Walking Iris (Neomarica northiana)

A close-up of the blossom at about 8:00 in the morning.

nice image. what is it's zone range? i looks like a cold climate plant--a bit like the native iris in new foundland.

Not sure what the zone range is. I live in Zürich, Switzerland, and got the plant from a friend of mine, who didn't know anything about it except that it came from Brazil. I found it was a Neomarica northiana last weekend when I was at the botanical gardens here in Zürich, then did a Google search on it. Quite a bit of info out there, but no picture on this site so I thought I'd post one...

Anyway, this pic is almost 2 years old, and although the plant grows like mad now, it hasn't blossomed since. Dunno why... would like to see another one of the flowers because they are beautiful, but they only last one day :-(

I've attached a picture of the (now) two plants.

I just discovered this site! I was given a baby of this plant a year ago. I was told it was an orchid native to Costa Rica (and this guy is a world traveled horticulturist). Last winter I had 2 blooms that produced 2 babies. At this moment I am anticipating the arrival of 6 blooms! I keep this plant in my watergarden all summer and bring it indoors in a water garden in winter. There is always water available when the bloom bends the leaf down which begins to root and forms a new plant. I do keep Schultz fertilizer in the indoor water garden. There were also several blooms thru the summer in the water garden with my koi. Truly love this plant!

I have been raising this plant since 1976. It was given to me by a friend from college, and to my knowledge, it had never bloomed for him. After cultivating it a few years I happened to notice a few blooms one day, which caused me to pay much more attention to the plant afterwards. Since that time, I have given several divisions away. My friend who originally gave it to me happened to vacation one winter in Hawaii, where he came across entire forest floors blanketed with this iris, thus its name 'walking iris'. Of the many plants in my collection past and present, this is an outstanding plant with or without blossoms. I would enjoy owning all of the species in the genus.

This message was edited Friday, Feb 13th 5:00 PM

Hello Greg, Your Neomarica could very well be N. Northiana. I grew it in Pennsylvania many years ago where it was called the 'Apostle Plant'. I now live in Hawaii and I have hundreds of Neomarica plants some of which (N. Amethystinum x Medusa) have flower stalks 6 and 7 feet high with several all violet flowers opening at the same time, all on the same leaf which carries up to eight seperate flowering sheaths, I get upwards of 600 flowers open at one time and the fragrance is 'heliotrope"everywhere. The leaves are silghtly bluish as compared to a shorter un-named species which has emerald green leaves and the very common 'walking iris' N. Gracilis (Gracilis means Grassy) The fragrance of each Neomarica species is different and N. Gracilis reminds me of 'lilies of the valley'. I do not remember the fragrance of N. Northiana but it is different from all others ( maybe like Apple) and basically they all come from Brazil. I also have N. Cereulea which has no white petals ( like N. gracilis and the un-named one). Neomarica is usually confused with Moorea which it resembles closely except the Moorea flowering stems arise from the base of the plant --- unlike the Neomaricas which produce flowers from the leaf itself which then produce 1 to five plantlets. They will all walk and spread themselves around but I either replant them where I want them or use them for barter or give them as gifts to friends who can't live without them. They also make a lot of seed which is easy to grow. Perhaps you could send me your email address and I can send you a folder. Here is my address..... Babachick@hawaii.rr.com

Hello again Greg. I was successful in posting a jpeg of 'Medusa' and will try to do it again with N. Cereulea

Greg , I think this is the one I want to send flowers on the left are 'cereulea and the ones on the right are 'Medusa". I am bending Medusa down to get the comparison form and color.