Early blooms for winter gardens
Alan Street of Avon Bulbs, Somerset suggests a few iris to add colour to your garden at the bleakest time of year.
While much of the garden is looking forlorn, there's one little iris you can rely on to add a splash of colour. Iris unguicularis grows from a rhizome (underground stem) and flowers well before the true bulb Iris reticulata. Formerly known as Algerian Iris, it originates from Algeria and the eastern Mediterranean, so it's no surprise that it loves the sun. In British gardens plant it in the sunniest spot you can find.
Three more favourites worth trying are:
Iris unguicularis 'Walter Butt'
This has large, honey-scented flowers of the most wonderful pale icy-blue, or glacier-blue some say. To pick one of these in bud and to watch it unfurl in a vase in a warm room is a wonder. However they are hard to spot - looking like rolled-up umbrellas.
Iris unguicularis 'Mary Barnard'
This form has bright purple flowers with a bold blue patch in the middle of the falls (outer segments) which is further enhanced by a lovely orange central stripe.
Iris unguicularis 'Alba'
The beautiful white form may also be listed as 'Bowles's White'. This too has a strong golden yellow stripe to the outer segments and responds to extra feeding and protection.
In a mild autumn expect the first flowers in November whereafter they may continue sporadically until March.
Conditions to suit
Iris unguicularis is said to relish neglect and impoverished soil, but I have not found this to be the case, in fact the opposite. The best plants I have seen are well-fed and pampered and not left to fend for themselves in builders' rubble at the base of a south-facing wall. Indeed, they favour a south-facing wall, but make sure the ground has been well-prepared - add plenty of compost or well-rotted organic matter.
Early autumn is the best time to plant them as in their native lands autumn rain promotes the growth of new roots, although some protection from excessive frost will be necessary the first winter.
Although they have been in cultivation for more than 100 years, there are relatively few named forms, and the species itself, when well-grown is still hard to beat.
Beware slugs and caterpillars which find the juicy buds very appealing.