Description
The normal species is one of only two Iris actually native to the UK and has a variety of common names based on the smell of the bruised leaves and “roast beef”.
In the wild form the flowers are often inconspicuous and incline to a rather dingy purple-grey. However this horticultural form has lost some of its purple pigments and it has flowers of a lovely and distinctive yellow shade. It makes more flowers and the yellow colourations (with purple contrast) really makes them stand out amongst the leaves.
Long after flowering, large swollen pods burst open to reveal a treasure chest of rows of bright red berries when they burst open in autumn. Many of the seeds persist, clinging to the pods through the winter.
Easy to grow in almost any soil, this will take shade and dryness, even in combination and this selected form is far better than the straight species, which anyway has an RHS Award of Garden Merit, AGM.
