Irises – A Brief Overview

This is a brief overview of the genus Iris, with links to pages giving more detailed information about specific groups and species. There are also links to various iris related groups and societies. 

There are around 300 species of irises, all distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Expanding to the broader family group, Iridacae comprises dozens of genera across the globe totaling somewhere between 1500 and 2000 species. These include popular garden plants such as Crocus, Gladiolus, Tigridia, Sisyrinchium, and Freesia. 

Whether wet or dry, or hot or cold, there is usually an iris for any garden situation. In the Pacific Northwest, utilizing species and reblooming irises, there is the potential to have an iris flowering every month of the year.

The two main groups you will find are bearded and beardless iris. Popular beardless irises include Siberians, Pacific Coast, Spuria, and Louisiana Iris. For bearded irises, the Tall bearded and Standard Dwarf classes are both very popular. More detailed information can be found in the following articles.