Iris histrioides Katharines Gold

The Iris reticulata Katharine's Gold is a white flowered variety with a yellow wash of the excellent variety Katharina Hodgkin. This small botanical iris with its precious and early flowering offers beautifully sized flowers, with a stylized and slightly fragrant form, in a combination of very bright pastel shades. Their colour, pure white on the upright petals, is warmed by trailing sepals washed with yellow and delicately tipped with sky blue and black. This small bulbous plant thrives in well-drained soil, in full sun or partial shade, in beds, rockeries, or even in containers.

The Iris Katharine's Gold is a spontaneous mutation of the Iris Katharina Hodgkin that recently appeared in cultivation. According to sources, the latter is derived from the cross-breeding of Iris histroides major (blue) and Iris winnogradowii (pale yellow spotted in the throat), or the combination of Iris histroides major (blue) and Iris danfordiae (deep yellow spotted in the throat). These plants are all native to the Caucasus and naturally grow in alpine meadows and rocky habitats (on limestone and gneiss-rich soil) at altitudes between 1000 and 2500m (3281 and 8202ft). Forming a small, erect, and spreading clump of 15 cm (6in) in flower, this perennial spreads without a theoretical limit through the production of bulblets. It flowers at the end of winter, when the days begin to lengthen, usually in February-March. Its solitary flowers, measuring 7 to 8 cm (3in) in length, are relatively large compared to the size of the plant and are pleasantly fragrant. They consist of spatulate tepals, with the 3 upper ones narrow and erect, shorter, and the 3 lower ones wider, bulging, and more colourful. Each flower is enclosed at the base in two scale-like bracts of a purple-green colour. The fruits are swollen capsules containing ovoid seeds. The foliage, short during flowering, lengthens afterwards. The basal leaves are glaucous green, quadrangular in section, sheathing at the base. They are deciduous and disappear in summer.

The small bulbous irises are perfect in rockeries, borders, flower beds, or even to decorate ephemeral flowering pots, to bring inside the house and enjoy their precious flower design and fragrance up close. They go well with iris pumila, botanical crocuses, anemones blanda, or Algerian iris. Let the bulbs naturalize, they will form beautiful clumps after a few years, announcing the return of spring.