Many of us have older iris growing somewhere in the garden. And most have grown for years without any disturbance from humans.
But what are those iris?
Did you know that almost every bearded iris has a name? Its been hybridized and registered with the AIS. Wild iris, obviously they came from somewhere, are usually known by their species name such as I pallida . this means Iris Pallida and as far as is known, they grew in central Europe until humans (or bees) started crossing them with other wild iris.
We have two main iris ancestors (pure species) that are found in every modern iris today:
I Pallida, and I Variegata.
I Pallida is very very common. It is that tall blue/lavender iris that you see in clumps, in cemeteries, and along back fences of old gardens. It is usually solid light in color, with no fancy markings. Some pallida are darker, some pinker, but they all are clones of the pure pallida as found in Europe particularly Italy.
I variegata is a different kind of iris. Its short and yellow on the top, browninsh veined on the bottom.It is also kind of rare and fining a picture was tough. I am going to show you a picture of a very similar iris, Honorabile, but just remember it is not variegata, just something quite similar.
Unlike pallida it is short and does not like to multiply rapidly
