Forget the overbred giants: These ‘ace-bent table irises’ produce up to 15 flowers

When talking about irises, most flower lovers think of tall bearded irises. Although their designation may surprise someone. Merchants who sell irises call them variously – large-flowered irises, brush irises or germanicas. But I don’t want to get into terminology. I just used the Czech translation of the designation used in the international register of irises – Tall Bearded. There are many other interesting groups of garden irises than the most commercially well-known ones. And many of them would certainly deserve a place in the garden. Let’s attend to them.

They bloom already in May

As the first of the group of bearded irises, already at the beginning of April, the still wild growing, botanical iris low (Iris lined up). A group was bred from this iris and other related species low garden irises. They usually bloom at the beginning of May, they are 20 to 40 cm high. Group tall irises it grows more than 70 cm, sometimes over a meter, and usually blooms in June. Of course, the weather also affects the flowering date. And it was the crossing of low and tall irises that created the group middle irises (Intermedia Bearded, abbreviated IB). They bloom during May, i.e. in the middle of the iris season, filling the short gap between the flowering period of the other groups. Also, their height (40 to 70 cm) places them somewhere in the middle of the group of bearded irises.

Medium irises are characterized by distinctive patterns of drawings. They are often more suitable for gardens than the tall ones, thanks to the abundance of flowers and healthier growth. We proved this by testing them as part of the bachelor’s thesis of a student at the Faculty of Horticulture at the Mendel University in Lednice. The plants withstood the conditions of the exposed location in Hlučín at the intersection of streets that, among other things, are chemically treated during the winter. One of their advantages is that they do not suffer from spotting as much as tall irises – this disease greatly reduces the ornamental value of irises in planting. But, of course, even these quite resistant plants require a certain amount of care, like all cultivated plants.

Some irises are included in this group only by height. In this case, these are plants that genotypically should belong to the group of low irises, but grew higher than 40 cm. These “overgrown low” irises are capable of interbreeding. But when short and tall irises are crossed, there is such a combination of chromosomes that the middle irises are mostly sterile. And sterile plants that are unable to produce seeds usually grow all the more luxuriantly and healthily because nature gives them a chance to reproduce vegetatively.

They love the sun

Like all bearded irises, the middle ones like a sunny location and well-drained, slightly alkaline soil. They are planted in July. Due to the lush growth, it is advisable to divide the bunches and transplant the plants every four years. You can grow them as singles, in groups, or as part of perennial beds with plants that have similar habitat requirements.

Tip: Medium-sized irises are more suitable for cutting than tall ones, which often topple vases. Although they tend to have a smaller number of buds on the stem (5 to 7), they bloom in abundant clusters. The stems often grow gradually, which extends the flowering time of the plant.

Miniature irises

Another group of irises with very interesting properties are miniature tall bearded irises (Miniature Tall Bearded, MTB for short). Their name is a bit of a contradiction in terms. Perhaps a looser translation would be more appropriate – small-flowered tall bearded irises. In the US, this group is also called Table Irises after their use for arranging.
They are as tall as the middle ones, i.e. 40 to 70 cm. Their stems are delicate, slightly curved like an ace, more branched and gradually up to 15 smaller flowers bloom on them. Their coloring is less pronounced than in other groups of bearded irises. They are mostly single-colored or with a fine pattern on the lower petals. Subtle coloring may be more suitable for arranging than too wild. And their overall structure and number of flowers is also suitable.

Growing requirements are similar to other bearded irises. They are less noticeable on the flower beds than the other groups, the two-color varieties are more prominent. Interestingly, their rhizomes do not remain leafy during the winter, but mostly overwinter with only the top buds. They multiply quickly, so they need to be transplanted after three years.

Not just for the garden

For arranging, rather than the rhizome irises discussed in the article, we use bulbous irises, also known as Dutch irises or popularly called irises. Bulb irises are often purposefully fast for cut flower production. And since the popularity of flowers moves in waves and irises are not at their peak at the moment, small-flowered tall irises are still waiting to be discovered by florists. However, you can enrich your garden with them already this summer.

You could find this article in the magazine Recipe No. 05/26.