Crested Dwarf Iris (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
One of my favorite spring wildflowers is the Crested Dwarf Iris (iris cristata). I first photographed some crested dwarf irises a couple of years ago along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since then, I’ve been trying to get some better photos of them. This year, I finally managed to get some photos of Crested Dwarf Irises that I’m really happy with. All the photos are from my trip to Tennessee earlier this spring.
The first two photos are from the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness area outside of Dayton, TN. This was the first morning of my trip and it was so nice to see them little irises blooming.
These three were growing on a ledge on a rock face.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
A couple of days later, I found a large patch of crested dwarf irises along the side of the Porter’s Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My guess is there were at least 200 dwarf irises in this particular patch.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
The irises were in fantastic shape so I was able to photograph the fine details of the flower.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
My final photo was taken near the trailhead for the Old Settlers Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I loved the way the few Star Chickweed (stellaria pubera) flowers were grouped among the crested dwarf irises at the base of the tree.
Crested Dwarf Iris and Star Chickweed (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
I’m already looking foward to next spring so that I can see and photograph more crested dwarf irises.