Japanese Irises have been developed over many years from forms of Iris ensata. This is a hardy waterside plant, native to wide areas of eastern Asia. It has been the subject of many years of selective breeding. The distinctive flowers, offset by the sword-shaped foliage can provide a distinctive component to waterside plantings.
Imagine a walk beside a slow-flowing stream, a pond or a small lake. It is high summer. Picture the contrast of these unique plants against the stillness of the water -
Each of the images below is a "thumbnail" - click on the image, and you will bring up a larger picture; return to this page by clicking on the "back" button of your browser.
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| Kozasagawa | Minowa-no-sato | Nemuri-jishi | Ayesegawa |
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| Beni-tsubaki (?) | Sei-shonagon | Chiyo-no-Haru | Chiyodajo |
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| Hatsukurenai | Mijako-ogi | Miyoshino | Shuchuka |
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| Murasame (?) | Fujishiro | Haru-no-umi | Suwagoryo |
Particular thanks to Clarence Mahan for help in confirming correct names. Doubtful names are indicated with a question mark.
There are plenty of iris-related resources on the net. There are several web pages that cover these comprehensively, so to avoid repetition, I would just recommend that you browse the following peoples' pages, and follow up the many links contained there.
There is an active Iris mailing list which anyone can join - details on how to join the list are given on Tom Tadfor Little's page.
Not too many Japanese iris images to look at, though. Try these -
- Pete Orelup's pond pictures
- Nicholls Gardens catalogue
- Lily Ponds Canada catalogue
- Missouri botanic gardens image gallery, 1 or 2
- Pay a visit to the Japanese iris festival (Togyoan)
- or finally, visit this page for numerous attractive pics. of Japanese irises in the context of Japanese gardens. Although the site is in Japanese, just follow the hyperlinks...
If you are having problems reading this page, the more obvious reasons may be -
- Captions not aligning with thumbnail images - You are not using a tables-enabled browser - see introduction for remedies
- Text overlaps the left hand margin leaf graphic - Your screen resolution is too low - minimum workable resolution is 800x600 - Try resetting your display
- Main iris images are too large for the screen - Same reason as above
- Images take too long to download - This is a graphics intensive page. However, all graphics are sized, so there should be no serious delay in showing the text. If there is, then blame congestion - try again later!
- There is an extra band of leaf graphic down r.h.s. of screen - Your screen resolution is too high! Try lowering it to 1024x768 or thereabouts.
