The Vesper Iris Blossoms During Hot July
Of the hundreds of species of iris, one of the most interesting is the lovely Iris dichotoma or Vesper iris. It blooms longer and produces more flowers than any other I know and has many other endearing characteristics.
Its delicate blossoms come in lavender tints, pale blue and rose with mahogany and tyrian markings on the petals and white on the falls. Flowers are 2 inches in diameter and are freely produced on slender, graceful, well-branched stalks. Leaves resemble those of the bearded iris but are arranged like a fan.
Although a single clump may display more than one hundred blooms, they are never bunched up into an unsightly mass. Each blossom seems to stand alone and to be displayed to advantage. A few clumps in full bloom look like a multitude of butterflies at rest with outstretched wings.
Vesper iris opens at three o’clock in the afternoon. That night they fade and, as if by magic, twist into little spirals and fall to the ground. This is an altogether lovable trait. A flower that removes its own withered blooms! Fresh blossoms are replaced so quickly that a planting of Vesper iris never looks bedraggled as do many perennials unless their dead flowers are cut off.
This variety is a boon to the impatient gardener. Where as other types of iris must be planted after the blooming season and don’t produce flowers until the following spring, the Vesper iris may be set out in spring as soon as the ground is workable. It may even be planted in June or July. It will still bloom a little later.
Also if this iris is planted at different intervals, blossoms may be had from July to October. The blooming season begins July 15 and in the latitude of Michigan, continues for six weeks.
One of the best features of the Vesper is that its blossoms appear during the hot, dry days of July and August when all other iris are gone and many of the other flowers begin to show the effects of the weather.
Although the Vesper iris grows taller and produces more flowers under ideal conditions and when given a little nourishment, it is not discouraged by heat and drought, indeed, it seems sometimes to thrive on adverse conditions. Actually, this flower is not too particular about the soil in which it’s grown or about the location in which it’s placed. It does well in either light or heavy soil, clay, loam or sand; in part shade or full sun.
While the Vesper iris looks lovely a few months after it’s planted, it usually doesn’t attain its full height of 44 inches until the second season. It is a novel plant. Only a comparatively few gardeners have ever seen it, but once it is seen, it is bound to be loved and desired.
[...] have planted Iris dichotoma, you are in for a new kind of thrill. Dichototna is also known as the vesper iris, for it does not bloom all day long but waits until late afternoon. Go out about three-thirty or [...]