Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Native Dwarf Iris

I'm in the home stretch of this blog-a-day month. Phew. My belief that there would be something new everyday to share has been fulfilled, but its been a challenge to blog daily!

Here I present to you the two native dwarf iris that grow in our area and that Mr. D has brought to live in our yard.
Above is the Iris Verna Linnaeus*. It is distinguished by the patch of orange on its sepal and the fact that it has no crest. Below is the crested dwarf iris Iris Cristata Aiton*. Its hard to see the crest in this picture, but isn't it lovely nestled in with the Japanese silver fern ?

April into May is definitely the month for iris and the Siberians are about to put on a show along with the taller crested purple iris that we moved from our house in town. Below, if you look close, you can see the frilly patch that is the crest.


*Wild Flowers of North Carolina by William S. Justice and C. Ritchie Bell, UNC Press 1987

2 comments:

Stew said...

It's be-yoo-ti-ful. My irises haven't bloomed. I'm attributing that to the fact that I divided them this fall.

Carol Henderson said...

I have enjoyed dipping into these April postings--informed and entertaining. Thanks.