Iris germanica Star Appeal - Tall Bearded Iris

'Star Appeal' is a fairly early tall bearded iris in its category, developing stately flower stems bearing large, well-ruffled flowers. Its deep pink colour corresponds to that of a reference cultivar named 'Ovation'. It is a vibrant coral pink, warm and bright, more salmon than candy pink. This vivid pink, warmed by mandarin beards, gives it a lot of character: it is not a pastel iris, but a bright, luminous pink, proudly borne on stems approaching 1 m in height.

Like other tall bearded irises, it grows from fleshy rhizomes that run near the soil surface. They lengthen and branch over the years. The young portions bear fans of glaucous green leaves; the older parts eventually become exhausted: an aged clump becomes bare in the centre and should be divided. The flowering of this cultivar 'Star Appeal' takes place in May, towards the beginning of the tall bearded iris season. The flowers are large, well-ruffled, with soft, crumpled edges. The upright petals, the style arms and the trailing sepals belong to the same range of pink. The mandarin beards are clearly visible in the throat and warm the whole. On an open flower, one also notices the plicate texture of the sepals and the small lighter shades that appear around the beard.

'Star Appeal' was raised by Joseph Ghio, in California. It was registered in 2008 under the seedling number 02-65-O, then introduced in 2009 by Bay View. It is the result of a cross between seedling 00-34Y2, a sibling of 'Picture Book', and seedling 00-144R3, itself from a line combining a sibling of 'Natural Blond' and 'Magical Encounter'. It received an Honorable Mention from the American Iris Society in 2011.

Tall bearded irises are the result of a long history of hybridization around bearded rhizomatous irises. In this history, Iris pallida and Iris variegata played a major role; their natural cross is now recognised under the name Iris × germanica. Modern cultivars then gained in height, flower size, ruffling and colour richness through the contribution of other lines of Mediterranean and Near Eastern bearded irises.

Iris 'Star Appeal' will dominate flower beds in the heart of spring in full sun. Avoid planting alongside it plants that make large leaves, as they would deprive its rhizomes of the sun which they so need to flower. Plant it in groups of 3 rhizomes spaced 40 cm apart; the clump will be fuller after two or three years of cultivation. Its magnificent pink colour combines well with white asphodel, Verbena officinalis 'Bampton', Allium sphaerocephalon and Helianthemum 'Lawrenson's Pink'.

The vegetable garden can accommodate a few clumps of irises, along with other cut flowers, notably gladioli and hybrid lilies.