illing the garden with colour and beauty during late spring and early summer, bearded irises have inspired artists such as Van Gogh, leaving them enthralled by the graceful elegance of their large ruffled flowers blooming atop long stems. They were the stars of the show in Sarah Price’s gold-award-winning The Nurture Landscapes Garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, and it’s easy to see why.
The bearded iris – – derives from – the ancient iris grown by perfumers for its scented rhizomes, or orris root. The ‘beard’ refers to the furry caterpillar of hairs at the base of each of the three outer petals; often brightly coloured, they are thought to function
