Iris germanica Baie Rose - Bearded Iris

'Baie Rose' is an intermediate garden iris, edged and intensely dotted with rosy violet on a white background. Lower than a tall bearded iris, slightly earlier in spring, it adds colour to borders, beds and very sunny slopes.

This iris reaches about 60 cm in height when in flower. Its stump gradually widens through short rootstocks and, after a few years, forms a clump 35 to 45 cm across. The leaves, narrow, stiff and glaucous green, are arranged in fans. They are lower than the flower stems. Bearded irises flower best when the rootstocks are level with the ground and 'bake' in the sun. The flowers of 'Baie Rose' are formed of three erect petals of a light rosy violet, above three trailing cream-white sepals, broadly edged with rosy amethyst. The yellow beards brighten the centre of the flower. This is where the plicata pattern is best seen: the background is light, the colour concentrated on the margins and around the heart of the flower. The flower stems bear several buds that open successively. This variety flowers in May, before most tall irises, even though it is among the latest intermediate irises.

'Baie Rose' was raised in France by Richard Cayeux. It was registered in 2005 under seedling number 0051A, then introduced in 2006. Its parentage combines the cultivars 'Hoodlum' and 'Footloose'.

Intermediate bearded irises, as their name suggests, are between dwarf irises, earlier and lower, and tall bearded irises, taller and later. They have the typical garden iris flowers, composed of erect petals, trailing sepals and visible beards, but on shorter stems. They are hardy perennials with fleshy rootstocks, adapted to calcareous soils, and able to withstand summer drought once well rooted. The rootstocks lengthen at the periphery. When the centre becomes less floriferous, it becomes necessary to divide the clump.

Plant the iris 'Baie Rose' in groups of three to five rootstocks, spaced 30 to 35 cm apart. In a very sunny bed, a few Allium christophii can be placed between the iris clumps, but at a distance from the rootstocks; their large umbels of metallic violet take over in May-June. On the sides of the bed, the pink or Dianthus 'Devon Magic' will form cushions of bengal pink flowers that will not interfere with the iris rootstocks. The rather stiff stems of the irises will be lightened by Orlaya grandiflora and its white umbels, or Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens Kiwi Blue' with its blue-purple floral bracts and bluish foliage.