Big Bearded Iris Competition

A Big Bearded Iris Competition - what a good idea! The pastels versus the deeply smouldering shades - this will be a battle of light against dark in the late spring garden.

Irises pose formally for the camera. Their photographs remind me of graduating school-girls, all lined up wearing different coloured prom dresses - this one a midnight blue velvet, that one a pale apricot organza.

So how to choose the winner? The best beard? Hardly the most romantic of criteria! And it has to involve more than choosing my favourite colour - otherwise the blue irises would win every time.

So after much thought I've chosen five different areas for judging, where points from 1 (hopeless) to 5 (brilliant) will be awarded. The judging criteria are as follows:

Judging Criteria

Emotional Appeal, Generosity of Flower, Floppy Factor, Impact, and Garden Contribution.

Emotional Appeal will almost certainly be based on personal colour memories. For example, did the Head Gardener really have a ballet tutu this colour when she was five years old? Generosity of Flower needs no explanation. And obviously irises who flop over at the first puff of wind are at a disadvantage. Thanks for the offers, but my floppy irises require no help from spammers, thank you very much.

The general impact must be judged when the gardener is just wandering by - she cannot be specifically going to look at the irises. And the garden contribution takes account of neighbouring plants in the border.

May the Best Iris Win!

Right. It's easy. May the best iris win!

Apricot Iris

Emotional Appeal 4

Generosity of Flower 1

Floppy Factor 2

Impact 3

Contribution 2

The beautiful pastel apricot iris scores 12 points.

Yellow and White Iris

Emotional Appeal 2

Generosity of Flower 3

Floppy Factor 4

Impact 2

Contribution 3

The yellow and white iris scores 14 points.

Maroon Iris

Emotional Appeal 2

Generosity of Flower 4

Floppy Factor 4

Impact 1

Contribution 4

The maroon iris scores 15 points.

Regal Purple Iris

Emotional Appeal 2

Generosity of Flower 3

Floppy Factor 3

Impact 5

Contribution 3

The regal purple iris scores 16 points

Wedgwood Blue Iris

Emotional Appeal 4

Generosity of Flower 3

Floppy Factor 4

Impact 3

Contribution 4

The Wedgwood blue iris scores 18 points.

And the winner is - Wedgwood Blue! The same colour as my favourite summer gardening shirt. My favourite colour, full stop! And I always wanted a Wedgwood blue ballet tutu... Well, well, well... What a surprise!

My biggest patch of Wedgwood blue irises is in a very visible corner of the Birthday Rose Garden, surrounded by fluffy pink and white peonies and lemon roses. Simply beautiful!