Iris germanica Vienna Waltz - Tall Bearded Iris

'Vienna Waltz' is a tall bearded iris with large orchid-pink flowers highlighted with cream, particularly undulate and ruffled. This variety stands out for its pastel, almost pearly colour, the opulence of its corollas and a flowering that beautifully closes the season of the tall Iris germanica. Plant it in a sunny border in a position sheltered from the wind that would flatten its tall stems.

'Vienna Waltz' was registered in 2000 by American hybridizer Keith Keppel. This variety belongs to the group of tall bearded irises. It results from a cross between the cultivars 'Waltzing' and 'Victorian Days'; it is a seedling sibling of 'Happenstance'. The American Iris Society awarded it an Honorable Mention in 2002, an Award of Merit in 2004, and the Favorite Guest award in 2006.

This tall iris belongs to the Iridaceae family. It descends from Iris × germanica, a very old natural hybrid between the species I. pallida and I. variegata, native to the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula. It is simply called garden iris, flambé iris or German iris. This plant is perennial: it regrows each year from a thick, horizontal rhizome that likes to bask in the sun. The clump gradually widens by forming peripheral rhizomes. The leaves are arranged in fans, they are sword-shaped, rigid, glaucous green, more or less deciduous in winter. The flower stems reach 90 to 95 cm in height and bear several buds. Each flower shows three upright petals and three drooping sepals. In 'Vienna Waltz', the petals are light mauve-pink, very undulate and crimped on the edge. The sepals are slightly paler, with a large cream area towards the throat. The beard, short and downy, is a soft orange, between pale apricot, peach and light salmon. Flowering takes place in May-June. 
The name Iris comes from the Greek goddess of the rainbow; modern hybridizers have selected varieties with very fine shades, like this milky orchid-pink difficult to classify between lavender, pink and cream.

Plant this iris in full sun, in well-drained soil, even lime-rich, on a small mound if your soil is very wet in winter. You can associate it with Iris germanica 'Baie des Anges' (a bright light blue), with Euphorbia characias 'Black Pearl' and with Nepeta grandiflora 'Dawn to Dusk'. At the back, plant for example a grass Panicum virgatum 'Rehbraun' for its flexibility and light flowering in summer. 

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