Byakuya a No Kumi

Byakuya No Kumi — the name means "land of the midnight sun" — is something unusual: a pseudata, a hybrid between the Japanese iris (Iris ensata) and yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus). That cross is what brings the warm yellow into the flower, a color the Japanese iris can't produce on its own.

The falls are creamy white, the style arms yellow, and around each yellow signal runs a set of fine purple eyelash markings. The standards are very small, in the flat, wide-faced form pseudatas share with their Japanese iris parent. It stands 37 inches, carrying at least seven buds per stem for a long succession of bloom, early to midseason.

Pseudatas thrive in or near water but grow well in ordinary garden beds too, given moisture. They're vigorous, deer-resistant, attractive to hummingbirds, and — being sterile — they won't self-seed or spread into waterways.

Give them moisture, especially through spring, and slightly acidic to neutral soil. Full sun for best performance. Hardy in zones 5–9.