The bearded iris is usually planted as a rhizome in the garden soil relatively close to the surface of the earth. The plants, which are generally relatively easy to care for, are characterized by the fact that the different varieties have different growth characteristics, flowering times and location requirements.
Which bearded iris varieties are the most popular?
Popular bearded iris varieties include 'Melon Honey', 'Little Bucaneer', 'Fairy Ballet', 'Swizzle', 'Arctic Fancy', 'Con Brio', 'Champagne W altz', 'Provencal' and 'Old Black Magic', which are divided into three groups: Barbata-Nana, Barbata-Media and Barbata-Eliator.
The three groups of bearded iris varieties of different heights
The bearded iris, which was created by crossing Iris variegata and Iris palida, is now enjoying increasing popularity worldwide, so that breeding experiments have already produced well over 200 different varieties. IN order to be able to bring the very heterogeneous varieties into a certain order, they are usually grouped into three large groups based on their height:
- the Barbata Nana Group
- the Barbata Media Group
- the Barbata Eliator Group
While the Barbata-Nana group is the lowest varieties of bearded iris, the Barbata-Media group includes the medium-sized varieties. The Barbata Eliator group contains the bearded iris varieties that reach particularly large heights.
Particularly popular varieties of bearded iris
Within the “small” bearded iris varieties, the varieties ‘Melon Honey’, ‘Little Bucaneer’ and ‘Fairy Ballet’ are particularly popular. Among the medium-high varieties, the varieties 'Swizzle', 'Arctic Fancy' and 'Con Brio' are particularly popular. The most popular varieties of the Barbata Eliator group are 'Champagne W altz', 'Provencal', and 'Old Black Magic'.
A particularly magnificent bearded iris variety
The Iris barbata-media 'Helen Proctor' is a medium-high bearded iris variety that is characterized by its special flower color. The flowers are almost deep black at the base, while they turn a magical purple towards the top. This variety blooms early and with relatively small flowers that last a particularly long time.
Tip
The special appeal of bearded irises lies in combining different varieties with different heights and different flower colors. Since the different varieties bloom at different times between spring and mid-summer, a long flowering period can be achieved in a perennial bed full of bearded irises.
