PLANT of the week

Bearded iris

Back in the day you only saw one variety of bearded iris – the plain purplish blue one – but now that bearded irises have become fashionable, there are many more varieties to choose.

They come in three groups. The dwarf group grows 9in high and flowers in April, intermediates grow from 9-30in, flowering in May, and tall varieties reach over 2ft 6in high and flower in June.

A real enthusiast would grow a few plants from each group to keep the garden iris-rich for around a quarter of the year.

But if you only have room for a few, the really fashionable ones are the tall June-flowering kinds, which are the showiest of all. They have huge flowers in a wide range of colours.