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Blue Flag Iris I painted this flower, one of several purchased fresh from a nearby grocery store, quite quickly in watercolor. I remember seeing this striking flower as a youngster in the swamps of Massachusetts. Each summer, my Mother, Father, and I (when he got old enough, my brother Kent too) would pick buckets of wild swamp blueberries. Mom and I would make pies and preserve the rest of the berries in quart jars for deserts later that year. Blue Flag Iris, Iris versicolor, is a species native to North America common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along stream banks and shores. Flowers are usually light to deep blue and bloom from May to July. One of the easiest to grow, and showiest, of native aquatics for the home gardener, Blue Flag is a beautiful addition to water gardens and bogs. The species, however, has been implicated in several poisoning cases of humans and animals that consumed the rhizomes. The sap can cause dermatitis in susceptible individuals. The original watercolor is in a private collection but limited edition prints and note cards are available. Click here for availability and price.