I planted three spuria iris varieties this summer. When I received them, the rhizomes looked lifeless, if not rotten, and there were no roots! Nevertheless, they came up and have surprised me with their healthy appearance. All my irises are well and dormant now, but the spurias are still green and upright. Are they evergreen, I wonder?

Does anyone else have experience growing spurias? I love their form and have heard that they can last a very long time without division. The varieties that I got are:

Adriatic Blue
Cinnamon Stick
Sky Dancer

tiento, i copied this from yahoo:


"Irises - Houston Chronicle
www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/Irises...
The beautifully colored standards and falls, the two parts of the iris bloom, make spurias florist favorites. The glossy evergreen 2 1/2-foot-tall fans of this naturalizing iris are topped with ..."

I do not grow spurias, but I was told to pass this on:

'Yes, spurias are often dormant in summer and come into growth during fall or over winter.'

See: http://www.spuriairissociety.o...

Tienito!

I wish I could help further, but I've never dealt with spuria irises sadly. In the coming future, though! Good luck with your irises!

grow a few .....maybe 15, or so. "Basic" culture is about the same as bearded.....lots of sun, and good drainage, although I plant them about 2 inches deep, instead of "on the surface", and mulch them with pine straw, for the first year after planting.soil ph doesn't seem to be an issue for them, as most are planted with the bearded irises, but some are in my "beardless bed", which has been "acidified". Like other beardless....when they are "out of the ground", the rhizomes need to be kept damp, and they will.....when it's very dry, benefit from a good watering(although ,my soil is VERY sandy, and possibly in heavier soils, watering may not be as important)
All -in - all, I would say they are the easiest of the irids to grow.

Interesting that they come out of dormancy in the fall. They are very like Louisiana iris then in that respect. So yes, having nice foliage for your spuria now is nothing to worry about.

crowrita1 said: grow a few .....maybe 15, or so.

Spoken like a true iris aficionado! I'm curious, do you have any favorites that you would recommend?

Shelford Giant



Sunny Day



Rodeo Blue
all three of these seem to be pretty easy to grow, they aren't the "flashiest" , but if you want something a little more colorful:



Piper May



Missouri Rainbows

Arlyn ~ They are beautiful!

I started collecting Spurias last year but they don't seem to do very well here in arid Colorado, lost at least 3 of the 6 I purchased. I was advised to plant in pots and treat them more like Siberian's than TBs, that they need more moisture here than TBs. The 1 I planted in AL fall before last actually bloomed last year with not a single ounce of additional watering and only weeding twice the entire year, noticed that it had died back when I visited in early fall and didn't specifically look when we were there a few weeks ago.

I have 2. Iris spuria 'Golden Lady', Iris spuria 'Lemon Delemma'

I have them planted with my Japanese and Siberian iris. No special care.

They do not seem to be evergreen. I am in zone 5. I just went out with flashlight in hand, they are all brown but do have a few green new growth. Never noticed that before:) of course, I was not looking...

Thank you for sharing the pictures. Missouri Rainbows is so fresh and beautiful!

crowrita1 said:

Missouri Rainbows

I'm revisiting this thread because, as it turned out, the spurias went dormant in the summer and really suffered under our wet conditions. I lost two of the three that I bought, and am waiting now to see if the third comes back this spring. What a bummer. I emailed a vendor to ask if they could recommend spurias that do not go dormant and could handle our climate better. It is my understanding that spurias come in broadly two groups - a northern group that does better in wet summers, and a southern group that requires dry conditions during the hot months. Unfortunately for me, most of the spurias from our west coast are of the latter group. I can't seem to find any information about the tendencies of specific cultivars though.

A good source of info would be Jim Hedgecock of Comanche Acres Iris Gardens.
He sells a good variety on his site, and he's in a climate somewhat similar to yours, although not exactly. He may be able to guide you. Im not sure if that's the vendor you've mentioned in your post, but it could be a start.
Best of luck

My one surviving spuria is Cinnamon Stick and is blooming with a single scape right now. I'm on the fence about pulling it out. The flower reminds me why I love this class of irises so much. Maybe I'll wait another year and see.

my golden lady was a no show last year (2019). Lemon Delemma was just fine. Waiting to see what develops this year.

that Cinnamon Stick is a keeper!

Cinnamon Stick is beautiful---mysterious!

Good luck, Frank, on seeing some blooms this year!

I love Cinnamon Stick too .

Totally_Amazing said:I love Cinnamon Stick too .

I agree, very