The most commonly grown Iris by our members is the Bearded Iris. The flowers have three upright petals called standards and three cascading petals called falls. They have a row of fuzzy hairs, called beards, at the top of each fall. Easy to grow and beautiful to look at, there are over 30,000 cultivars of bearded iris.
The heights shown are for the bloom stalk. The flowering period may vary by variety and climate. All bearded iris are grown from rhizomes.
Tall Bearded (TB) – 27.5″ to 40” in height, blooms April through June. Sometimes called “German Iris.”
Border Bearded (BB) – 16” to 27.5” in height, blooms May and June. A proportionally smaller version of the Tall Bearded iris.
Miniature Tall Bearded (MTB) – 16” to 27.5” in height, blooms mid-May through June. Blooms are small on slender stems.
Intermediate Bearded (IB) – 16” to 27.5” in height, blooms late April to May.
Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDB) – 8” to 16” in height, blooms mid-April to mid-May. Useful at the front of the border.
Miniature Dwarf Bearded (MDB) – Up to 8” in height, first to bloom in early spring, late March and April. Plant in clumps in a rock garden.
Designations
Historic Iris – Historic iris are iris varieties introduced, registered, or documented before 1992.
Median – An iris in the following classifications: Border Bearded (BB), Intermediate Bearded (IB), or Miniature Tall Bearded (MTB).
Novelty Iris – Novelty iris are those that don’t fit into the categories established by the American Iris Society. Some examples are:
- Space Age: Iris with appendages at the end of the beards in the forms of horns, spoons, or flounces.
- Broken color: A genetic instability that causes iris flowers to have streaks or splashes of color, making each bloom unique.
- Flatties: Iris with normal falls but with standards that are flat instead of upright.
- Purple-based foliage: Iris in many classes can show a purple staining at the base of their foliage. This may extend far up the leaves. Sometimes the entire plant may be purple.
Rebloomer – An iris that blooms again in any other season than its normal spring bloom period, usually in the summer or fall.