Gardening notebook
In love with irises
Named by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, the iris family has been cultivated since ancient times, not only for their beauty, but also for their religious symbolism and their use in perfumery, where the orris root is used as a scent fixative in pot-pourri.
In Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of the gods. The iris was a symbol of life in ancient Egypt and India and in the Christian world, the iris was sacred to the Virgin Mary. Irises are associated with royalty and found on flags and coats of arms; the fleur-de-lis was an emblem of French monarchs.
IRISES IN ART
Irises adorned King Minos’s palace walls in Crete (2100 BC) and were used on 18 century Japanese screens and in 19 century French tapestries. Irises featured in medieval and Renaissance paintings (the most well-known being those by Leonardo da Vinci) and were favoured by Impressionist painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Renoir century artist, is famous for her painting .
