FAREWELL TO THE IRIS BORDER: A FINAL LOOK BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION INTO THE BENTON BORDER

The Border as It Stands

Here it is, in full—May 2025, in a blaze of purple, mauve, acid yellow, and soft steel.

View of the Iris Border in full bloom with Allium Gladiator and bearded irises in May 2025.

The back is lined with dark tulips (Queen of Night, still clinging on), and the stone wall gives it a whiff of a Roman ruin. There’s something restrained, almost architectural, about this year’s display. A final nod to its original formal intention before we let it get a little looser, a little loucher.

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THE BENTON IRISES TAKE THE STAGE: GROWING CEDRIC MORRIS’S HISTORIC BEARDED IRISES

THE BENTON IRISES TAKE THE STAGE

New arrivals, familiar ghosts, and the promise of a future performance.

The new arrivals swept in like a travelling troupe — fresh from the hay-strewn hold, labels stapled to their leaves like boarding passes. A little dishevelled, a little dazed, but humming with potential.

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