Oregon Iris Seeds (Iris tenax)

Good for grassy meadows and partial shade.

Oregon iris is sometimes called tough-leaved iris for the strong, fibrous, grass-like leaves that once made for useful cordage and basketry. The lavender flowers look like a smaller version of common ornamental garden irises, but the thin grassy leaves that stay green for most of the year offer a kind of concealment that allows the plant to go unnoticed in grassy spaces when it isn’t flowering. The plants tend to grow in a clumping form, never growing more than a around a foot in height, and usually persisting best with a bit in drier soils.

Oregon iris is fine plant for partial shade, and was once widespread  west of the Cascades, even in high rainfall zones and otherwise forested landscapes. It may not hum with insect activity like some wildflowers do, but it is reliably attractive to bumble bees and occasionally butterflies, and it’s simply beautiful, strong, and persistent once it finds a place it likes.

Approx. 120-140 seeds. (2.2 gram).