Successional iris flowering

The gorgeous dark blue iris are over. And the second flush is arriving.

I have some lovely tall pale blue soldiers standing tall over the top of the barn garden.

It is always a bit of a lottery; one never knows what colour you will get when you receive free gifts.  Leslie gave me a huge tray of iris plants a few years ago and I just love the lottery of colour.  I never remember what will flower each year so it is a surprise.

Or in the case of the yellow ones, a ghastly shock.

I have a dozen or so buds forming that are on the wacky scale of the colour spectrum.

I first noticed them when I was removing the gravel from the path in front of these plants. Iris are pretty extraordinary. You just don’t see the tall foot high (or in some cases two feet high) coming.

One day it is strappy leaves and happy glaucous growth, and then next, a flower.

These yellow iris are shy. They have been in plump bud mode for days now. And no sign of the exploding flower.

But I’m not rushing to see.

In fact I cut the stalks while still in this bud form and plonked them into the bouquets for the flower market this week.

Luckily they do well with the euphorbia flowers (bracts) and some contrasting Queen of the Night tulips.

And I have some valerian (centranthus ruber) just starting to come out.

I quite like the red button look of the flowers. When they do emerge they are a bit large for such displays.

But at least I have spread the love and given away the yellow iris.