Arrived at Wisley for today's trials assessment session soon after the thunderous downpour - and just look these irises! This is the Tall Bearded Iris trial just an hour or two after the torrential rain early this morning. Every flower was still beaded with rain drops and yet - they look spectacular... Read more..

Tall Bearded Irises are amongst the most dramatic and colourful of perennials so the very best of them must be really impressive. And they are. The RHS Iris Sub Committee - yes, there's a sub committee just for irises - has recently had its latest awards ratified and three Tall Bearded Irises performed... Read more..

Amongst the many thousands of summer Iris cultivars, it's usually the flamboyant bearded irises that get most of the attention. But the recent trial of Spuria irises again proved what valuable perennials they are. Spuria irises are tall, up to around 1.5m/5ft, and while the flowers lack the rainbow... Read more..

Down on the Wisley trials field is a small trial of water irises, plants derived from Iris ensata , I. pseudacorus , I. sibirica, I. versicolor and I. virginica. When I looked them over a couple of weeks ago they were a long way from flowering but some revealed a totally different feature, one that could... Read more..