Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother' (Siberian Iris) - An herbaceous bulbous perennial with a clump of arching, narrow, grass-like, linear leaves that produces intensely deep purple flowers with brown and white markings at the base of the petals in late spring that rise up on stiff stems to 3 feet high, well above the leaves.
Best results when planted in full sun to partial shade with a very moist, fertile, slightly acid soil, including boggy conditions, but will also tolerate a poor, dry soil due to its deep root system. Clumps of long-lasting, vase-shaped foliage will retain its green color into the fall. Although short lived cut, Caesar's Brother makes an attractive cut flower. When in bloom Caesar's Brother is highly attractive to butterflies!
This is one of the oldest of the North American bred Siberian Irises. Frederick Cleveland Morgan (1881-1962) was a Canadian businessman who had a fascination with irises and in the 1920s made a controlled cross between two Siberian irises, 'Blue King' (a Iris sanguinea cultivar from Japan) and 'Nigrescens' that he had in his Montreal garden and this resulted in several cultivars that he named, including 'Caesar' in 1930 and 'Caesar's Brother' in 1932. Morgan was not only a pioneering Iris breeder but also a founding member of the American Iris Society (AIS) and the namesake for their Morgan Award (the highest award given by the AIS for a Siberian Iris), which 'Ceasar's Brother' won in 1953. We grew this plant from 1999 until 2005 and would have continued but one of our bulb suppliers supplied us with a pale blue Siberian Iris instead of this variety in in 2006 and that was the last we saw of old Caesars Brother.
This information about Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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