Plant Profile

Blue Flag Iris - (Iris Versicolor), is a perennial in the Iridaceae (Iris) family native to Canada and the United States spanning south from Nova Scotia into the middle and northeastern United States to Virginia. The specific epithet, versicolor, is derived from this plant's ability to produce many-colored blooms while the common name, "flag", comes from an old English word (flagge) for reeds and refers to its natural preference to wetlands.

It prefers to grow in rich, moist soils and thrives in full sun while it tolerates partial shade.  Plants can be grown in up to 4 inches of standing fresh water.

The sword shaped blue-green clumping leaves reach 2 to 2.5 feet tall topped with a mass of blue lavender to white blooms. The blooms are formed of three upright inner standards and three distinctly marked sepals or falls.  The leaves are narrow and strap-like 1 inch wide and up to 24 inches long crossing at the base to be fan-like.  Though the fruit forms as a capsule, this plant propagates best by division of the rhizomes after blooms fade.  Prune back the leaves after the first frost to just above the crown.

Grow in containers in ponds or other water gardens in up to 4 inches of standing water. It is most happy in wet areas of pond margins, wet meadows, and marshy areas where it multiplies naturally forming clumps.  It tolerates browsing by deer.