Heirloom Iris

Icons of the late-spring/early-summer garden, bearded iris are easy to grow and richly diverse. Give them full sun and average to well-drained soil and they’ll reward you for close to forever. We’ll send you 3 of our favorite heirlooms (a few possibilities are pictured here), all different, labeled, freshly dug from our Ann Arbor micro-farms, and great for zones 3a-8a(10aWC).

For more of each variety, order additional samplers. Iris care.

Born in Mapleton, Iowa, this handsome farmboy went on to win the iris world’s highest honors, including the Dykes Medal in 1950. A silvery blue-purple that’s usually described as “cornflower,” it looks especially good with silver-leaved perennials such as lavender and Russian sage. And it’s deliciously lemon scented! 38-40”, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

“‘I smell ripe grapes!’ cried a freckle-faced boy” in Ella McKinney’s 1927 Iris in the Little Garden – but it was actually this richly fragrant iris he smelled. It’s richly colored, too, a pure, deep, glowing rose that drew me like a beacon when I first saw it at our local Farmers Market many years ago. Just 24-26 inches tall, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

With velvety petals of burgundy and rose, ‘Dauntless’ is one of the oldest and best of the so-called “red” irises. It was introduced by Nashville’s Clarence Connell in 1929, beating out ‘Indian Chief’ to win the Dykes Medal as the year’s finest iris. On “tall heavy stems,” its luxurious blooms “last over a long season” (Cooley’s, 1937). 34-38”, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

Short, early, and REBLOOMING, ‘Eleanor’ flowers at the very dawn of iris season and then again in the fall in warmer gardens. It’s an intensely deep reddish-purple with a fascinating iridescent sheen. Named for the First Lady who became one of the most admired people of the 20th century, this special iris deserves your vote! Just 20 inches tall, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), Ann Arbor. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

If I could grow only one iris, this might be it. Its color is a pale, luminous pewter – unique and ravishing. Its falls are long, like the ears of a basset hound. Its blooms kick off iris season. And its history is deep. Although modern scholars say it’s not the I. florentina or “white iris” of ancient times – now I. albicans – since at least the 1500s its rhizomes have been dried and sold as orris-root, a prized ingredient in herbal medicines and perfumery. Learn more here. Zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart, care, and learn more. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

At Wave Hill, the legendary Marco Polo Stufano championed hundreds of little-known but fabulous flowers, including this classic iris. Just two feet tall, it melds happily into perennial gardens where its luminous, pale gold standards over a lacework of raisin-purple give it a regal presence. Tough and floriferous, 20-24", zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

This tough little charmer, carried across the country by the pioneers, flourishes today in thousands of old gardens, cemeteries, and abandoned homesites from Bangor to Santa Barbara. Although our photo may make it look brassy or plain, in the garden here its small, cheery flowers of chestnut and gold have won it many fans. Some experts claim that, due to a mix-up 150 years ago, its real name is ‘San Souci’, but we’re unconvinced — and whatever you call it, this is a richly historic and rewarding iris. 20-24 inches, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

Introduced by Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie, the famous French seed company, this sumptuous iris features violet standards over deep, velvety, claret purple falls with vivid white reticulations and an orange beard. But popularity and survival depend on more than good looks, and ‘Monsignor’ – like many cherished pass-along plants – grows with great vigor and blooms abundantly. Fragrant, 28-32”, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart and care. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

The perfect size for bouquets, and luminous in the garden, this elegant small iris is named for Maud du Puy, the Philadelphia-born wife of one of Darwin’s sons. Although often confused with its sister ‘Mrs. Horace Darwin’ (which we offered last year), it’s laced with gold and purple (not just purple) and blooms later (extending the sisterly season). 24”, zones 3a-8a(10bWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart, care, and learn more. We hope to offer this variety again in 2021. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.