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Iris (beardless Pacific Coast)
iris

- Height 1/2-11/2 (15-45 cm)
- Planting distance 9-24 in (23-60 cm)
- Flowers late spring to early summer
- Neutral or acid soil
- Sun or partial shade
- Rhizomes available fall
- Hardy zones 7-9

The plants in this rhizomatous group of Western natives have no narrow, tough, and dark green. All are moderately hardy, and all flower in late spring to early summer and make good cut flowers. Invaluable for the West Coast garden, they are less reliable on the East coast and generally poorly adapted to the central regions of the country. They do best in neutral to acid soils and so may be grown with rhododendrons.

Popular species and cultivars
Iris douglasiana has flowers of blue-purple or lavender with veining on the falls. Each stem carries four or five blooms, 1-11/2 ft (30-45 cm) above ground. Plant the rhizomes 2 ft (60 cm) apart. This species tolerates alkalinity. Iris innominata has cream, buff, yellow, or orange flowers with rich brown veins; others are pink and blue-purple. Each 6 in (15 cm) stem bears one or two flowers, and grasslike evergreen leaves. In humus-rich soil, it forms small clumps. Plant 9 in (23 cm) apart. Iris tenax bears lovely blooms shading from cream and white to lavender and orchid on 1/2-1 ft (15-30 cm) stems. It is the most easily cultivated Pacific Coast species. Hybrids, resembling I. douglasiana and I. innominata, are 9-18 in (23-45 cm) high. This free-flowering plant bears blooms that shade from white to yellow and orange to pale blue and purple. Plant 1 ft (30 cm) apart.

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