Iris hollandica (Dutch Iris)

I was having a tidy up today and came across a pot of Iris hollandica. I bought 25 bulbs for 25p back in the spring, planted them in a small pot and as they never did anything, I forgot about them. To my surprise they are now starting to sprout.

Does anyone know anything about them? How do they compare in size and timing with Iris reticulata? And are they truly perennial? I have bought a number of Iris reticulata, which are so pretty but they never come back the next year.

As the 'Shoot' site says each will spread out to 18 inches across, do you think 25 in a 6 inch pot would get crowded. :D

 

Thanks for the info Armandii. I had rather forgotten about them again. To me, one of the delights of gardening is plant/sow different things and then forget about them. You keep getting surprises. I do hope they come back. I found Iris reticulata most disappointing when it didn't return.

 

I remember reading in one of Beth Chatto's books, that she never threw any ungerminated seeds away for two years. She says they can still germinate.

I have had that experience with, I think, Rodgersia. I sowed them one spring and they never germinated. So I put the small pot outside and forgot about it. A year later I noticed that they has started to germinate. I think I then forgot to water them and lost them - there is a moral in there somewhere. :P