iriscristata

Dwarf crested iris - Iris cristata

This is one of the earliest Iris to bloom and probably my favorite. It is a very small plant with sky blue flowers, it
only blooms for a week or two in the spring, but is worth the space. It grows by creeping along the ground and
rooting at intervals. I have two different natives I have collected over the years, one is about the a third smaller
than the normal one. The smaller one was growing on the side of an old river bed, across from my great aunt
Lottie's house. It was a large patch of a couple hundred plants growing about 20 feet from a main highway, I
took a couple of leaders and rooted them. The next year the whole riverbed was bulldozed and reshaped, they
were gone before I could save them. I almost lost the clump a few years later, but now I have several large
clumps. I have had the smaller ones at least 26 years.

Above and left - This is the smaller plant.
You can see the running habit on the left, it
will root at the end of each stem.

right -This is the one that you found in
drifts from five through hundreds. I
have literally seen half a cliff face
covered in these in full bloom,
probably a couple of thousand plants.

Left - I bought this one from Siskiyou
Rare Plants about ten years ago. It
has formed a huge clump now. It is a
very pale blue almost white in the
center and a little large than the other
plants.
It was supposed to be the white
version, but it is a really nice little plant.
It grows at the edge of a rock patio
underneath an oak tree.

Right and below - I found the white one
finally this year. It is an incredible
plant, pure white with yellow on the lip.
I hope to get a couple more.

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