Walking Iris

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Walking Iris or Apostle's Iris is Neomarica gracilis in the Iris family. It is Native to Central and South America.

The inflorescence of Neomarica gracilis has fragrant, white flowers with mottled crimson-brown and a blue-violet banding. The flowers last only one day, but multiple blooms will come from the same stem in rapid succession.

Once flowering has finished, the inflorescence produces plantlets and arches toward the ground. The plantlets root and will bloom in a year. In time, large clumps will “walk” in every direction.

In zones 9 and south, walking iris can be grown outside in sunny or partially shaded beds. In colder regions it is grown in large containers and treated as a patio plant. Minimum pot size should be about 8 inches. They do best in more moist locations, often growing in the wild as a pond-edge plant. In containers they are not heavy feeders, and will persist for several years without repotting. Plantlets can be rooted by pegging the floppy stem into a new pot and keeping the soil moist until new roots form.

Walking iris (Neomarica gracilis) is commonly seen, but you almost never see it in nurseries. But it is a great pass-along plant, a special group of plants that persist in our homes and gardens because they are tough, easily propagated and interesting enough to merit care.

So if you find someone with a plant, ask for a piece. From a single plantlet, in two years mine fills a 12" pot. I saw on the internet that there is a yellow species -- anyone have a Yellow Walking Iris (Neomarica longifolia, also known as Trimezia martinicensis)??

Charlie