The bearded iris, coming into bloom now, is a powerful flower and it knows it. It looks at you with a wonderful, daring insolence, insultingly superb. How can a flower be so louche yet so distant, all at the same time? Like all irises, they are models of symmetry: three outside petals called falls, three upright petals called standards, and right in the centre, three strappy petals, called style arms, protecting the anthers. The “beards”, after which they are named, make hairy ridges down the centre of the falls.
These are the showiest of all the huge iris family, but they are not the easiest to place in a garden. They need full sun for at least half the day and they do not like
