Reviewed By PETER LICKORISH
Peter is a Horticulture Lecturer and self-employed Horticulturist, with a passion for diverse areas of the industry - from garden design to the science behind plant growth and propagation. He has completed the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture (MHort) Award and lectures on RHS courses at Bedford College.
Contributions From SIMON DODSWORTH
Simon is the Founder of The English Iris Company, an award-winning plant nursery based in the UK. In 2015, his nursery’s iris collection was awarded National Collection status by Plant Heritage. More recently, the nursery provided irises that featured in the Gold Winning British Iris Society Centenary Stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022.
IN THIS GUIDE
The genus Iris comprises over 310 species and tens of thousands of cultivars, and this very fact clues one into the abiding fascination floriculturists and gardeners have with Iris.1Iris. (n.d.). Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:326330-2
All these many varieties of Irises are divided into numerous groupings of which the Bearded Iris is emblematic of the genus.
Indeed, Bearded Iris itself is further subdivided into six sub-groups.
Other types of Iris include Flag Iris, Water Iris, Siberian Iris, Bicolour Iris, Aril Iris…the types and kinds of Iris go on and on.
In this guide we focus on Europe’s (and America’s) most popular Iris, Bearded Iris, of which there are so many tens of thousands of cultivars that no-one can keep count!
Bearded Iris has been extensively cultivated to the extent that it is now divided into half-a-dozen groups by plant size, flower size, and blooming season.
The American Iris Society’s classification, adopted by the British Iris Society, is as follows:
- Miniature Dwarf Beardeds grow up to only 20cm.
- Standard Dwarf Beardeds have heights from 20-41cm.
- Intermediate Beardeds from 41-70cm.
- Border Bearded Irises are of the same height range as the Intermediate Beardeds but bloom later in the season with the Tall Beardeds.
- Miniature Tall Beardeds are also of the same height range as the Intermediate Beardeds but their flowers are smaller and stems are thinner – they are daintier.
- Tall Beardeds start 70cm and rise to over 1m, their stalks exhibit more branching, and their large flowers exhibit desirable qualities more frequently than those of the other types.
In general Bearded Irises go into bloom by height, starting from shortest and ending with the tallest.
They bloom from the beginning of April to the end of June.
However, there are also cyclic bloomers and re-bloomers, flowering again in late summer and early autumn, which introduce a happy variation to the blooming season.
Iris germanica
The mother species.
This iris attains a height of 70-100cm.
It blooms in spring, putting out violet flowers with yellow beards.
The species is hardy to Zone H6, and varieties, i.e. Bearded Irises, are hardy from Zone H5 to H7.
Expert-Chosen Varieties
“A bearded iris flower is an intricate shape with 3 upright ‘standard’ petals and 3 hanging ‘fall’ petals,” shares Peter Lickorish, a Horticulture Lecturer at Bradford College.
“On these petals are the beards, which are the collection of hairs which help guide pollinators to the centre of the flower and give these plants their name.
“At the other end of the scale to the Tall Bearded varieties, ‘Bright Button’ is a Standard Dwarf variety with sumptuous ruby flowers, which could pair nicely with a darker Tall Bearded Iris.”
Simon Dodsworth is the owner of The English Iris Company, an award-winning iris specialist based in Norfolk.
“If you want a blast of colour, grow ‘William of Orange’,” says Simon.
“Try planting it with ‘Red Pike’ for contrast and, just for fun, add ‘Sherwood Pink’. The combination is stunning.”
“I am particularly fond of this colour combination; we have used it to great effect at some of the RHS Shows.
“It will also give you around four weeks of flowers, starting with ‘Red Pike’, then ‘William of Orange’ and finally ‘Sherwood Pink’, which is the last iris to flower in my garden by over a week.”
Underneath we review a top ten of Tall Bearded Iris cultivars with a preference for the aesthetic, striking and dramatic.
1) ‘That’s All Folks’
Growing to 1m or more, this variety has nothing to do with Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig.
This variety may not bring any ‘extras’ to the table but its big blooms with frilly petals will undoubtedly bring a radiance to the summer garden.
And that is because of its warm, intense, and riveting hue of yellow accented with a white blaze on the falls.
2) ‘Absolute Treasure’
Grows to 1m or more – the large flowers are well ruffled.
The falls feature creamy white centres but the reason that this flower is a ‘treasure’ is surely that the outer part of the falls and the standards are of a rare floral colour in a rare tone: a very pale, pastel tone of blue.
3) ‘Champagne Elegance’
Aptly named in view of its colouration – it grows to about 90cm.
The standards are off-white while the falls are truly of a ‘champagne’ hue, and display yellow beards.
Champagne coloured with a hint of orange as it is, this flower appropriately has a lovely orangey scent.
4) ‘Autumn Tryst’
Rises to about 85cm with the welcome qualities of being a re-bloomer and also being sweetly fragrant.
The largeish flower is bicoloured as the frilly petals have unusual pearly-white centres gradating into a sparkling tone of lavender.
It blooms a second time in end-summer or early autumn.
5) ‘Sugar Blues’
Attains a height of about 85cm and it too is a reliable re-bloomer, putting out flowers a second time from late summer.
It is also fragrant but of a pleasant, powdery scent rather than an intense perfume.
As for the colours, this knockout has a striated white blaze near the centre and also has a white-yellow beard while the petals are a mesmerising, translucent hue of baby blue.
6) ‘Immortality’
Attains a height of about 75cm, and has multiple desirable attributes.
First, it is a re-bloomer that flowers a second time in late summer or early autumn.
Next, its blooms are intensely fragrant.
Finally, the heavily ruffled blooms are spectacular as they are pure, snowy white with the small yellow beard accentuating the petals’ snowy whiteness.
7) ‘Jesse’s Song’
Grows to about 85cm.
Though its flowers’ petals are heavily frilled and ruffled, the flowers’ shape is among the finest as the falls are spread out and are relatively firm rather than limp.
The medial halves of the petals are a bright white while the outer part is an equally bright purple, with lighter lavender tones and speckling where the two colours meet.
8) ‘Titan’s Glory’
Grows to nearly 90cm and it too is quite fragrant.
It boasts especially large flowers, even for a Tall Bearded.
What is more they are ‘selfs’, so to speak, being unicoloured including even the beard.
And this colour is an intense, gorgeous violet that your eyes will feast on.
9) ‘Superstition’
Rises to about 90cm and has the desirable trait of a slightly longer-than-normal flowering season.
The frilly standards are a deep and vivid gem-like purple with a beard to match while the falls are nearly black, making it one of the most striking and dramatic of Iris flowers.
10) ‘Before The Storm’ (Tall Bearded)
Attains a height of about 90cm – its flowers are very fragrant; petals are very ruffled.
Though for a Tall Bearded it does not boast large blooms, these blooms are indubitably among the most stunning and dramatic in all Flowerdom, for they are black with delicious chocolate-maroon tinges and tints.
