Candy lilies (Iris ×norrisii) are fun, easy-to-grow, underused perennials that bloom in gumdrop colors.

I grew them in my garden in Kentucky and became smitten; now that I’m settled into a new garden in Portland, Oregon, I’m ready to turn that romance into a full-fledged obsession.

If you didn’t gloss over that Latin name, you noticed that this plant isn’t a lily at all, but an iris. You may have also noticed that it was a hybrid.

They were hybridized by the late plant breeder Sam Norris of Kentucky, who crossed the seldom grown lilac-colored vesper iris (Pardanthopsis dichotoma) with the orange-freckled blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis) to come up with the colorful hybrids that were known as ×Pardancanda norrisii, or candy lily.