Iris Setosa ‘Baby Blue’

Rare and Hard to Find, Yet So Lovely

Hardy into zone 2 in the north!

Are you familiar with Bristly Iris? It takes its name from its tiny, stiff standards, which are all but lost in the beauty of the large, magnificent falls. ‘Baby Blue’ is a dwarf selection of this cold-climate loving Iris, sporting enormous blooms of blue with a tongue of white, yellow, and navy-blue near the base of each petal. It belongs front and center in the partly shaded garden, both for its splendid cutflower beauty and for its readiness to naturalize.

‘Baby Blue’ earns its name with intense, saturated blue tones on flowers that are quite large in proportion to this diminutive plant. Just 8 inches high and not much wider, ‘Baby Blue’ is the perfect foreground planting for larger Iris such as the Tall Bearded types, which flower at about the same time. But it also makes a fine large planting of its own, content in moist soil and afternoon shade or day-long dappled sun. Very easy and eager to multiply.

Each flowering stem bears up to a dozen 2 1/2-inch blooms on ‘Baby Blue,’ keeping you in color for weeks. Whether you grow it for cutting or garden enjoyment, do give it a try — it doesn’t happen along for availability every season, and once you grow it, you may just become addicted! Zones 2-8.