Iris sibirica 'Baby Sister'

The growth of a Siberian iris is typically very dense. Within two or three years it will have grown into a thick clump, and so thickly, that weeds have difficulty growing within the expanding clump. A young plant of this variety, 'Baby Sister,' when first planted in a garden will be taller, at twelve to fourteen inches, than it will be later on when the clump becomes crowded. Later on, the flowers will top out at eight to ten inches. The three-petaled flowers are a medium purplish blue, with darker veins and with a white blaze at the base of each petal. Its season is May into early June. Be sure to plant this deeply enough so that the top of the roots are slightly below the soil surface, and not planted as high as you would a bearded iris. It appreciates being watered regularly throughout the summer, although older plants can take some drought. An oldtime saying for growing a Siberian iris is that, “it likes its toes damp, but its ankles dry.” So its preference is for slightly damp soil. 'Baby Sister' mixes well with other flowers in either full sun or a half day of sun, and it provides rich color in flower and attractive foliage after flowering. Very nice when planted along a stream or pond. And very cold hardy, for USDA Zones 2 - 9.

   Keep in mind that a young plant may need extra protection during its first winter after being planted. By the first winter, the roots of a plant that you added to your garden the previous spring might not be so well established and so deeply rooted that they can keep the plant from being heaved out of the ground. Alternating freezing and thawing can often lift a young plant high enough out of the ground that winter winds will reach the roots and kill the plant. There are a couple of remedies for this. First, go out into the garden and look at the plants to see if frost heave is a problem or not. Then firmly push any rootball back into the ground if it has started to be lifted out, and consider covering the plants with evergreen boughs (a good use for the branches of a Christmas tree at the beginning of January). The purpose of the boughs is not to keep the plants from freezing but instead, to keep them frozen once they become frozen, rather than alternating freezing, thawing, freezing, and thawing. It is this alternating that leads to trouble.