Iris plants can grow into each other if you're not looking so it seems best to have contrasting colors. I like to alternate plants with pbf with the green based ones to also help in ID when not in bloom. Some plants used in hybridizing get moved to the edge of the beds so I can reach them.

Mary Ann- WOW!!!! Glorious garden and photos!

I'm downright OCD about color harmony, but I am a floral designer after all- I can't help it, LOL. Complementary colors, those directly across from each other on the color wheel are always striking (like yellow/purple, blue/orange). I find I prefer them to be of similar color saturation when using contrast, like pastels together, or bright/dark colors together.

I also like taking a section of the color wheel, and using all shades within that section together, like purples, lavenders, and various combos thereof. Patrick, your mention of reds and purples would be this kind of combo, and using some blends or bicolors that combine shades of red and purple makes it really special.

The difficult ones for me are those with muted tones of beige, brown, rust, grayish, etc. Those often get lost near bright or clear colors and look dirty. I find those often combine well with each other, and look really great near plants with bronze foliage.

Thank you Neal -- it attracted a lot of passers-by right into my driveway!!!

I had forgotten that you are a floral designer. I would consider your gardening designs to be professional!!

Since I am really only into Historic Iris, I tried very hard this year when buying my rhizomes to look carefully at the colors in the rhizomes I was purchasing - I found myself drawn to Iris
such as "Dauntless" and "Frank Adams" and "Rameses" and "Indian Chief", but realized how
very similar all of those are to one another. And I did the same thing with the Purples I purchased, i.e., like "Alcazar" types. I had to buy more Solids to blend in with the blends.
Unfortunately, I ended up planting "Wabash" next to "Helen Collingwood" - two similar iris.

Neal, I do like the muted tones of beige and brown, and found myself drawn once again to
iris with those colors - I ended up buying "Argus Pheasant", "Grand Canyon", "Prairie Sunset"
and "Mary Geddes". I love the colors of all of those. I hope they all do well and bloom next Spring.

Thanks Mary Ann! I know I'd surely come to a stop passing your place at bloom time...or wreck! LOL

A fun way to play with color combos is to snag photos from the data base and place them together in a post. I love how some folks make a collage, but I'm not computer savvy, so this kinda gives a similar effect.

Another thing to consider is bloom time. They might look great together, but if one is finished blooming before the other one starts you miss the color combination altogether. Sometimes I place two of the same color near each other, one's early, the other's late, then put 2 of something else that is a good combination next to them that have different bloom times. That way you get that combination over a longer period of time. fwiw

Patrick - if you planted a solid purple or white behind or in front of Wabash and Helen it would make the eye notice the differences between the similarly colored ones that are planted next to each other.



I know you like reds, as do I. I like to have a solid red next to bitones or plicatas, etc. that have red and another color.
For example - I have Grateful Red and Michigan Pride next to each other.



From there I could add another red, or a orange or yellow that would be complimentary to the colors in G. Red and M. Pride. In this case I have Bewilderbeast, a broken color iris with red, yellow and white in it in front of these two (and peeking out behind M. Pride).

Good idea Tom! I also like to get an assortment of bloom times in the same color palette for an area, that way no matter how bloom times coincide they'll look great together.

Above I just looked for colors, but you can search the data base for bloom time as well as colors and fine tune the results.

I agree about checking bloom times. I often have great combos but have found they then don't bloom at the same time so the effort was wasted.

Lestv said:Patrick - if you planted a solid purple or white behind or in front of Wabash and Helen it would make the eye notice the differences between the similarly colored ones that are planted next to each other.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Wabash')
• Uploaded by KentPfeiffer

• Species Iris (Iris x germanica 'Florentina')
• Uploaded by dirtdorphins

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Helen Collingwood')
• Uploaded by Lestv

I know you like reds, as do I. I like to have a solid red next to bitones or plicatas, etc. that have red and another color.
For example - I have Grateful Red and Michigan Pride next to each other.



From there I could add another red, or a orange or yellow that would be complimentary to the colors in G. Red and M. Pride. In this case I have Bewilderbeast, a broken color iris with red, yellow and white in it in front of these two (and peeking out behind M. Pride).

I have "I. Florentina" planted behind "Helen Collingwood" and "Wabash" - but I also have planted "Frank Adams" next to "Helen Collingwood on the other side. Hopefully, the I. Florentina will add some variance.

Think that should be fine Patrick!

I have told some folks as they are buying that even the same plant side by side may/will bloom at different times. So much is dependent on soil content, sun light, and moisture. I would be very "broad" with the groupings because of this.

True Greg, and I've even seen them bloom at the same time one year, and not the next. The garden is always full of surprises.

In my home database I have named the folder with the date of bloom, if I ever get the time I want to do a spread sheet of dates of bloom time followed by the year the Iris bloomed that year.

I tried to do what Barb is talking about, but it was way to cumbersome to try to manage. Now I try to put all my blooms on one thread, and I can go back year to year and compare bloom dates. At's more fun that way.

So, what does "Early", "Mid", and "Late" mean ? Does it refer to specific Months that the Iris blooms? or does it refer to specific weeks within a specific Month that the Iris blooms?
I've always found these type of labels very confusing.

In my garden I find the terms to be somewhat but not always true. Some cultivars can be a week or two earlier than others. Others are later. An example is Gypsy Lord which is often one of the last TBs to bloom in my garden. I do not worry about these designations much but early, medium, and late can extend the season. Location also influences time of bloom. a cultivar planted along a sunny south facing wall can be a couple of weeks earlier than one in an open bed that gets a little shade.......I'm rambling....

It refers to the 'season'. Early blooming TBs here can get touched with frost.

Here's some interesting reading, regarding "size & season http://theamericanirissociety....

These are not iris pictures but they do show color combinations. Another option is going to a nursey and look at their color combinations to see what you like. Then apply the color combinations that you like to your own iris.

Neal, I really like what you did with the database pictures. I don't know how to do the collages on the computer either.