Invariably referred to by their devotees as ‘the junos’, this diverse, exciting and very beautiful group of over 50 species includes some of the most difficult of summer-dormant species to challenge and frustrate the specialist. There are a few comparatively easily grown ones which will be no trouble in a bulb-frame or in pots in the alpine-house or even, in a very few cases, ones which can be grown in the open garden in most temperate areas. In most cases though these are very difficult plants to grow, so do not waste your money and also the efforts we and others have made to produce this seed by trying to grow the difficult ones before you have grown the easier species. We have an extensive knowledge of these irises in the wild throughout Turkey, Iran and the Central Asian republics. Many members of Subgenus Scorpiris are almost impossible to maintain in the moist atmosphere of West Wales, where we garden. Correctly named cultivated seed from some of these junos is usually supplied to us by specialist growers in the colder, drier, more continental climates of Europe. Wild-collected seeds are periodically available, depending where current field work is taking place.

Seed is best sown between summer and early winter. Germination is extremely erratic and unpredictable but usually occurs in early spring. A long cold period with repeated freezing helps to break seed-dormancy. Like most dry-climate plants, seeds retain viability over many years, so never discard ungerminated seed. A succession of young bulbs from regular seed-sowing is the best insurance against virus build-up in mature plants.

Nomenclature : For the present, we follow the names used in the standard floras for each area involved, ‘Flora of Turkey’, ‘Flora Iranica’, ‘Flora of the USSR’, etc. Some of the current nomenclature is unlikely to stand when current taxonomic work is completed. The misapplication of names such as I. orchioides, I. willmottiana and I. albo-marginata to unrelated garden-plants has led to great confusion. We do not trust the naming of any junos in gardens with the exceptions of the collection cultivated by Tony Hall at Kew, those grown by Janis Ruksans in Latvia and by Norman Stevens in the UK. The identities of most plants in these collections have been verified in accordance with existing nomenclature by Dr. Arnis Seisums, the world authority on these irises. His work is ongoing. We hope to see a monograph on the juno irises from Tony and Arnis, based on a revised nomenclature. We shall put names in line with this in due course but publication is not likely for some years to come. In the meantime, we collaborate with Arnis Seisums, to ensure the material we distribute is as accurately named as possible, using the correct, currently valid names.

Further information : 'The Iris' by Brian Mathew (1981) is the best source of information. There are plenty other books of varying quality on irises but the information on the junos in these tends to be derivative and to perpetuate inaccuracies. There is an award-winning article by Tony Hall, the most brilliant grower of junos, on cultivating these irises, published in the September, 1998, issue of the 'Quarterly Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society (Vol. 66, No. 3).

Enter 'scorpiris' in the 'description' field of 'search' to access a complete list of all the juno irises listed in alphabetical order