Garden presence. That's what I get from another one of my favorite irises, 'Plum Pretty Whiskers.' All of my favorite photos of my garden feature this iris. It bloomed on and on during the two fantastic springs of 2012 and 2013 here in Southern California.
I have it planted with foxgloves, purple violas, lamb's ears, paludosum daisies, and roses.
'Plum Pretty Whiskers' was registered in 2003 by Don Spoon. It is listed as growing to 35" and blooming mid- to late-season. It is shorter than that in my garden, with nice straight thin leaves and double-socketed buds. It blooms mid-season here. As you can see in the photo above, the falls on this variety "pinch", but that does not detract from its overall impact, in my opinion.
Sometimes the dark spot on the falls is large and solid, and sometimes it is thinner and wispy looking. I like the variability.
'Plum Pretty Whiskers' reblooms here in Southern California on occasion, but Virginia Spoon tells us that it was not registered as a rebloomer. It is so pretty that I don't require it to rebloom (like I do with 'Total Recall' in the foreground). After I overwatered it last year in the heat of summer, I almost lost it to bacterial rot. I managed to save it by digging up the healthy rhizomes and potting them up and moving them to the shade for the remainder of August and September. The plants have not yet fully recovered, but they did bloom this spring. Perhaps by next year, I will have more photos of this lovely iris to share.
