MUSETTE" (Schreiner 1986), "EVER AFTER" (Keppel 1986),  and 40" bright orchid "ELISA RENEE" (L. Gaulter 1983).  These beautiful colored blooms are favorites not only for their dependability and beauty, but fuschia-rose colored "EVER AFTER" has a sweet fragrance as well.  

There are hundreds of wonderful irises from the '70s and '80s; these are just a few of my favorites. My grandma and her straight rows of beautiful Tall Bearded Irises are long gone, but as I work in the iris beds, or revel in a newly bloomed flower, thoughts of her and recollections of years gone by bring me joy  and pleasant memories.

What are your favorite 'tried-and-tested' Tall Bearded Irises from the '70s and '80s?  What special memories do irises invoke from your childhood?  

Amoenas: Iris Color Terminology

By Renee Fraser

When I received my first Schreiner's Catalog in the mail about fifteen years ago, I was bewildered by all of the terminology in the iris descriptions.  What could the word "self" possibly mean in relation to an iris?  And amoena looks like a type of tidepool creature.  Plicata, although fun to say, sounds like either a musical term or a type of pasta.  As I pored over the catalog, I slowly began to learn the differences.  For those of you who are new to irises, I hope this series of short posts on iris color classes will speed up the learning process.

An AMOENA  is an iris with white standards and colored falls.  It's my very favorite color pattern, and was the first color type of iris I ever bought from a catalog.  The iris below is called 'Fashion Passion', a tall and vigorous bloomer in here in Southern California.

'Fashion Passion" Burseen, 1992

 Perhaps the most famous amoena is 'Wabash', an historic iris that is still among the most popular irises in commerce.  The falls on this iris seem to have a neon glow.  I'm still searching for a photo of this iris I saw years ago that made my eyes wide with desire.  When I find it, I'll share it with you.  For now, look at this gorgeous clump from the Delaware Valley Iris Society.  

"Wabash" Williamson, 1936   Photo by CA Moyer

A favorite of mine is 'Ringo', even though it does not like me much.
I love the white rim around the falls.

"Ringo" Shoop, 1979 Photo by Betty Jacobs

Above all other flowers, I am smitten with red amoenas.  I am still looking for one with solid red falls that will grow well for me.  Although 'Looky Loo' has sanded instead of solid falls, it comes very close to my idea of flower color perfection.

"Looky Loo"  Ernst, 2005

Something about that frothy white whipped cream on top makes me amoena crazy.  Do you have a favorite amoena?  What color would you like to see in the falls with that lovely white?