Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Irises

I'm developing a fondness for simple-flowered irises.

I don't have any, but I've been admiring them. They're usually a clear blue to purple color, and seem to form robust clumps, flowering seemingly without fuss in spring.

That's my kind of perennial. 

They don't seem to fit my 'working for a living' screen for our garden, as they seem to be a horticultural selection of a native species from elsewhere in the world.  But, to be fair, our native irises aren't exactly a wildlife magnet, either.  Maybe that's their strategy!

This iris near the Geology Museum was photographed in dim light, so isn't as vibrantly colored as it actually is.