I like iris, though their extravagant size makes June weather a hazard, like peonies they do poorly in fast moving, hard hitting thunderstorms.  They were clearly bred for the British Isles and the Low Countries, where thunderstorms make the news when they happen.

We don’t have that many at the moment (it is all relative!).

The earliest bearded iris have just started: the huge gold ones. They came originally from Vermont or possibly from Boston. (it is fun to have plants with histories behind them)  Light, soft gold, and a good four/five inches in size, they glow in the sun and moonlight. There is no harshness in their color at all, which is entirely different from the canary gold of yellow flag. Our neighbours have a patch we left at the East Meadow. I saw it yesterday, even from a long way away it glowed.  We have a few in the Flagpole garden and in the south lawn area, given the right space with enough sun they are a fairly aggressive iris, willing to spread.  But they do need sun.  They are nicely complemented by an early deep blue iris, which is also just starting up in the Flagpole garden.  That garden also has big red poppies in it, or will in a week, so it is wonderfully extravagant in size and color.

They are not well complemented by one of the smaller types or iris: the heirloom yellow (with a touch of orange) with chestnut falls, once found in nearly every New England garden, it is a bit rare these days, we got ours from a friend in Maine.  How, and why, that one popped up in the Flagpole garden I am not sure.  It is Supposed to be blooming under the roses near the fish pond, where its smaller stature is just right.  I clearly will have to move it.  I know why it popped up, it was released from the Shasta daisies in the digging this spring.

The bronze iris (a gift from a friend here) will be starting in a few days as well.  They are doing very well this year, which is wonderful since we almost lost them two years ago to corn borers.

Now if we could just figure out the best spot for another bit of Sun garden….. 🙂