The story of the Iris flower dates back to Ancient Greece, when the Greek Goddess Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, acted as the messenger between heaven and earth. This rainbow goddess carried messages for the gods Hera and Zeus and back to earth by the arc of the rainbow, hence the Iris flower is the symbol of idea and messages. The rainbow refers to the wide variety of flower colours found among the many species. There are some 300 different species of iris and their flowers come in a wide variety of colours such a yellow, white and purple, pink and orange, coppery browns and even almost black.
Siberian Beardless Iris
There are bearded and beardless and crested irises. Bearded irises are called such because they have ‘beard’ of fine hairs along the centre of the ‘falls’, beardless irises often have crests and no beard. Crested irises have a ridge instead of a beard and prefer damp woodland in temperate climates. Water irises flourish in a bog-like garden.
Bearded Iris
They also come as Rhizomes or bulbs. The Reticulata group are dwarf and flower early from bulbs and are beardless, they are especially good in containers. Spring Dwarf bearded irises grow from rhizomes and are only a few inches tall and then there are the tall Dutch irises used for cut flowers. So if you want to grow irises then choose the right plant for your location.
Crested Iris
So, the list and the possibilities seem endless.
Please click on an image to scroll through the gallery to view.
I, too, have a weak spot for Irises. I am doing my own wedding flowers and initially omitted them due to cost… however, after thinking and reading your post, I’ve just decided that I cannot live without them and ordered some!
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That’s wonderful! Which colour?
Blue iris symbolizes faith and hope. Yellow iris symbolizes passion while white iris symbolizes purity.
xx
Beautiful!
Thank you.