11 Inspirational Flowers That Start with I + Growing Guide Charts

Inimitable flowering arrangements intrigue and inspire. Installed with intention, each floral item is impressive in inclination. I imagine individual items incandescent with an infatuating image of indolence and indulgence. In addition, it’s increasingly imperative to include improvements that invite important insects. If they investigate, they’re inspired to ingest nectar and pollen inside.

I’m invigilating an international inscription of my most idolized flowers, in alphabetical order. Letter ‘I’ is the inspiration inside!

1. Iris (Iris x germanica)

Elegant iris is a classic flowering bulb, with tall stalks topped with frothy, triple-lobed flowers in purple, white, and gold. In ideal conditions, the fragrant flowers can reach a whopping three feet tall, and they’re as popular as a cut flower as they are a garden bloom.

It’s considered the likely parent for many of the glamorous iris hybrids available on the consumer market, with varieties that bloom in black, blue cream, and burgundy.

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2. Ice plant (Delosperma cooperi)

Also known as pigface, the ice plant is a sweet, low-growing succulent with cheerful magenta blossoms. They flower profusely the second the weather warms, and will keep it upright to winter. 

With a high tolerance for low fertility, sandy soil, and a love of dry conditions, ice plant makes a great low-maintenance ground cover and thrives in arid parts of rock gardens and walkways. They’ll do equally as well in containers or hanging baskets.

3. Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella)

Bright and cheery, the Indian blanket is a comely wildflower with round, radiant flowers. I’m quite fond of their other common name, firewheel, which thoroughly captures their blazing glory.

They’re a long blooming plant, ideal for pollinator gardens or wildflower beds, and will provide much-needed food and shelter for friendly bugs and butterflies. Seed heads also provide vital winter food for foraging songbirds, so consider letting the flowers run to seed.

4. Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea.)

Hummingbird lovers will delight in the visitors a stand of Indian paintbrush brings to your garden. These American natives court the little birds with tall clusters of scarlet blooms, tubular in shape and rich in nectar.

They’re a clever opportunist, with the ability to steal food from neighboring plants. They prefer sagebrush or grasses, so be sure to plant an unwitting friend to help your Indian paintbrush to thrive.

5. Impatiens (Impatiens capensis)

Impatiens are to my mind an underrated jewel. They’re an easy-going American native, with low demands and high rewards. They grow magnificently in wet, almost boggy areas and in disturbed, poor-quality soils, where they produce gorgeous scatterings of golden flowers.

The sweet cup-shaped blooms are highly sought after by hummingbirds, bees, and, butterflies, drawing their fluttering majesty into even the least appealing parts of the garden. Who can ask for more than that?

6. Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica)

If you want to do your part of environmental conservation, planting Indian pink is a good step. It’s a threatened American wildflower known for long, tubular red and pink flowers that open with a golden star-shaped spread of petals.

With a flower like that, it’s no surprise that hummingbirds in particular love them and will make as many pit stops among their blossoms as they can.

7. Ione Heckler (Oxalis laciniata x enneaphylla)

The Ione Heckler oxalis cultivar brings together some of the best traits of its parent plants. Its blooms are the charming purple cups of the O. laciniata, dainty and sweet, appearing in dense profusion.

In contrast, the leaves are frilly and divided, deep blue and purple at the base similar to the O. enneaphylla. It’s easier than both to care for, thriving in low-fertility soils and damp, low-light areas of the garden.

8. Indian hyacinth (Camassia spp.)

A meadow of vivid violet Indian hyacinth is a captivating sight, each spire of blooms carrying up to a hundred vibrant star-shaped flowers. It’s a North American native, beloved both by nectar-eating insects and native people through the plants range.

Its bulbs are a traditional food and can be either roasted like an onion or boiled down into a syrupy treat that’s just as sweet as the flowers themselves. Once established they require little maintenance and will pop up cheerfully year after year.

9. Indian aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

The pleasing contrast between the sunny yellow heart and the bright purple petals of the Indian aster brings consistent cheer to the garden. They’re vigorous growers, able to reach two meters tall with ease, and produce hundreds of flowers each season.

They also play host to a bewildering variety of native butterflies from April to November, so don’t be surprised if its fall flowers look a bit nibbled by the time winter rolls around. It’s also valuable to native bees and birds.

10. Irish moss (Sagina subulata)

The flowers of Irish moss are pinhead small, white or yellow, scattered like tiny jewels across the soft fuzz of the leaves. While it’s possible given the right conditions to see flowers on garden moss, grown carefully between stones or in shady glens, I’ve always been a fan of moss terrariums.

It brings these tiny treasures up to the eye, and protects them from heavy feet and rough weather.

11. Indigo Plant (Indigofera tinctoria)\

The Indigo plant is a long-cultivated cash crop, with records showing it has been grown across the tropics since at least 4000 BC. Compounds in its leaves produce a distinctive dye, most widely known today as the shade used to turn denim blue.

The flowers, however, are a soft powdery pink or violet and grow in spires hidden behind elegant falls of rich blue-green leaves.

Final thoughts

Starting the process of incorporating flowering plants letter by letter can be daunting. However, with creativity and determination, even those lacking experience can create amazing gardens that are full of inspiration beyond words.