Visiting in early June in 2019, I saw many of Myddleton House’s beautiful irises in flower. You will see below some lovely photos which really show how diverse the plants have become. The effort that plant breeders have put in to creating diverse and beautiful bearded irises (Iris germanica) and Siberian irises (Iris sibirica) is enormous.

The collection is mainly those irises which have won the Dykes Iris Society medal, an award given by the American and British Iris societies in memory of William Rickatson Dykes, author of an authoritative book on irises published in 1914. 

I’ve done my best to check my pictures are correctly named because sometimes it’s not easy to tell which label refers to which plant. The American awards were checked on the American Iris Society’s Iris Encyclopaedia. Unfortunately the British Iris Society’s website does not offer the same service. But the American Iris Society has this page which is some help and there is also the Historic Iris Society’s useful photo index.

The irises are mostly tall bearded ones – Iris germanica – which is what I like most. There are a few Siberian irises and they are marked in the captions.