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Iris reticulata

Almost over now with the warmth of spring, but for a fortnight a little pool of sapphire from the Caucasus near the garden door. There are names (‘Cantab’, ‘J.S. Dijt’) for pale blue and purple versions. Perhaps this is ‘Oxon’, or perhaps just a lucky selection. It tends to form congested clumps, barely four inches high, which clearly need dividing, although I’m told this may stop them flowering for a year or two. Out in the woods a similar sapphire pool is made by the European Scilla bifolia, slowly spreading with seedlings in the leaf mould.

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