Northwest Blooms · Irises
Iris 'Swedish Lullaby'
Swedish Lullaby Iris
- Height
- 3 to 3 1/2 feet
- Width
- 1 to 1 1/2 feet
- Flower color
- Golden yellow and lavender-blue with muted orange beards
- Foliage color
- Medium green, upright, sword-shaped foliage
- Bloom time
- Midseason
- Light
- Full sun
- Water
- Moderate; drought tolerant once established
- Growing zone
- USDA zones 4 to 8
About this plant
Iris 'Swedish Lullaby' is a tall bearded bicolor iris with softly ruffled flowers that open in midseason. Clear golden-yellow standards rise above broad lavender-blue falls, creating a gentle contrast between warm and cool tones. A subtle wash of yellow appears near the center of the falls, while the beards blend muted orange with pale lavender toward their tips. Upright, sword-shaped green foliage forms tidy fans beneath the flowering stems.
Introduced in 2015 by hybridizer Keith Keppel, 'Swedish Lullaby' received an American Iris Society Honorable Mention in 2017 and Award of Merit in 2019. Its uncomplicated yellow and lavender-blue coloring brings a light, airy quality to sunny plantings and works especially well where softer colors are needed among deeper or more heavily patterned irises.
Works well in
Cottage Gardens · Cut Flower Gardens · Foundation Plantings · Formal Gardens · Waterwise Gardens
Companion plants
Dwarf deutzia · Shrub cinquefoil · Blue-eyed grass · Evening primrose · Globe thistle · Dwarf catmint · Creeping savory
Design tip
Let 'Swedish Lullaby' provide a quiet transition between yellow and blue sections of a sunny planting. Its clean bicolor flowers are particularly effective when surrounded by simpler flower forms, allowing the ruffled blooms to stand out without creating too much visual competition.
Where to see it
This plant can be seen at Schreiner’s Iris Gardens.
