Over the weekend I got to visit the Hazel Creek section of Swain County. My it is beautiful country! I’ve been several times before, but I never tire of seeing the amazing scenery.
On this trip our group noticed some lovely yellow flowers growing in a marshy area just after we got off the boat that took us across Fontana Lake to reach Hazel Creek.
A closer look showed us the flowers were irises, although I have never seen any quite like them before.
After returning home I found that the plant is a Yellow Flag and that it is considered invasive. Here’s what the NC Extension website says about the plant.
ris pseudacorus
Common Name(s): Yellow FlagYellow Flag Iris
This plant has low severity poison characteristics.
See below
This plant is an invasive species in North Carolina
Description
Yellow flag iris perennial blub in the Iridaceae (iris) family native to Eurasia and Africa. The genus name Iris is named after the Greek Goddess of rainbows and the common name, “flag”, comes from an old English word (flagge) for reeds and refers to its natural preference to wetlands.
The showy yellow flowers appear in the spring and its bright green sword-shaped clumping foliage reaches up to 3 feet in height. These plants grow aggressively and spread quickly in wet soils including water up to 10 inches deep or the wet muds along a pond. Yellow flag iris spreads by rhizomes and seeds and can quickly overtake native plants in wet sites. Although it prefers full sun and boggy sites, it can adapt to somewhat drier sites in moist to wet gardens.
While it is a popular perennial planted at the edge of ponds and waterways, the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council lists yellow flag iris as invasive. Invasive plants are especially threatening to wetland habitats due to their ease of spread through seeds and plantlets, and through their rapid growth. See native plant alternatives in the left-hand column.
Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: Listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council. It is also listed as invasive in Virginia and several other northeastern states as well as several northwestern states.
When we first saw the blooms I wondered if they came from one of the many homesites in the area, but after visiting the NC Extension site I don’t think that’s where they came from.
I plan to share a video of the trip later this week.
Tipper
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SWEET TASTE FROM A HONEYSUCKLE BLOOM.
I think that Irises are invasive when they are planted near a stagnant water source. If planted high and dry they behave themselves nicely and add much beauty their surroundings. Keep them away from ponds, swamps and seeps and you’ll be fine.
I have a patch of blue flags that my wife planted in an open part of the yard. They became a problem when we allowed trees to grow around them. The added shade made the rainwater to dissipate more slowly providing a perfect place for them to go wild. They are not really a problem but they don’t bloom anymore.
I also have Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia) that my wife planted too close to the house. They are invasive too. They took over that part of the yard and eventually I had to get rid of them. I dug up and moved a few of the rhizomes over near the Blue Flags. The increasingly shady damp conditions are not conducive to invasiveness. This year there is only one bloom. I took a picture of it that I’ll send to you. I plan to move it back out into the sunshine after the bloom is gone.
Hi Tipper, Here we have blue flags, much the same, a very delicate flower in the iris family. Give my love to Matt & thew girls
We had a few of these in the South Louisiana swamps but we had even more of the purple color. They are all beautiful to me. I once got some from a ditch to put in my yard. We now live in So. Texas. Sure enjoyed seeing these.
I did not know they were poison. They are beautiful though.
I have seen this yellow iris growing in my wife’s Uncle’s farm in the bogs of Ireland when we visited him in May and June. He called our walks in the bog fields, “a boggin in the bogs”. You had to wear your “Wellingtons” or rubber boots when you went “a boggin”.
When we had to tear down Grandma’s house we brought her flags out here. They have never strayed from the bank where we planted them and are always bloomed out in time for Memorial Day. We cut them for bouquets to march in the parade and place them on the graves of veterans.
They are lovely!
We don’t have the yellow flags growing wild here in KY but the orange variety is plentiful and brings back memories from my childhood. I guess they were invasive as they covered every creek bank for miles where I used to play. When I bought this house years ago, there was a circular bed of dark purple bearded irises in the side yard. I have regretted redoing the landscaping that removed the irises, a lilac bush, and a beautiful Rose of Sharon that were as old as the house.
Flags and swords have been closely associated in old England and Germany, the places where the word “flagge” became attached to not just iris, but cattails and other wetland plants with long swords raised to the sky even when the “flagge” isn’t flying. The yellow flag is native from Sweden to Morroco and UK to Syria. I wonder what sort of diversity exists in the wetlands of those places where this plant has been around “forever” (a deceptive term in ecology). The yellow flag first arrived in Virginia about the time Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were abandoning their beautiful gardens to take up the sword and raise a new flag. That alien species has not conquered all parts of the United States, but Iit has spread to a lot of places. Beauty is not always the best reason for taking something to heart.
They’re beautiful. It’s too bad they’re invasive. Guess it proves the point of all that glitters is not gold. Looking forward to seeing the videos of your trip.
beautiful
Didn’t know they were invasive! I just saw some growing along a creek in our Metroparks system farm. I will point them out to the educators to show the kids when they take their hikes. Thanks.
My father, who was from Southern MO, called them flags. It’s interesting to me that they’re invasive there. We’ve been to get transplants from my yard to get established around a friend’s pond and they’re not cooperating.
When I was little we had beautiful lilacs and iris in the yard. They both were every color there was to that species. Mama always had a vase full of each on the kitchen table and our small house was filled with the wonderful lilac scent. The iris grew in the middle of the yard in a circle, and when the bloom time ended, Daddy would just mow them down with the rest of the yard. To my recollection, they came back every year more beautiful than the last, and never spread. I now have blue iris given to me from a friend’s garden, and the most beautiful bright yellow iris given to me from a dearly departed friend, both growing in north Georgia clay! I would send you a picture if I knew how!
Good morning all. I have purple iris growing in our woods and I also have this yellow iris growing in a little patch at the edge of the woods. They have been there for many years and have never taken over. I can’t remember but I think I threw the bulbs there many years ago in both spots. I can’t even remember where I got the bulbs from, but they are both just beautiful blooming against the background of woods. At least the deer don’t eat them. It’s gonna be a beautiful sunny day here in central eastern West Virginia. Hubby wants to stake the tomatoes this morning. We planted a lot so it’s gonna be a job. Our garden is doing wonderful so far. Hope everyone else’s is too.
Did not know the origin of the word “flag” but, as others have noted, I grew up hearing them called that. Have no experience of yellow flags but would venture that the ‘invasiveness’ is specific to wetland locations, as the text implies. I have a flag with a mixed-color bloom of purple and white. It can (if happy) bloom both spring and fall, unlike the usual medium-blue ones, that I also have lots of, which only bloom in May. And deer don’t eat them! Hooray!
Iris’s were always called flags by my family. Ms. Lawson, a retired school teacher, had a beautiful Iris garden with various colors. I would give her old venetian blinds, the slim ones, to use as stakes.
Sorry Matt couldn’t go on your getaway. Looking forward to your video of Fontana!
How far is that lake from Ellijay? We will be staying there in august and looking for things to do
I’m just curious and confused…Is all Iris considered invasive or just this variety? I don’t think I have ever seen this type and such a pretty flower. I have the purple Iris and love them. My son grows a beautiful peach color that I had never seen before.
Cathy-I think it’s just this one and likely just in certain places 🙂 I have tons of iris and they’ve not taken over in all the years I’ve had them 🙂
We have quite a few of the blue flag irises here in Ohio. They’re beautiful. I don’t think they’re invasive here I’ll have to double check.
My mother called them flags I think they are beautiful
Beautiful flower but sorry to hear it is an invasive plant. My mother called all her Iris flower flags.
As always, thanks. Can’t wait on the video. Prayers for Granny as always and for sure the rest of your growing family.
My grandparents and parents also called them flags, but I’ve never seen them yellow. Theirs and mine (when I had gardens) were purple. I love iris!