Iris germanica Happenstance - Tall Bearded Iris

The Iris ‘Happenstance’ is a Tall Bearded Iris in light coral pink, interesting for its warm colour, its large well-formed flower and its vigour. Qualities that have earned it a fine track record. It is a pink iris with no mauve undertone, soft enough to accompany pastel perennials, but colourful enough to be clearly visible in the garden in full bloom. It is planted in a very sunny border, in well-drained soil, even chalky soil.

The plant reaches about 94 cm in height when in flower. Its clump gradually widens through rhizomes and forms, after a few years, an upright tuft 40 to 50 cm across. The leaves, narrow, stiff and glaucous green, are arranged in fans. The flowers are composed of 3 upright petals of a warm pink, surmounting 3 trailing sepals. These are paler in the centre, adorned at the base with coral red beards. Petals and sepals are undulate and strongly frilled at the edge. The branched flower stems bear several buds that open successively from top to bottom. It is a mid-season to late variety, flowering in May-June depending on the region.

'Happenstance' was raised in the USA by Keith Keppel and registered in 2000 under seedling number 93-139C. Its parentage combines the cultivars ‘Femme Fatale’, ‘Nefertiti’, ‘Playgirl’ and ‘Presence’, as well as ‘Social Event’. This variety received an Honourable Mention in 2002, the Award of Merit in 2004 and the Wister Medal in 2006. The latter is the main medal awarded by the American Iris Society to tall bearded irises.

From a botanical point of view, the tall bearded iris cultivars belong to the large horticultural group Iris × germanica, an old European hybrid derived from Iris pallida and I. variegata. These are very hardy perennials in well-drained soil, able to withstand cold and summer drought once well established. The clump of leaves expands through the elongation of rhizomes at the periphery. When the centre becomes less floriferous, it should be divided after flowering or at the end of summer.

Plant the iris ‘Happenstance’ in groups of three rhizomes, spaced 35 to 40 cm apart. Slip a few bulbs of Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’ between the iris clumps, at a distance from the rhizomes, which will offer in May-June purple-violet balls above the foliage. Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ can be planted in small clumps on the sides of the border or in the gaps left free. At the back of your border, you can install Sedum ‘Matrona’ which flowers at the end of summer on purplish stems.

The vegetable garden can accommodate a few clumps of iris, along with other cut flowers, notably gladioli and hybrid lilies.