Northern Shade Gardening

Iris new purple bitone pretty petals

I found a brand new iris growing in my garden, and it is gorgeous. It is a bitone bluish purple with beautiful striations on the falls. It must be a cross between the two unknown type of iris that I grow, that hybridized on its own. Hurray for pollinators.

Iris new purple bitone glowing interior

It is a gorgeous combination of light bluish purple standards, and dark velvety purple falls, with wonderful striations on the falls, and a golden yellow beard.  If I were going to design an iris, this is the type I would hybridize, and it grew all on its own in the garden. I’ve never had anything so beautiful magically appear in my garden- a gift from nature! The pollinators have been busy. I usually deadhead my iris, so one of them manged to set seed before I removed it.

Iris new purple bitone beard and striations

I love this closeup view of the golden yellow beard, with the snazzy deep purple zebra stripes on either side, and the soft light purple petals above. I’ve read that the markings are considered a fault on an iris, but I think it makes this more eye catching. It makes a great landing pad for a pollinator, with a come hither enticement, a come and get some nectar look.

I was just walking along as usual today, past the long section of yellow iris with the maroon coloured falls, and there, at the end was this stunning iris. I was so very surprised. There is a light bluish purple iris near there, but this was entirely different, and I had to examine it closely.  It appears to have a combination of the traits of my two iris. Both of the two iris were in the garden when I moved in, so I never knew their names, unfortunately.

my 2 iris

The bluish purple iris has the same colour on all of its petals. They are plain, with no markings, except the golden beard.  The solid purple is  a pretty colour, but not stunning. I only have one or two of them, which don’t seem to spread. The iris with the yellow standards and patterned maroon falls is very hardy, so I have divided it and planted it in many beds around the garden. I now have a couple hundred of the yellow iris, which thrive wherever I place them. I hope that the new iris  has inherited the vigour of the yellow bicolour iris, which will grow anywhere. Here is a previous post about these original iris

Iris new purple bitone top down view

This new iris has the same standards (upright petals) as the old bluish purple iris. However, the falls (downward petals) are a very deep, very velvety, dark purple, with  beautiful markings on either side of the beard. Those line markings are similar to the yellow and maroon iris. It’s possible that it is a cross with some neighbour’s iris, but it is situated right where my two different iris meet, and combines their traits in one iris,  only it turned out far more magnificent than either of them.

Iris new purple bitone pretty buds

The new iris  is 80 cm (31 in) tall, and the flower is  11 cm (4 in). Here are some more side buds about to open. The buds are tightly rolled dark blue tips. There are 8 buds on 2 fans, so there will be a number of gorgeous blooms to come.

This was the most delightful surprise I’ve had in gardening. It’s a brand new iris, with just the characteristics I would have picked, and it appears wondrously in my garden, in some of  my favourite colours.  I can’t wait for the rhizomes on this to spread. I will be dividing this up and planting it around the garden. There is more information about these iris in this post.

Iris new purple bitone inside flower

Have you ever had a wonderful surprise in your garden?

iris new puprle bitone angle view better

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) plant and flowers

Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’ (lilac fairy barrenwort or bishop’s hat)  is a fabulous shade perennial. The leaves are especially nicely shaped, some like asymmetrical hearts, while the purple blooms start appearing shortly after the leaves.

This barrenwort goes by the marketing name ‘Lilac Fairy’, a fairly close metaphor for the flowers. I’m not sure how many more plants it sells than the ‘Lilafee’ designation, but I suppose a picturesque name can’t hurt.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) flower closeup

The purple flower on this Epimedium has a unique shape, with long white spurs. The clusters of flowers are held above the foliage, with the blooms overlapping. They bloom for about 4 weeks.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) flower bunch closeup

Here is a closeup of the purple flower bunch of Lilafee. You can see the long, narrow petal tips. It’s nice to see the flowers held up high, and visible from a distance, since many spring shade perennials arrange their flowers demurely under the leaves.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) new dark leaves

The new leaves of this Epimedium are a dark red color in early spring. Then as the plants first grow, they keep a red border around the leaf edge.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) new leaves

The red of the new leaves fades away as the green takes over, and eventually the foliage is all green. Here you can see the little pink buds on the left. These appear very shortly after the tiny leaves. Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’ is up and blooming early, but the leaves continue to be attractive after the flowers fade. The plant is about 30 cm (1 foot) tall.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) plant and flowers 2

Here is another Lilafee flower spike up close. I planted one of these perennials last fall, and liked it so much that I went back for more, but the remainder had had an unfortunate greenhouse glass accident. I’m going to expand the group this year, since the plants look great at the front of the garden border with their fresh looking leaves, plus the whole dancing fairies effect.

In the photo below you can just see a frond of Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese painted fern) off the left. I have a group of these ferns next to the Epimedium, and the colourful, textured fern foliage looks great next to the softer Epimedium leaves. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see how the light green leaves of the barrenwort have a soft glow in the shade.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) plant red leaf

This Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’ makes a great shade plant. It overwintered in zone 3 just fine, and sent up leaves early. These attractive leaves cover the ground well, while the purple flowers are pretty and display gracefully. You can see this Epimedium with its Fall colour change in this post.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort) closeup leaves

Polygonatum commutatum giganteum (giant solomon's seal) double flowers

Giant Solomon’s seal produces lovely arching stems, from which the little flowers dangle in the spring. Their tolerance of shade makes them a welcome plant under the trees.

This perennial is listed as either Polygonatum commutatum, Polygonatum giganteum or P. biflorum var. commutatum. I’m not sure which is the most up to date scientific name, but my favourite is ‘giganteum’. It conjures up images of these little flowers dangling at eye height. So far mine are only 45 cm (1  and  ½ feet) tall, so I had to squat to take these pictures. Perhaps next year I’ll be standing on tip toe to take them, or perhaps I’m just too easily swayed by a picturesque name. They will have to do some more growing to catch up to the Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern) behind them. However, they have not trouble rising above the lily of the valley. They are supposed to grow over 1.2 m (4 feet). If I straighten the arch they might be 60 cm (2 feet) tall, but that’s cheating, like standing on your tiptoes when you’re getting your height measured. We’ll see if the shade and competition with the  willow allow them to reach their full height in a few years.

Polygonatum commutatum giganteum (giant solomon's seal) single flowers

The flowers on these giant Solomon’s seal are hanging down in pairs on half of the plants, two little cream and green blooms, side by side, strung out along the stem.

However, this seems to be a capricious perennial, since some of these Polygonatum have single flowers dangling below the stem, instead of pairs. The nomenclature seems to have confused these plants.  (Am I a biflorum or not? Are you now or have you ever been a commutatum?)

The leaves of giant Solomon’s seal are similar in shape, colour and veining to the lily of the valley, but they are arranged alternately along the curved stem. Each flower comes out from the stem, just a little above each leaf axle. This causes the flowers to be very evenly spaced along the stem.

As they mature, the little flowers flare out on the bottom, with little green petal tips. The arrangement of the flowers, suspended underneath,  and the tight buds flaring out reminds me  of the Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ (white bleeding heart) that are just starting to bloom now.

Polygonatum commutatum or giganteum flared flower

The distinctive arched shape of the Solomon’s seal stems make a nice contrast to other plant forms. It makes a counterpoint to the outward curve of the ostrich fern.

Last fall I was planting these perennials past dark, by the light of the motion security light. I was behind the willow, when the light went out. I had one Polygonatum left, and it fell to the ground, losing its stem. In the dark I couldn’t tell which way was up, and made my best guess. It seems to have worked, as they are all up now, and all have multiple stems, a very accommodating plant. The recommended spacing was 1 m (3 feet) apart, and I can see now that they will be filling in the area, even though I didn’t  give each little stem its own 1 metre (1 yard) radius of garden at planting time. The willow tends to diminish the height and width of plants growing underneath it.

Polygonatum commutatum giganteum (giant Solomon's seal) flowers in pairs

Polygonatum giganteum are great plants for the shade garden. The arching branches, with little charms suspended underneath are very appealing. The curving stem arrangements look graceful over shorter plants. I like them next to ferns, so I will be planting more of these attractive perennials.

I’m always looking for tall shade plants. Now if only they would take their ‘Giganteum’ name a little more seriously. Do you have any favourite tall shade plants?