With their sword-shaped leaves and regal flowers, bearded irises are stately blooms, and now is the time to plant them for a glorious display next year
illing the garden with colour and beauty during late spring and early summer, bearded irises have inspired artists such as Van Gogh, leaving them enthralled by the graceful elegance of their large ruffled flowers blooming atop long stems. They were the stars of the show in Sarah Price’s gold-award-winning The Nurture Landscapes Garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, and it’s easy to see why.
The bearded iris – Iris germanica – derives from I. pallida – the ancient iris grown by perfumers for its scented rhizomes, or orris root. The ‘beard’ refers to the furry caterpillar of hairs at the base of each of the three outer petals; often brightly coloured, they are thought to function as guides for pollinating insects. In mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow, and after decades of breeding, the bearded iris doesn’t disappoint, with forms available in every colour apart from scarlet and magenta.
As garden plants, bearded irises are top performers and low maintenance, requiring minimal water and food. Their regal flowers prevent May from being bland and add to the June flowering. Their sword-shaped, blue-green leaves, produced in fans, have an architectural quality, and although not famed for their scent, the blooms have a pleasing, sweet perfume. A few are ‘remontant’, meaning they may flower again in late summer or autumn. The only downside to bearded irises in a small garden is that they need elbow room – if they are crowded in a border with other plants drooping over them, they won’t flower well.
Tall to short
Bearded irises are conveniently divided into six groups by plant size and flower size, each with fairly self-explanatory names. They run from the shortest, earliest flowering and relatively small-flowered, to the tallest, largest-flowered, and latest flowering.
The majority of bearded irises available are tall forms, which grow to between 70cm and 1.1 metres in height. The most iconic are the blue hybrids, such as ‘Fathom’, while garden designers love the chestnut and caramel varieties, including ‘Cable Car’ and ‘Kent Pride’. Whites, such as ‘Snowy Owl’, and pastels, including the peach-pink ‘Party Dress’, look charming grown together. There are also the ‘intermediate’ varieties for the middle or front of the border, which grow to between 40 to 70cm in height, or dwarf varieties for containers. If you do choose to grow iris in containers, opt for a very wide pot with
