blue flowers, botanic garden, crevice garden, geophyte, geophytes, iris, iris bulbs, iris reticulata, JLBG, juniper level botanic garden, Plant Delights Nursery, rock garden perennial, rock garden plants, rock gardening, spring blooming, spring bulbs, spring ephemeral, spring flowering, Tony Avent, Turkey native, winter blooming plants, winter flowering plants, winter flowers, zone 7b
Flowering for the last week in the garden is the lovely winter iris, Iris reticulata ‘Painted Lady’. Iris reticulata is unusual in that it has bulbs instead of rhizomes. In the wild, it calls home the dry regions from Turkey to Iran. These spring ephemeral iris go to sleep for the year by late spring/early summer. Hardiness is Zone 5a-8b, at least.
I love Iris Reticulata; but it seldom survives for more than a year or two in my Central New Jersey garden. If anyone knows the secret to keeping it going, I’d be happy to hear it.
Check for voles, and poorly drained soils.
In the crevice garden, or can tolerate heavy clay?
They prefer very well-drained soils, so it would depend if you clay has those characteristics. We know that both sandy loam and gravelly soils work fine, but are unsure about clay soils.