It was this particular plant that we spotted at the start of a visit to West Green House recently that caused me to say, “We don’t really grow iris” …

In retrospect, it was an utterly ridiculous statement. If we don’t grow iris, then what on earth was this in a pot back in the spring?!

Or for that matter, what are these yellow things blowing around in the breeze by the pond?

What I think I meant was that I don’t feel I know iris as a species particularly well, not compared to say roses or clematis. In fact, it’s probably the early spring flowering ‘reticulata’ that I’m most familiar with and can reel off the names of varieties such as Harmony or George etc, quite happily. So small iris that are content to be out in the cold, I understand those.
I feel I have a vague grip on iris that enjoy paddling too. These ‘pseudacorus’, the traditional yellow flag iris, are clearly enjoy being in our pond and have spread over the years. We think we have three varieties. I say ‘think’ as I’m pretty certain that we only planted two and the third has made its own way here. This deep yellow one is the intruder.

Whereas I’m reasonably certain that we chose this paler lemon variety when we originally planted the pond.

Both are looking stunning this spring but we also planted a purple variety. We think it’s still with us but it seems to enjoy playing hide and seek, only appearing every couple of years and, blink, and we soon miss it. Having looked carefully around the pond last weekend, we think it may be about to reveal itself so are now on ‘purple iris watch’!
So the iris that I feel I know very little about are those that prefer growing conditions at completely the opposite end of the scale – hot, sunny and dry! There are so many different varieties that fall into this category that I find it quite overwhelming. I honestly don’t know my ‘siberica’ from my ‘germanica’ and I guess I’ve always felt nervous of planting them in the wrong place.

However, the inevitable happened when we left West Green House, we headed for a local garden centre and there, right in front of us, was a tall, proud, deep purple iris. How could we resist?

We have watched its first buds unfurl and I can now honestly say that I understand it when people say that their petals are like silk. I took a close look at this bud and it could easily have been woven rather than grown. Whilst I peered closely into the bud, a bee came along and quickly took advantage of our new purchase, flying deeply into the flower. It’s a very beautiful addition to our main border which has always sported quite a purple theme. Now all we need to do is master how to look after it and hopefully it will bulk up and then we’ll have to brave dividing it in years to come.
This certainly seems to have been a spring of iris and, as we become better acquainted, this might be the start of our iris journey.
