Plant A Rainbow

Bearded iris, with their elegant sculpted, colourful blooms, are not only beautiful, but robust and easy to grow.

- Adrienne Wild

The picture-perfect blooms of bearded irises are among our most recognisable garden flowers. Traditionally planted in cottage-style borders, they look especially good next to plants with bold blooms, such as oriental poppies and peonies, as well as alliums and bold daisy flowers.

You may also come across irises planted in trendy, prairie-style planting schemes, where they’re randomly set against ornamental grasses and fine-leaved perennials, such as yarrow or achillea. A striking combo is the silver foliage of Achillea ‘Moonshine’ and Iris ‘Helen Dawn’, which is a ghostly, pure white that shines in the moonlight. It also has a white beard that’s yellow at the tip, deepening to almost orange in the throat, and with a heavy, sharp scent.