Compared to a crisp, starched tea rose, the iris appears tattered and tremulous--as if a sudden breeze might just carry it off. Named for another fleeting beauty, the Greek goddess of the rainbow, the iris blooms in most colors of the spectrum, from pale creams and golds to shrieking yellows and rusty apricots to moody blues and almost-blacks. Its scents vary widely, too, evoking ginger or citrus, or more classically, ripe grapes. Long beloved among gardeners, the iris is one of the oldest flowers in cultivation. In the 15th century BC, Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III spotted its blooms as he sacked Syria and ordered his men to bring them home. Greek physician Dioscorides wrote in the 1st century AD of fragrant Iris florentina, used as raw material for perfumes as well as medicines for a variety of ills. In medieval times, the iris traveled with the crusaders to the Holy Land, appearing on French flags as the fleur-de-lis, symbol of royalty and divine might. More recently, Victorians planted irises like mad, which explains its nostalgic associations, though modern varieties bear scant resemblance to what our grannies grew.
Of the 300-some iris species, the most popular are the bearded types, those with fuzzy hairs at the base of their petal-like falls. Descendants of European and Asian natives, they're sun lovers that grow from shallow rhizomes and thrive in well-drained soil enriched with plenty of organic matter. They range in size from miniature dwarfs (8 inches or shorter) to talls (between 2 1/2 and 4 feet), the scale of choice for maximum garden impact.
