Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Iris germanica

There are only a handful of flowers that were planted on our property, and this is one is among our most magnificent. For a couple of years after moving here, there were about half a dozen Bearded Iris flower stalks that bloomed, but unfortunately this area gets flooded when it rains heavily and I'm afraid the bulbs rotted. The plants seem to be making a come back, but this is the only stalk of flowers that bloomed. I made the most of it though, so tonight I'm showing the pictures seperately and not nested together as I have with other flowers. I hope you like them! :) The Bearded Iris is native to Germany, and gets its name for the fuzz or "beard" that grows on the three lower petals, which are called "falls". The inner upper petals are called "the standard." This flower was so beloved by the king of France that it was chosen for their national emblem, the fleur-de-lis! (Conflicting information states the Yellow Flag Iris--Iris pseudacorus--was the flower used for the stylized emblem.) In any event, the Bearded Iris is an extremely popular flower. Like daffodils and crocus, once you plant irises, you'll get beautiful flowers every year without doing anything, and they will also multiply over the years! These flowers are also very adaptability to different soils and climates, and can tolerate droughts too! :)! If you would like to know more about Bearded Iris, The American Iris Society has a great page here: Bearded Iris Classifications . For more information about irises in general, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Iris

Here are two of the four flowers in full bloom! Aren't they magnificent?! In fact, Steve and I are going to buy an assortment of other colors to plant this fall so we have more lovely flowers to enjoy next spring! :) Irises grow from a kind of bulb called a rhizome, and they look a lot like a ginger root, which is also a rhizome. Many flowers which bloom in the spring or early summer are planted in the fall. This is important because the bulb, rhizome, or corm must have a "resting" period of cold temperatures before they will grow. In the springtime, the soil begins to warm up and the bulbs, rhizomes and corms "wake up" and begin to send a stem up and roots down! If you would like to see an amazing assortment of Bearded Iris in a zillion different colors, I found a wonderful farm in California which has an endless variety to see! :) Pleasant Valley Iris Farm

It's nice having this flower right outside the front door because I could just step outside to see its progress as each flower began to open! (You can see the drying daffodils and jonquils that form the bokeh in the lower right! :D) Bearded Iris comes in every color of the rainbow except true red, and has been cultivated to grow in many different sizes from miniature to tall. Ours is a Tall Bearded Iris! :)