The Gardener's Guide to Growing Irises

by Geoff Stebbings

Focusing on the iris, this guide allocates each species to its recommended growing area, such as the water garden, the shady garden, the summer border, and the rock garden. All plants are cross-referenced to classification chapters which explain how the genus is made up.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Kender · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if there's a newer version, but my copy is from 1997, so it contains a number of things which are probably now outdated. The book was originally published in the UK, so not all of the information can be applied to my garden in the eastern US. However, this 160-page book holds more information than I know what to do with. The author gives some history about irises, a chart of heights of the different types of iris now in cultivation, and information on botany, detailing the sections, subgenuses, and species. He then goes over the different types of iris one at a time, specifying history, origin, hybrids, and what type of soil and climate each prefers; this seems to be quite a thorough list. There's a chapter on cultivation and how to take care of your irises, and a short chapter on how to hybridize. There are beautiful full-color photos throughout, although I suspect some fading may have occurred since some captions say "blue" when the flower clearly looks pink. Appendices include a long list of cultivars, nurseries or gardens where you can buy irises, a list of iris societies (I'm sure all of these are outdated), then another section on what type of iris are best in what type of garden. A glossary, bibliography, and index are at the end.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn a lot about irises, although since it's out of print, prices online seem ridiculous right now. A more recent publication might be more useful, so I'm going to find a few more books about irises before I start planting some this Fall. I will definitely keep this as a reference.

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gardener's Guide to Growing Irises by Geoff Stebbings (Gardener's Guide Series 1997) (635.93424). This is an excellent book for the novice gardener or the neighborhood expert to learn iris culture or merely to polish horticultural technique. My rating: 7/10, finished 2004.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much info on irises.....I just wish there had been info on what to grow alongside them. this is an older book so it's written in an older style....but it chockful of loads of info.