Growing Bearded Iris in your Native Cottage Garden
In this post, we’ll chat about growing irises with native plants. Companion planting with native plants and cultivated irises creates a beautiful Spring garden filled with colors, textures AND habitat for pollinators.
Read on about the joys of irises or tap => Iris Days to skip to the sale!
I’m creating a not so secret ‘iris farm’…
Over the past three years, I’ve been planning special gardens for the farm with tall bearded iris and native plants. Some in the front gardens to greet you in Spring and nearly 1,000 square feet of gardens in the back field.
These 30-40’ gardens will show how co-planting native plants & ‘rebels’ work to support pollinators in a home garden.
cultivated Iris are one of our favorite flowers
Yes we still love native iris like Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) which lives on our ponds edge. It is very slowly growing into it’s new home.
Did you know native iris
grow in fragile habitats such as wetlands and river banks. Clusters like these can take many years to establish and prevent erosion of stream banks.
We do not use native iris in our early Summer bouquets or in our propagation.
We encourage you to protect wild habitats and not disturb wild iris populations no matter how abundant the population is.
After all even ducks like iris flowers~
Cultivated Iris? Rebel flowers???
At the farm, I follow a 75/25 ‘rule’...
Using this as a guide, 75% of the plants are native species. The remaining 25% can be ‘rebels’ cultivated plants you love like zinnias, marigolds and iris.
So what does it take to be a ‘rebel’ plant or flower here at Lazy Dirt Flower Farm?
How are Bearded Iris rebels?
They are not on the invasive species list.
Cultivated Iris are "pollinator-friendly. The pollen is very easily found by native bees when they land on the 'falls' and easily walk through the iris beard to get to the center of the flower" (Penn State Extension)
Think of the ‘falls’ and beard as a welcome mat for pollinators~
Petals flowing down are the ‘falls’ of an iris
Native Plants & Bearded Iris
Iris in the native cottage garden
adds a touch of color, romance & fragrance to a Spring garden.
Here at the farm, Iris flowers float above the deep green foliage of our native plants. They fill the garden with color as we eagerly await the native flowers to step onto the stage.
Native foliage from Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Agastache make a beautiful backdrop for the irises!
Meanwhile dainty Spring blooming native plants like Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders) and Achillea millefolium (Common Yarrow) dance among the iris blooms of peach, white, blue and purple.
I tend to design my gardens with drifts with 3-7 plants each native species planning by SEASON. However with rebel flowers I can play with color combinations to create lovely pairings of native plants and rebels.
So far the native companion plants for the irises are in the lineup:
False Blue Indigo, Calico and Foxglove Penstemon, Phlox, Wild Bergamot and a splash of native Lupine for ‘spikes’ for Spring.
For Summer thru Fall: Little Bluestem, Purple Coneflowers, Tall Coreopsis, Brown-Eyed Susan & Common Yarrow.
Autumn blooms: Native asters will mix with any reblooming iris. Asters are amazing plants crucial food sources for pollinators (If you are new to native asters check out ‘Nuts of Natives’ post~ a fabulous blog post about these Autumn beauties!
Sharing the beauty of iris…
For the past 3 years, I’ve been collecting bearded iris to grow and share the flowers with you and local florists. Rhizomes have come from other small organic flower farms and of course Schreiner’s Gardens. The later is a world renowned iris farm in Oregon spanning 9 decades breeding & growing award wining iris. (from seed to plant it takes them 10 years to release one variety!)
In 2025, I’ll also be sharing iris grown right here on our farm!
It’s safe to say~ these are going to be AMAZING iris rhizomes!
Happening now thru August…
is our annual Iris Days Sale! Order beautiful iris for shipping or farm pickup before August 15th.
Farm pick up include a special day with tours of the new iris gardens
Plus a free workshop all about growing pollinator friendly gardens filled with native plants and iris!
Wrapping up….
Questions about the Iris Days Sale?
Maybe you want to a custom order? Like a special package to grow your own wedding flowers?
Contact me here BEFORE August 15th!
