A couple of years ago we visited Monet’s garden in Giverny in late May. Until then I had never been a big fan of Iris, but the display of hundreds of varieties of Iris there all in colour co-ordinated blocks mixed with other early flowering herbaceous perennials was stunning! Since then we have been building our Iris collection in our garden and this year we have introduced some new named varieties for sale on the nursery.
We love purple, blue and bronze combinations here at Le Jardin Créatif and have grown a selection of Iris species and cultivars in this colour spectrum amongst perennials that compliment them well such as Thalictrum aquilegifolium and Lysimachia ‘Firecracker’ and ornamental grasses such as Pennisetum ‘Karley Rose’. Growing Iris amongst other perennials also helps to extend interest and hides the fading foliage once they have finished flowering.
Iris are easy to grow and the warm summer soils suit them well and they establish quickly. Their fat rhizomes allow them to survive periods of drought and they are hardy enough to survive the coldest winters. They need very little maintenance except to cut back the foliage as the leaves fade and deadheading regularly keeps them flowering for longer and promotes stronger rhizomes as the energy they use for producing seed is diverted to the rhizomes for storage.
We have 8 different Iris cultivars available and lots of perennials for a stunning May display available at the nursery. We are open Saturdays 10am-4pm. You can browse our plant list here:
Le Jardin Creatif 
Good afternoon Caroline, I haven’t been in touch recently as Julie and I been in England for the last 6 weeks. I attended the fruit tree grafting course earlier this year. On returning from England last week I found the two graftings I completed in a parched serre, both full of growth, both above and below the grafts. Am I right in thinking that I should remove the growth below the grafts?
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