Iris sibirica 'Currier'

Not Blue: Iris sibirica ‘Currier’

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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When I began to get interested in plants, I thought that Siberian irises were always a shade of blue or perhaps a purple-blue. In my previous garden, I grew blue Iris sibirica and Iris sibirica ‘Golden Edge’ (which is a gorgeous deep violet-blue with a golden edge to the falls). So, years later, when I saw the magenta-purple flowers of Iris sibirica ‘Currier’ I was surprised.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at all. Plant breeders have been busily creating cultivars which come in an impressive variety of colours. Now you can find Siberian irises in a wide range of reds, pinks, and yellows, as well as blues purples and white. (And I wish I had more space to grow them!)

However, pretty as many of the newer cultivars may be, I feel that some of the fancier-looking ones, especially the bi-colours, would not fit into the more naturalistic look of much of my garden. (Some of these more recently-bred Siberian irises can vie with the bearded irises for frilliness and flamboyance.) I prefer the slim elegance and more delicate look of the flowers of the plants that are closer to the original species.

The flower shape of ‘Currier’ is very similar to the blue Siberian irises that grow alongside it. The variation of the colour adds some interest to the plant grouping. That pinkish-purple colouration is picked up by the nearby magenta-pink flowers of ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi, seen in this post). I still have a long way to go to create the look of the garden that I hope for; plants like this iris are a big help with that. (Having said that, I might still want to find a little space somewhere for one or two of the frillier Siberian irises – I can always be tempted by a plant that would make a good photograph!)

Iris sibirica 'Currier'
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

24 thoughts on “Not Blue: Iris sibirica ‘Currier’”

    1. I love them too, but have had a few sad surprises when slugs scoffed lumps out of my bearded irises! Haven’t noticed any damage with the Siberian irises yet. (And I’m hoping that this dry spring has meant fewer S&S!)

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    1. It looks lovely with the bold pink of the silene nearby. If I can persuade the silene to self-seed a bit closer to it, I should be able to get them into the same photo… 🙂

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  4. Until I started reading some gardeners’ blogs, and began encountering our wild irises in their natural environment, I didn’t realize that much of my distaste for iris was based in seeing mostly the highly bred bearded iris. I didn’t like them any more than I liked the layers of ruffles my mother tried to make me wear as a kid! The simpler shape of this one is attractive, and that color is gorgeous. I can imagine it combining well with your blues and pinks.

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    1. Sometimes simpler is better! I do find that the less highly-bred flowers can be much easier to combine with each other. At the same time, I often want to grow flowers so that I can photograph them, knowing that they don’t really fit the look of my garden. Perhaps I need a small out-of-the-way area as not so much a ‘cutting border’ as a ‘photography border’ – it would have to be very small though! (My garden isn’t very big.)

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  6. Your phrase “frilliness and flamboyance” caught my attention, so I did a Google search to see if anyone else has used that wording. The only hit that the search returned was this post. Maybe you should trademark your unique F&F phrase.

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    1. Hehe, maybe! It does feel like an apt way to describe some of the bearded irises. Maybe I’ll reuse it for the title of a post about them in the future… 🙂

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  7. Your iris is stunning! We grow tall bearded iris in my garden in North Texas and have close to 250 cultivars. Some are dwarf, many historics, intermediates. I don’t have Siberians and am not sure how they will do here. I did some reading and it looks like we could maintain them well here. The tall bearded, especially some of these older historics can be dropped on the ground and forgotten and they will still bloom.

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    1. Wow, your garden must be amazing! The Siberian irises would need to be kept moist enough while they were getting established but they’d certainly be worth a try…I hope you do!

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    1. I don’t think you’ll find much because I usually prefer to make close-ups of plants. (That’s partly because there’s been so much change going on in the garden for the last few years and the wider view can be messy!)

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  9. The colour and markings of this iris variant are very attractive, Ann.

    Iris are very popular here as well and they are blooming right now. Today alone I have seen white, yellow, pink, purple, and blue versions.

    I’m curious–do you observe many insects on irises? I don’t, and wonder why.

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    1. It’s amazing how many different irises, with all sorts of colour combinations, that there are. I wouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t asked, but no, I don’t think I’ve seen many bees on irises – but I’m not seeing so many bees anyway, so maybe that’s why. (Bees are said to like irises.) Last year was a very bad year for bees and butterflies (and others), so I’m hoping that this year will be a better one…still very few around though.

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