Re: Iris Compatible Plants

I agree with Ryan's suggestion of letting Johnny-Jumpups (Viola
tricolor) grow among bearded irises. Even in my poor dry soil, these
little guys thrive & reseed to a fair-thee-well, flowering almost
non-stop late spring to frost, in full sun & rather dense shade. They
are tiny & shallow-rooted & don't interfere with the iris at all. I also
feel guiltless ripping them up to divide & replant the rhizomes 'cause
the Johnny-Jumpups will reappear once things settle down.

I also like scattering California Poppies (Eschscolzia) amongst TB's --
these annuals don't reseed for me but they do pop up each spring &
summer from seed scattered on loosened soil in late fall. The lacey
grey-green foliage of C. Poppies looks great with the stiff iris leaves,
the water & sun requirements are the same & if you deadhead or shear
them back, they keep blooming thru fall. The species has a soft orange
flower but there are also hybrids with colors ranging from creamy white
thru shades of yellow & gold to pale pink & deep red.

A favorite combo is clumps of purple bitone TB's with adjacent clumps of
bright orange-red Oriental Poppies -- not subtle but I like it. The
biggest drawback is the short bloom period of both (the irises are not
rebloomers) plus the fact that O. Poppy foliage dies back after
flowering & doesn't form new rosettes until early fall. I haven't yet
solved the dilemma of the "hole" they leave but last summer I planted
some starts of two low-growing sedums (S. Kamschatka with yellow flowers
in late spring & S. spurium with pink/maroon flowers in summer) in with
the poppies so maybe this will work. Both sedums qualify as invasive
here but their "vigor" means they should recover quickly when I have to
dig & divide either the irises or poppies. All of these plants like
well-drained soil & full sun & are drought tolerant.

Marte in the mtns	Zone 4/Sunset 1  Colorado
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