Bring on early-flowering irises
I have grown to love the early irises that light up even the worst days of January and February. This is a fairly recent thing because for many years I tried to grow them outside in a border and they were never happy in our heavy, wet soil. But for the past 10 years I have only grown them in pots and they have thrived. I sow the bulbs in autumn in a very gritty potting compost, and keep them in a cold frame that is open at the sides and covered on top, so they are cold but don’t get too wet. Then, when the shoots start to appear after Christmas, I gradually bring them into the greenhouse to bring them on so that there is a flowering succession from January right through to the middle of March. The first to flower is the compact Iris danfordiae, with its bright-yellow flowers, followed by the bright-blue I. histrioides ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’ and the plum-coloured ‘George’. I. ‘Harmony’ is another favourite, with blue petals that have a yellow blaze on the lower fall, and ‘J.S. Dijt’, which rarely flowers until the end of the early iris season − in late February − has a sumptuous burgundy colour.