Japanese Roof Iris

To make it even more desirable in my garden it comes with lots of relatives so i can add another species to my collection of the genus iris.

Japanese roof iris.

Iris tectorum alba with carex evergold the days are becoming warmer and the white japanese roof iris are beginning to bloom. Iris tectorum also known as roof iris japanese roof iris and wall iris is a plant species in the genus iris it is also in the subgenus limniris. Leaves are light green about a foot long broadly sword shaped and slightly corrugated down their length. Some sources suggest that when space became too precious for anything but food crops japanese women who used the powdered rhizomes as a face powder began growing iris tectorum on their thatch roofs.

Japanese roof iris has wonderfully textured light green foliage emerging directly from the ground in dense clumps fig. Can spread rapidly in the garden. It is a rhizomatous perennial. Other legends indicate it was used to ward off evil spirits.

The roof iris is native to china but was first discovered in the 1860s growing in japan on the roofs hence the common name. It grows 12 to 18 inches tall producing blue flowers in the spring. It is closely related to the native crested iris. It is very delicate and pretty but has an interesting past so it is no wonder that i love it.

But they do not require a great deal of water so they can be used in rock gardens. It is native of china korea and burma with lavender blue bluish violet purple blue blue lilac or sky blue flowers. Japanese roof iris is one of those plants. Japanese roof iris is also useful in wet areas such as around ponds and fountains.

Genus named for the greek goddess of the rainbow. Foliage is arranged in fans of narrow lance shaped ribbed glossy upright leaves that can become somewhat floppy. There is a white form as well. The common name is derived from the historical use on thatched roofs in its native china and japan.

Commonly called roof iris because it has in the past been grown on thatched roofs in both japan and china. Flowers are displayed in a showy fashion within the clump of foliage. As the rhizomes spread this iris can be used for naturalizing and mass planting. Or perhaps it was for purely pragmatic reasons to help hold the thatch together.

It is grown on thatch roofs in japan hence its most common vernacular name. Or is it a wall iris.