Irises: Iris cristata feedback, 1 by Leftwood

Leftwood wrote:
Neal must be right about the foliage of Iris cristata only going bad in the sun. I have the species at the base of a 75 year old oak, and foliage looks fine all season. BTW, it is dry gravelly, acid base soil there, full high shade. Only a sprinkling of flowers each year. No additional watering. I also grow 'Vein Mountain' in open shade, pictured below is from today. Foliage is still nice.

I second the notion that cristata grows tighter in more sun, but Iris lacustris is overall a tighter species and with somewhat thicker rhizomes.

One year, I forced Iris pumila and Iris cristata for our early March Rock Garden Society banquet. I use plants of both species that I had potted both the spring and the late summer before. All spring potted plants did well. Late summer planted pumila did well. But late summer planted cristata all died. I wonder if these crested Iris cristata have a different root growth time pattern compared to bearded iris, that makes them particularly vulnerable to bare rooting. Because remember, Iris cristata is not a bearded iris.

Rick