My siblings and I grew up with iris in the garden. My Mom had bearded iris and I remember my Aunt Ruby in Yakima had amazing bearded iris in huge clumps–they really like the eastern side of Washington. The variety I remember Mom having was a simple purple one that I see all over the place. I have no idea what it is called and a Google search was no help at all. I remember what it looked like and its smell because somehow it found its way into my current garden.
This particular iris has proven a much better performer than any other hybrids I have tried. Even when I don’t coddle it, or weed around it, I will get flowers from the clumps every year.
My 2020 plans for these plants is to clean them up after they bloom and feed them to see if I can get more flowers. I only see three flower spikes this year–some years there are a dozen.