Iris unguicularis
Do you have garden pictures that stay with you through the years? Often they’re in your own garden, though sometimes you can recall specific plants or particular combinations or views in other places. Each December, when the first flowers open on small clumps of Iris unguicularis, in the beds either side of the front door, I’m reminded of an unforgettable scene.
Many years ago, soon after we’d moved here, our old Land Rover (I mean old, you had to crank start it!) had needed some a ention. I took it down to a li le garage to ask Charlie Philpo to look at it. He and his wife Daphne were keen gardeners but didn’t have a lot of space. Alongside the south west-facing wall under the eaves of their bungalow, growing in the gravel of the track, were huge clumps of Iris unguicularis in full flower. There must have been hundreds of perfect lavender-blue flowers held above the slightly untidy foliage typical of this plant. Never having seen it before, I was thrilled and delighted.
The reason it was doing so well was that it had the same conditions as those in its native habitat, poor, sharply-drained soil in full sun and exempt from the high rainfall where we live. Each flower is perfect and one bloom brought indoors will scent a whole room.