Here are my Irises in their best frilly dresses. It is rude of me to forget all their names but they are beautiful whatever they are called.
If you go into the garden as the light is going the white ones look like ghosts drifting along the front of the border.
However many Irises you have, you never, ever have enough. They need regular splitting so you can always swap with friends and acquire yet more. They don’t bloom for long, but they are the glory of the garden whilst they are in bloom. Rich, regal and opulent, they flaunt their exotic finery. As they unfurl their standards, they become the kings and queens of the garden.
Chloris
The Blooming Garden 
Stunning shades and colours!
They do come in the most amazing colours.
Kings and Queens indeed! Gosh, what an amazing collection……I shall sneak round one night with my trowel, you won’t miss the odd clump or two!!! The white ones are ethereal. Lovely!xxx
Oh but I have counted them. But if you asked me very nicely….
So many beautiful colours. They really do look like they are getting ready for a costume party 🙂
That is how I always think of them, some of them are quietly elegant and some have very frilly dresses.
A splendid collection. The pale yellow and the apricot are especially gorgeous, but they are all wonderful.
I love those colours too, they are so unusual.
Summer must be here ! Gorgeous girls – all dressed up in their best !!
Indeed the best part of the summer brings the irises and the roses.
Stunning! I’ve been reading about the Cedric Morris irises, but surely they don’t top this!
Sarah Cook who has the National Collection of Cedric Morris irses lives near me here in Suffolk. I do have a few of them. They make some of my Cayeux ones look very overdressed.
When you have SO many, it’s no wonder you can’t recall their names! They’re all utterly wonderful. For the 2nd year in a row, my own have failed to put on a show, which is a major disappointment. Few, if any, are overcrowded so I fear this is yet another effect of the reduced rainfall – they’re relatively drought tolerant but they do want water during their growth surge and perhaps my miserly watering schedule was inadequate to make up for the lack of winter rain. Oh well, there’s always next year and, in the meantime, I get to enjoy yours.
I would have thought they would do well for you as they love to be baked in the sun. But I suppose they need water too. I give mine a little bonemeal in March.
A wonderful collection. I don’t know how you squeeze them all in. Do you have a few favourites?
I have one which is almost black which I haven’ t shown yet because it is still to come. It is one of my favourites.
Fantastic. I believe there’s an iris for everyone. Although I love the more delicate blooms with the stippling and subtle shades I also love the fat overdone flowers as well! I was considering making my own iris bed. I don’t think that’s a good idea since I already have a few but more is sometimes just better. Maybe I’ll discover just how much is too much!
Oh you definitely need a bed for them. They are like snowdrops, you can’ t stop at one or two. You need swathes of them in every colour.
What a rainbow of every color and every color combination! I love irises — ours are done here, but I have so enjoyed the staggering variety you have displayed in your beautiful photos — thanks for sharing them with us! -Beth
They are wonderful whilst they are in bloom. I just wish they would last a little longer.
What a fantastic collection you have Chloris! Thanks for sharing these lovely photos – I really enjoyed admiring each one!
They are gorgeous aren’ t they? Such rich colours.
You have a wonderful collection, so many beautiful colours! I only have a few as they don’t really like my soil, I will just have to admire yours!
What a pity you can’ t grow them. They like a nice baking in the sun but apart from that they don’ t seem too fussy.
These are beautiful, what a wonderful collection and I agree you can’t have too many. I bought Iris Sable last year which flowered very early and fleetingly but I’m on a mission now to add a white one and luckily I know of a huge stand on a neighbouring allotment plot … The combination of your white Iris with the deep purple aquilegia is gorgeous. Another great idea from your blog clicked into my memory bank. Thanks.
Sable is a lovely deep purple isn’ t it? It would look good with a white one and a purple Aquilegia.
Apart from looking very beautiful, one of the best things about Irises is that as you say they need splitting and are great for sharing.
Indeed, they stop flowering if you don’ t split them up every so often.
All beautiful but my favourite has to be the pale blue one 🙂
I love that pale blue one too, I wish I could remember what it is called.
If you remember please let me know 🙂
How lovely Chloris – I don’t know a lot about irises but it was especially lovely to see some paler ones like the whites and that pale pink. I have one bearded iris, a dark blue one, which is flowering for the first time – and now that it is I shall make sure I check its label so I can remember what it is called. I should manage that if there is only one of them!
You can have some when you come if you like Cathy.
🙂 thank you
Lovely flowers and wonderful colours. xx
They are such fantastic colours. I love them.
Splendid !
They are rather splendid aren’ t they?
Oh, no, they are really splendid !
Frilly dresses, indeed! So many pretty blooms–lucky you!
Do you grow any Irises? They do come in such gorgeous colours
I love bearded iris! In one garden I planted a rainbow (color progression) in one bed; it was like a floral Barbie Fashion Show! 😉
What a lovely idea to make a rainbow of irises. Very appropriate too as Iris was the Greek goddess of the rainbow.
I loved seeing your beautiful irises, each one is special in its own way, but I am particularly enamored of that solid purple one.
I love that deep rich purple too. It is almost black.
These are beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing. Irises are so easy to grow and to take care of. I end up planting them in corners and other areas where nothing else will grow and they take off. They may not bloom well or at all in shade, but they occupy a space!
They do bloom best when they are in full sun and there is no competition for light and space.
What majestic splendour Chloris! I’ve only got a couple but don’t know their names as they both came without labels 🙂
If there are any you particularly like let me know and I will send you some when I divide them in August.
I love them, the spiky foliage looks so good in the border even when they’re not in bloom.
They are lovely all the time, I just wish the flowers lasted a little longer.
I love your Irises, Liz. Maybe we can do some swops? I’ll post about them in July.
Great idea, you must tell me which ones you particularly like and will save some for you when I divide them.
Wow, didn’t realize you have such a collection! Been to shoot an iris nursery recently and was mesmerized walking among these colourful beauties.
I hope you will show us some of your Iris shots.
And looking at your photos, they love your garden!
They are easy as long as you give them space and let the rhizomes get baked by the sun.
Oooo, gorgeous! Mine didn’t bloom this year, and I’m a little jealous. It’s because I divided them a couple of years ago, and they’re taking their time to get back to blooming. I love Irises!
They do sometimes take a year out or two to get established after you divide them but they should be great next year.
Your girls are gorgeous ! I love Iris season , too . Lovely photos of your beds 😊
Thank you, they are so beautiful and just as they are going over we have the roses to enjoy in their place. Lovely, lovely June!
Yes, lovely, lovely June 😉 We wait the entire year for these months of beautiful blooms 😉
I agree you can never have enough Iris- I just need more space. I LOVE them. That one up in the corner is that an heirloom? I got some from my mother’s friend she was in her 80’s and she said it was passed down from her family. She called it a “Chocolate” and it has the orange in the middle. Just wondering. They were from my mother’s friend and I love old things:-) Do you know of any scented ones you would suggest? I love historical plants-well-older like me-LOL
One or two of mine were here when I came and others I brought from my old garden. I have some very frilly ones from the famous Cayeux Iris Nursery in France and others are Cedric Morris irises. He lived near me here in Suffolk and bred irises. I also have quite a few from friends. Quite a few of them seem to be scented.
beautiful indeed and I agree that it is such a shame they do not bloom longer … I am hoping to go to a workshop on Irises later this year near Ipswich.
Oh lovely, is that one of Sarah Cook’s? I love her collection of Cedric Morris Irises.
Gosh what a collection and what an inspiration-I’ll need to make space for one or two.
An absolutely stupendous collection. I am particularly taken with the pale blue. As for never having enough, I guess you understand how I feel about tulips.
So beautiful! Your post coincided with the arrival in the post of an iris catalog. The garden gods are trying to tell me something!
Beautiful! You have many varieties of Irises! I have some myself but I am more into the reblooming Irises now for its value! 🙂