Winter’s mini marvels
They might be small, but vibrant dwarf irises punch well above their weight
THERE can’t be many keen gardeners who wouldn’t automatically recognise a bearded iris. This stately perennial, with its sword-like leaves and elegant flowers, is arguably the star turn of late spring and early summer. Yet there’s a much less celebrated member of the family whose blooms will brighten ghten up plots during the colder monthsonths of the year.
Dwarf irises are a group of lowgrowing beauties with flowersers in many shades of blue, yelloww and purple. These appear on n 4-6in stems between January and early March, depending on variety.
Few who see them in gardens at this time of year realise they are related to border irises, even though they possess similar looks. My explanation for this is that most don’tt expect to find irises flowering g in the depths of winter or believe ve it possible that a clan famed for r its soaring stems could come in such small packages.
I must admit the first dwarff iris I ever saw left me flummoxed.oxed. About 20 years ago, I was enjoying a walk when I caught sight of a flower partially hidden under an ornamental grass. It was unfamiliar to me, so I stopped, crouched down and parted the leaves of grass to find out more.
A handwritten label at its base revealed this gem to be Iris danfordiae, a compact species with sweetly scented canary-yellow flowers that comes from Turkey. Introduced to Britain in the 1870s, it was discovered by Mrs C.G. Danford, an English plant-hunter who visited the lands of Asia Minor several times that decade.
This variety piqued my interest. Wading through some hefty gardening tomes later, I found out that many more dwarf irises had made their way to our shores during the 19th Century, largely from mountainous regions of Greece and Turkey.
All of these wild species are still worth growing, but plant breeding has led to a won- derful range of named varieties. Use them to cheer up gravel areas, rock gardens, beds and borders, while those with less space can grow them in pots or window boxes.
Perhaps the best known and most readily available is Iris reticulata, a wild species with velvety blue flowers, whose outer petals are marked with a central yellow stripe. Their heavenly scent attracts bees and early pollinators from late January until March.
The plant gets the second part of its botanical name from the Latin word reticulatus, meaning net-like. Some think it’s due to the markings on the flowers. It’s not. Take a close l ook at the papery tunic that protects the fleshly bulb and you’ll see a distinctive meshwork pattern.
Iris reticulata is the parent plant of many outstanding varieties. Among them a are pale blue ‘Cantab’, deep purp ple ‘J. S. Dijt’ and ‘Harmony’, w whose royal-blue petals are ado adorned with a yellow stripe. ‘Ed ‘Edward’ has showy violet-blue flow flowers with orange and white markings ings. For my money, ‘Katharine Hod Hodgkin’ is the most desirable. Its silve silvery-blue flowers are overlaid with intricate streaks, veins and spots in sea-green and yellow, and appear on 5in stems between January and February.
This highly coveted variety was bred by E. B Anderson, a prolific gardening author and dwarf plant enthusiast, who named it after the wife of his good friend Eliot Hodgkin. Launched in 1969, it was awarded the Cory Cup by the Royal Horticultural Society for best new plant introduction that year.
DWARF irises prefer a sunny spot and will do well in most soils, so long as it’s fertile, moist but fairly well drained – they’ll rot in heavy ground over winter. Many nurseries sell a range of readygrown plants in pots for planting at this time of year, but for a greater choice of varieties, you’ll need to snap up bulbs in the autumn – plant at a depth twice the height of the bulb and 2in apart.
A swathe of flowers makes an impressive feature at the front of the border, or around the base of a deciduous tree or shrub. Smaller groups of plants with bold blooms stand out well against a pale backdrop, making them ideal for rock gardens. Another option is to grow them in containers filled with John Innes No2 compost with extra horticultural grit.
Over several years, dwarf irises will spread underground to form large colonies that might become shy to flower, so rejuvenate by lifting, dividing and replanting after flowers have died back in spring.