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Many people are familiar with the large hybrid spurias. These plants are
quite tall, sometimes to five or six feet, and are very stiff upright
plants. They are excellent at the back of a large border. In many gardens
however they are just too tall to fit into the landscape. There are
several spuria species that are quite different from the more familiar
hybrids and the large species from which they were derived. These small
more graceful species fit into smaller gardens quite well. Below is a
brief description of these smaller species. I. graminea is the most commonly encountered one of these
species. It grows eight to fifteen inches tall with narrow grassy upright
leaves as the name indicates (gramineae being the name of the grass
family). The standards are purple blue and the falls are white heavily
lined with blue violet. As in most spurias the falls consist of a long
horizontal haft culminating in a small round blade. The hafts are
concealed by rather showy styles of very pale blue violet with a dark
almost purple center stripe. This iris is commonly called the "Plum
Scented Iris" because of it's strong fragrance of ripe plums. I.
graminea tends to bloom in the leaves but is still a garden worthy
plant. One or two stems in a bud vase makes a lovely bouquet, this is one
iris I recommend for cutting. Two other closely related irises are I. colchica and I.pseudocyperus.
I. colchica is fairly universally considered to be a form of I.
graminea but I. pseudocyperus on the other hand has been the
base of much botanical discussion. I think the new species book by the
British Iris Society makes more sense than anyone. They state that I.
pseudocyperus may be just a form of I. graminea but they feel that
from the gardeners standpoint there is a big difference. The flowers of
the two plants have the same form but in I. pseudocyperus the color
is brighter and it is a much larger bloom and is not scented of ripe
plums. The plant of I. pseudocyperus has much wider leaves which
are quite lax. The whole plant tends to arch over and is more suitable for
the top of a wall or the edge of a border. The flowers of I.
pseudocyperus are on short stems but show well above and among the
leaves. I. sintenisii is another of the small spurias that you may
encounter. This is smaller in all it's parts than I. graminea
generally growing no more than six to ten inches tall. The plant has short
rhizomes and forms a tight clump of narrow arching leaves which are
evergreen, quite thick and almost leathery. The flowers have the same form
as I. graminea but I. sintenisii flowers are a deep rather
bright blue. Again the falls are white heavily veined with the same deep
blue. Like I. graminea, I. sintenisii has a closely related
variety and one subspecies. Iris sintenisii var. urumovii is
not generally in cultivation so is of little concern to us here. It's
chief differences from the species being that it is an upright plant with
very glaucous leaves that are deciduous. However I.sintenisii subspecies
brandzae is a garden worthy plant. It has very narrow 1/8 inch wide
leaves that are quite bluish in color and makes a dainty little plant. The
form of I. brandzae grown by Jean Witt has wonderful
terra‑cotta colored pods that are every bit as showy in the fall as
the flowers are in the spring. Another of the small spurias that is rarely found in
cultivation is I. pontica. From the descriptions I have read a
rather muddy blue purple flower on short stems surrounded by tufts of much
longer leaves that effectively conceal the flowers. Not something well
recommended in most of the books. At least if you run across the name you
will know what it is. The last of the small spurias we will discuss is I.
kerneriana. This slender species is the only one of the small spurias
that is yellow. I. kerneriana grows about eight to twelve inches
tall. The flowers are typical of other spurias in form but are quite large
for such a small plant. The color is a pale primrose yellow with a deeper
spot on the blade of the falls. the foliage is quite narrow and of a
bluish green color. I. kerneriana is a very neat little iris that
is an asset to the rock garden or border. One problem with I.
kerneriana is that it seems to be a bit difficult to establish. Once
growing for you it is fairly easy. The culture of all these small spurias seems to be similar.
They all seem to prefer neutral to slightly acid soil. Most need plenty of
water in spring but will not tolerate soggy soil so good drainage is
necessary. Later in the summer some drying is acceptable but the shallow
rooted ones like I. sintenisii will not tolerate a total drying out
or baking. Most are fairly heavy feeders. The culture of these small
spurias is not difficult if you pay attention to watering, feeding and
especially good drainage. Most of these small spuria species are available from time to time through specialty nurseries such as Heronswood or Reflective Gardens. An inexpensive and easy way to start with them is by seed. Several of the seed exchanges have seed for them and SIGNA seed exchange almost always has a selection. Contributed to the KCIS Newsletter by Carla Lankow, October 1997
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