The Revival of Our Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur’
Tall Bearded Irises ‘Voltigeur’
I couldn’t resist sharing the beauty of our Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur’, which are in full bloom right now. While they’re not native to Australia, they have become a star of our back garden, a space dedicated to both food and flowers—our own little picking and foraging haven.
When we first moved in, the garden was a wild mess of weeds and invasive trees. In the process of cleaning it out, I stumbled upon a small, neglected patch of Tall Bearded Irises. They were struggling, pale and withered, perforated by snails and slugs, starved of sunlight for what looked like a decade or more. Despite their poor condition, these hardy plants had managed to hang on.
Two Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur'
In 2019, I decided to give them a fresh start. After digging them up and dividing the rhizomes, I was left with around a dozen viable plants. I replanted them in the sunnierspot you can see, and since then, they’ve flourished. Every spring, they seem to outdo themselves—the number of blooms increases, and they grow more vibrant with each passing year.
Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur' basking in the afternoon spring sun
One of the things I cherish most about our back garden is that it’s largely made up of rescue plants. Many were transplanted or propagated from the remnants of the neglected garden we inherited when we first moved in. It’s incredibly rewarding to watch these plants bounce back, have the gardens lineage live on and have these plants thrive in their new altered and cared for environment, and our irises are a beautiful testament to that resilience.
Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur' in our back garden
Single Tall Bearded Irises ‘voltigeur'
