Giant Walking Iris. We originally sold this plant as Iris giganticaerulea, but we have been made aware by several customers that this plant is Neomarica caerulea, which is a close Iris relative. I saw it in mid March and it had evergreen leaves which were 3-4' tall resembling a Phormium at Green's Nursery near Mobile, AL. It flowers on 5' scapes with electric blue flowers. Unfortunately, it is not the most cold hardy and will probably not grow in the landscape much above zone 8, since it a native to Brazil. The foliage stays evergreen to about 20°F. It very much resembles Iris virginiana, but its flowers are a much darker blue. It will tolerate wet feet. It has an unusual characteristic in that it will form small proliferations on its scape where flowers have faded. These are plantlets that can be removed from the stems and rooted to start new plants, and these will be identical to their parents, unlike seedlings which are not. To give you an idea of its height, my nephew Nathanael is a little over 6 feet tall.
Zones 8-10
