Iris cristata Groundcover Shrubs In the colder end of

In the colder end of the range the shrub may die back to the ground in winter and return from the roots

the edge of a shaded path

To grow one is to keep a piece of a vanishing forest alive

bears seeds that release a natural pectin when rubbed in water

the nodding onion

Iris cristata Groundcover Shrubs In the colder end ofIris cristata is the iris scaled down for the woodland floor, a dwarf native barely six inches high that spreads into low, overlapping fans of bright green blades. In mid to late spring the mats light up with small flowers, an inch and a half to two inches across, in soft lavender blue to violet, each fall stamped with a white patch and a raised orange or yellow ridge. That ridge is the crest that gives the plant both the Latin name cristata, crested,