Species Hybrid Iris, Dutch Iris

Absolutely love these! I use them as annuals as my climate is not suitable for any Irises, too tropical. What gardener doesn't love Irise...Read Mores and Im no exception. Where there is a will there is a way.

What I do is buy them the minute they appear for sale, wrap them up in news-paper then bung them in the veg fridge for almost three months during our dry "cooler" season. Then plant out middle January (Northern hemisphere) not too deeply about ten-cm. I water occasionally as it's still the dry season. They are much easier with watering once actively growing. They need to rest dry but protected, insulated or wrapped for at least two to three months at 2 - 13 %C, so a fridge is ideal. They get a warm storage during production, retail and export or distribution before then which is all important for growing and bud development

They start growing almost immediately planted out and watered for me, showing a glorious carpet of blooms by mid late March for two - three weeks. You can also grow indoors in plain water if you have plenty of light. If you get good sized bulbs each stem has more than one bloom. Also different varieties flower at slightly different times and at different heights, extending the season. So I prefer not to mix plant them, but keep them each to one kind for the greater effect of mass blooms. After blooming April is already too hot and humid for me and the stems rot and die so I pull them out.

I love them for their tall wispy growth but large feather light flowers. They catch the lightest of breeze and dance and play. The leaves are very grass like and in fact should look stunning in suitable climates permanently amongst grasses but also happily create a mini field of grass like foliage all on their own when mass planted. As they're annuals for me I don't space them according to convention but pack them in closely. Large pots of them work very well. These I plant over permanent pots of resting Curcuma alismatifolia bulbs which don't mind the early watering at all and rapidly replace the X Hollandica once they've finished.

Treating them as garden annuals or for indoor forcing in very cold climates also works.

As these hybrids are of Spanish, Portuguese and North African origin they're not particularly ice hardy. The zone reference here is somewhat misleading. They still require a cold dry dormancy to flower, though. So store them cool and plant out after all signs of frost are past but before the temps rise too dramatically and they will still perform beautifully. Short of a day or two if the temps rise much above the 13 -18%C range before they've grown and set bud the buds will often abort or not develop at all so they need to be actively growing and or bloomed by that stage. These temp ranges are quite forgiving so growers in particular areas can decide when to plant according to their climate. Treated like an annual, forced garden bulb. Light is critically important, though. full sun during growth and flowering or again they might grow weakly and blind or produce no buds. No watering after the initial watering in until showing signs of active growth or the bulbs might rot so good drainage is a must if there is the odd downpour.

Basically as easy as Christmas Hippeastrums or "Amaryllis" except you are aiming to use them as garden plants instead by forcing them yourself.

I've never had much luck with these in Boston Z6a. They are very short-lived here (2 years at most) and often fail to flower or even surv...Read Moreive their first winter. The summer-dormant "evergreen" foliage comes up in the fall and usually gets hammered by our winters.

I find the foliage is untidy and the habit gawky. I think in the border it's most often an eyesore, especially when it comes up blind. Perhaps it's best relegated to the cutting garden.

Every year I divide the patches and every year more and more . I love them they sailed through this 2011 Texas drought , and to my surpri...Read Morese have multiplied this year also they are coming up with force right now . I cant wait till march when they all bloom .Heat ,drought ,cold ,eager armadillos, nothing phases them they just happily naturalize in drifts wherever I plant the new bulbs .

I have the cultivar 'Symphony' which is the same name as a bearded German iris. Mine is clearly the smaller Dutch iris. blooms are whit...Read Moree and yellow.