It’s such a great time of year in our gardens.
Whether it’s in my own, gardens I’m visiting or in our public parks, there are colours everywhere.
From the top, the fresh foliage of our trees are so green and lush.
Plants can dominate in full bloom
Working our way down, though sometimes equally as tall, Rhododendrons are still dazzling away in colours of pinks to yellows and reds so tall, just one plant can dominate a garden when in full bloom.
In my opinion every garden should make room for a Philapdephus.
Also known as the Mock Orange due to the fragrance from the single or double flowers resembling that of orange blossom, this is the main reason I have one with its function the rest of the summer being it’s apple green foliage as a back drop to herbaceous plants.
These are what make the layer of plants below- orange and yellow Euphorbia, blue flowering Catmint (Nepeta), and yellow flowering Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla).
Though once it finishes flowering I’d recommend chopping it down or it will seed everywhere.
Huge choice of plants available
What I’ve mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg where I bet you have so many more.
What would you do then if you were told that you could only choose one type of plant from the thousands and thousands out there?
Would you even be able to choose and if so, what would it be?
It’s tough, as there a few I could narrow it down to but I think in the end I would go for the genus Iris.
I find them a fascinating group of plants where with some thought and planning you could have one flowering in your garden from late winter into summer.
There’s something for everyone no matter if you garden in dry, moist and wet soils or only have room for a greenhouse.
First up to start flowering at the start of the year are the dwarf and alpine bulbs of the reticulata Iris species that have wonderful, detailed markings on the flowers.
They require a free draining soil really not liking our usual, winter wet and ideal as the top layer of a lasagne planting container of bulbs, or in pots of their own, growing in a 50:50 John Innes number3 compost and grit, under the cover of a glasshouse.
Getting more specialist
Next, going into a bit more specialist territory are the exotic looking Juno Irises that grow in semi-arid conditions on the mountainsides of the Middle East and Central Asia.
These are absolutely stunning though do require a bit more skill and effort to grow successfully, planting in deep pots made of clay, then plunged into beds of sand in a well-ventilated glasshouse.
The idea being to assist with the sometimes tricky watering regime of such plants, the porous clay pots will absorb moisture from the wet sand which also keeps the roots cool during the summer months.
Six months from our first flowering Iris and they are still going strong.
Maybe the most familiar to us are the bearded Iris, known thus due to the caterpillar like line of thick hairs in the throat of the large flowers.
The flowers and sword like foliage grow from rhizomes which love a good baking in the sun for the plant to be at its best.
Perfect for Scottish gardens?
Less fussier are their cousins the beardless Iris.
Ken Cox in his book Garden Plants for Scotland suggests these are perfect for our Scottish gardens liking full sun but can handle part shade, prefer moist soils but can tolerate drier soils.
Being generally trouble free as far as pests and diseases go and with slim and fine grass like leaves which itself is a feature in the border, making this an ideal group of Iris to grow.
They are in their peak flowering season just now and I’ve been having great fun this week with my head buried in amongst some lovely colourful flowers, looking at many different hybrids of these ‘Sibs’, trying to confirm the identity of nearly 100 of them which form part of a National Collection.
It’s been a challenge but I’ve found it very interesting.
Some were easier than others
‘Paprikash’ colours red through to light apricot resembling that of paprika, the unique colouring of ‘Salamander Crossing’ a soft yellow and lilac and then we have ‘Helicopter’ which when looking down on the flowers look like yes, you’ve guessed, the whirling blades of a helicopter.
Then there are some that bit more tricker with an understanding of the flowering parts required.
An Iris has six flowers, three upper ones called ‘standards’ and three lower that drop down called ‘falls’.
Both sets can vary in shape and colour from each other with the blades (main part) of the fall for me being the most interesting part of the flower.
Some are large whilst others small and slender.
Some fall shapes are rounded or maybe ruffled and if lucky they could be edged golden or white.
The veins that mark the petals are an important character of each which link up with the signals at the throat of the flower, guiding bees towards the pollen.
I’ve definitely picked the right ‘one’.
