Species Iris, Virginia Iris, Great Blue Flag, Southern Blue Flag

This is one of my favorite Spring blooms. It's one of the first plants I see emerging after the snow melts. Early on, it's leaves are a n...Read Moreice purple color. As it grows, the leaves will turn green. When it blooms, it doesn't last long. If you have a group of them, you might be lucky enough to see blooms for a few weeks. If you only have one or two plants, you'll won't see blooms for more than a week. While it doesn't last long, it's definitely worth having. I consider it to be my favorite Iris. It does best in moist to wet soil, but I've seen it growing in average soil, too. It grows in both sun and shade, but will not bloom in shadier situations. Like many Irises, it's leaves will not look ideal later in the year, but they will stay green until Autumn.

Mine is growing nicely in my left back porch.

I purchased mine last year at Mercer Arboretum's annual March Mart plant sale. They had a section of native plants and this was included....Read More They are trying to promote gardeners to grow more native plants.
I have found this plant much easier to grow than other irises I own. It is currently blooming prolifically. Each bloom only lasts a day or two but each stalk produces multiple rounds of blooms.
I have it planted in a bed that sometimes gets waterlogged after several days of hard rain (the reason why i chose this plant for this site). The rest of the time I just water it when I'm out watering all my plants. It has done fine in both conditions, though does look better with more water.

The Blue Flag Iris used to grow along the Fox River (zone 5) in Illinois. It got crowded out by non-native species. The Wildflower Sanctu...Read Moreary in Batavia IL (check out the plants on their web site) is restoring Iris Virginica to the river banks and so are some of the residents along the Fox River like I am. You mostly see the Yellow Flag Iris in this area.