Asian Iris: Sanguinea Japanese blood red Iris, Sibirica Siberian Iris.

The Iris gets its name from a Greek word meaning rainbow. This could be because of the many colours of a genus nearly 300 strong. Perennials, Iris grow from either rhizomes usually forming a creeping clump or sprout from a more bulbous type root.

In this post we will concentrate on two very popular Iris's grown in the gardens of Britain. Iris Sanguinea  commonly called and indeed one of the species considered to be a Japanese Iris. It is widely found naturally not just in Japan but from Mongolia to Korea and China too. It is also widely know as the blood red Iris largely because of its red inner colour spilling on to deep blue. The other Iris we will talk about in this post, and they are sometimes difficult to tell apart is Iris Sibirica commonly known as the Siberian Iris and is naturally found from Russia through Eastern European Countries. The way to tell them apart is by their stems. Sanguinea has unbranched stems, while Sibirica has branched stems. Iris Sanguinea has been hybridized with Iris Sibrica in modern times to extend the blue to a greater colour range.

Both Iris Singuinea and Sibirica are very easy to grow. They do best in loamy humus rich areas, but will tolerate most locations. Moist but not waterlogged ground next to a garden pond or watercourse would be an ideal spot. However they do equally well in a border and look particularly effective grown in clumps. Plant your Iris buy digging a hole twice as large as the pot or bare root. Add in a generous amount of compost and a handful of fish blood and bone meal to give your Iris a good start. Water well in and keep your plant moist especially during the summer months in its first year. Note! Check before you use artificial fertilizers if you are planting near a water course as there may be a risk of contamination to fish and other aquatic life.

The are happy planted in either full sun or partially shaded locations and tend to flower from May until the end of June here in the UK.

Their green narrow leaves die back in the Autumn and will need to be cut away when they have gone completely brown. New shoots start to appear again in mid March and it is a good idea to lightly fork in a handful of fish blood and bone meal to give the plant a good start to the growing season.

When clumps become to large over a few years they can be split. This is best done by either digging up a section or lifting the whole clump out of the ground and placing two forks back to back and prising the clump apart. This can be done several times until you have small enough plants. These can then be replanted elsewhere or given to friends, the village fete and so on.

General discussion and your views are welcome, please say hello in comments. I regret however because of my busy schedule I am unable to answer many questions. Thank you so much for visiting my blog today.

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