Iris named Katharine Hodgkin

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group Amazing Irises.... more

by J McCombie

Title

Iris named Katharine Hodgkin

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Photograph

Description

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group "Amazing Irises".
This very vigorous and resilient Reticulata bulbous iris produces delicately marked pale blue and yellow flowers in late winter, and looks good with dwarf daffodils, crocus, and anemones.
This iris was introduced in 1958 and named after the wife of Eliot Hodgkin, a grower of rare bulbs.
The RHS Joint Iris Committee awarded Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' an Award of Garden Merit in 1996 and described it as: 'Dwarf bulbous iris to 12cm tall, with large pale blue flowers, the falls heavily veined with deeper blue and marked yellow at the base, and slender leaves elongating after flowering.' To see it in person, it has very unusual colors of light greenish/blue and white striped standards with lighter falls blotched with white, yellow and violet spots; all with a grayish cast; so much fun to find blooming in the winter garden.
Very small (dwarf), extremely early flowering, fragrant iris that are perfect for forcing, rock gardens, woodlands, fronts of borders or creative 'lawn art'; performs well in all types of soil as long as it's well-drained; late winter to early spring (March - April); 4"-8"; whz 3-9; 6+cm (5-12 inches) unless noted otherwise.

Uploaded

March 22nd, 2012