Lovely on Land , But Perfect for the PondbyCarol Wallace
When we built our first pool ( they DO get addictive ! ) I was surprised to see Iris listed among the possible plants I could carry it with . I was accustomed to bearded iris that would rot if it so much as rained for three days straight . I could n’t ideate grow an iris in water supply . And so I did n’t .
later on , at various plant sales and end of the yr special I foot up a smattering of Siberian and Nipponese iris diaphragm – I have this thing for rescuing queasy plants and seeing if I can convey them back to biography . The Japanese iris did not look promising – so I adhere it on a brick on a shallow ledge in the pond . To my surprisal , it loved it there . conservatively I abstract in a division of my Iris laevigata – and it was happy too .
afterward I dilate my repertory to include others – Louisiana iris , Iris versicolor ( blue flag ) , Iris pseudacorus and Siberian iris . And for certain enough , the books were right – these plants not only will develop in water as well as in my garden – they thrive there .
Japanese iris are n’t really pool plants so much as semi - bog plants – they do n’t wish to be sozzled all the time , but they do appreciate damp soil . If you have a born pond these are perfect plant life for grow at the sharpness . Any of the other iris I named will also do well here – as well as in ordinary garden land . But the others will also actually grow in water .
My front-runner is I. laevigata ' Variegata ' – mainly because I ’m a sucker for variegated foliage . This plant has leaves strip vertically in unripened and clean ; mine blossom in a lavender blue . They also come in white and can get up to 2 ' tall . Many book claim these are true bog plant – but mine are thriving on a modest ledge in the pond about 6 " below the H2O level .
I also loved my Louisiana crossbreed . I say that they will grow best in a peat bog or pond , so they were one of the first plants I range when we build our own peat bog . These lovely plants get along in a plurality of colors from the pure white ' C’est Magnifique ' to the nearly black ' Black Gamecock ' with shades of pink , yellow and lilac in between . I was amazed that an iris diaphragm from Louisiana would do well here in my geographical zone 6 garden – but it did beautifully until the Iris pseudacorus suffocate it . Ah well – it was adorable while it lasted . I may try again , but this fourth dimension right in the pond – they will grow happily in body of water up to a foot deep .
And the iris pseudacorus ? I ’d heard that it was invasive . I should have known that it was invasive when friends from out of townspeople came toting a thump of it about the sizing of a small infant cover . I planted it just out of doors of the peat bog , where it would catch some of the runoff without find too loaded – I retrieve maybe that would keep it in checkout . But it was sneakier than I thought .
Although the bog line drive kept Iris pseudacorus from obtrude upon by its roots , the thing went to source . It institute seed in the peat bog . It planted seed between the pool ocean liner and the rocks circumvent the pond . It plant them in the lotus pot . I saw iris come up in piazza where I know I ’d never establish them . All yellow , all about 5 ' tall . They looked cheerful – and well they might , having successfully conquered the Louisianas and taken over their territorial dominion . And while they are adorable , I have no intention of playing sentry to these guys . Anything that blooms now gets immediately deadheaded . And when they are done flowering this year they are all leaving . However , if you have a fortune of moist land to fill and love yellow you might want to give these a ( cautious ) try .
One saving seemliness that this iris has is that if you embed it in a relatively small-scale pot ( in isolation – do n’t have it near other toilet ! ) it will soon rise right out of that pot and keep on go . While that may not seem like a save good will , the roots of the emancipated portion of the flora are peachy as a instinctive body of water filter . So maybe I wo n’t get disembarrass of all of mine .
A more well - behaved and quite lovely plant is the blue flag sword lily , Iris versicolor . I have one lovely clump of these flower in quite dry dry land surrounding my minuscule pool ( which , being concrete , does not have a damp pondside area . ) I have another pot of it growing in the pond – it is somewhat vigorous and will plant itself in other pots if not watched – but I have n’t had any difficultness check it .
The blooms are perfectly lovely – mine are a cloudlike blue air which serendipitously exactly play off the flowers of the Iris laevigata growing next to it . Mine on juiceless Din Land grows only about 18 " tall – but the one in my large pool grows stupendously . I put a small pot of it in last fall which immediately got knocked to the very depths of the pool and forgotten . I saw something growing at the pool ’s center this spring and mistily hop-skip it was a lotus that had suffered a alike lot ( the cad decided to go for an unscheduled swim ) – but to my surprisal , the provisional outgrowth turn out to be Iris versicolor . I assumed all I would see was folio tips – but it has been bloom merrily for the preceding 10 day . Obviously these babies can take deeper water than the Quran recommend . ordinarily it can grow up to 3 ' grandiloquent – but this one has to have reached 5 understructure to get above the urine ’s surface and blossom .
Now I ’ll be honest and allow in that I have n’t tried Siberian flag in the actual pond , although they do seem to fly high on boggy conditions . The unspoiled looking clump I have right now , though , is get in juiceless - ish territory in my raised bed garden . However , they are urge as pond plants and as soon as mine are done blooming I am going to separate one of the clumps and give it a try . I have it off the grasslike leaf , the various shades of blue , purple and lavender that they bloom in – and the fact that they will acquire in fond shade means that the end of my pool which gets shade from the apple Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree will finally have something grow in it .
All of these iris are hardy from zone 4 through 9 – Siberian sword lily may even maturate in zone 3 . All I do with mine in fall is humbled them to the bottom of the pool , which is recondite enough to put them just below the frost demarcation . ( convey them up in saltation can be cold-blooded work , but I bought my married man a wet courtship and he say he enjoy it . Somehow , he never quite got around to it this twelvemonth , though – which is how we discovered that Iris versicolor would get so nice and tall . )
They look nice as a single specimen , summate a perpendicular element to the numerous horizontally floating lily pads . But they also look sensory massed together for a fabulous late saltation show – and the leafage lends a good , architectural note to the pool plantings all season long .
The funny thing is , I no longer grow any bearded iris – they were just too much problem . But my iris repertoire has expanded immensely along with my pool – and I expect it will keep on growing .
Carol is a garden writer and college prof in northeastern Pennsylvania . She manages theGardening sectionofSuite 101.com , where she also write the columnVirtually Gardening .
