Iris Roy's Repeater - Water Iris

The Iris ‘Roy’s Repeater’ is a hybrid water iris that stands out for the very clear pattern of its flowers. Their white background is traversed by a dense network of blue-violet veins, and the whole is illuminated by a sulphur-yellow signal. This variety flowers late for a bank-side iris, from late May to July depending on the climate, or even longer under certain conditions. It will thrive in moist soil or at the edge of a pond.

'Roy’s Repeater' is a perennial plant with rhizomes of the family Iridaceae. It is classed among the interspecific irises, or SPEC-X, that is to say hybrids resulting from cross-breeding between different botanical species or lines. Its parents are the cultivars ‘Roy Davidson’ and probably ‘Between the Lines’. This type of hybrid is capable of growing in moist soils like the Iris pseudacorus, but it possesses the refinement of North American irises of the Iris versicolor type. The rhizomes live near the surface, slowly advance at the periphery and form a solid clump within 4-5 years. The foliage is deciduous to semi-evergreen depending on the severity of the winter. The young leaves can take on a chartreuse tint in spring before turning green in summer. They are long, narrow, upright, with a prominent midrib. This variety reaches between 90 cm and 1 m in height when in flower and 50 to 70 cm in width, or even more if it grows in very rich, waterlogged soil. The flowers open from June to July, sometimes until August if conditions are right. On each, one observes small upright petals and white styles veined with purple near the crests. The trailing sepals, broader, carry the most pronounced pattern: their white background is covered with blue-violet lines and their base bears a beautiful sulphur spot.

Raised by J. Terry Aitken, registered in 2002 under seedling number 97 SPEC 3C, this iris received an Honorable Mention in 2006, an Award of Merit in 2010, and then the Randolph-Perry Medal in 2013. The latter is an American distinction awarded to interspecific irises.

Plant the iris ‘Roy’s Repeater’ in groups of three plants, spaced 50 cm apart, to obtain a beautiful clump in two to three years. On a bank, it will associate with the Iris versicolor ‘Kermesina’, plum-coloured veined with white, and with Juncus ensifolius. With its feet in water, the Pontederia cordata ‘Pink Pons’ will take over in summer with its pink-mauve spikes above large heart-shaped leaves.