Iris versicolor 'Purple Flame' (Blue Flag Iris) Unity Grown

Iris versicolor 'Purple Flame' is a cultivar of blue flag iris, an upright perennial wildflower native to wet and boggy areas across the northeast. The 'Purple Flame' cultivar is noted for its young foliage, which emerges a deep, eggplant purple in the early spring. As the weather warms, foliage turns to shades of green normally associated with Iris versicolor, and begins producing the blue-purple flowers that the plant is known for. Flowers fully bloom in the late spring and early summer, and can reach heights of up to three feet at maturity.

'Purple Flame' performs great in typical garden locations when provided with consistent water, but also thrives in saturated areas like creek and pond edges, wet meadows, and even when plants are fully submerged. In addition to inundation, 'Purple Flame' is also tolerant of brackish water, and provides valuable resources to pollinators, hummingbirds, and even aquatic rodents, who eat the plant's starch-rich roots.