They may be only inches tall, but you can’t measure dwarf iris by size alone, says GINA PARKINSON

SPRING bulbs are getting into their stride and in a sunny spot by the house a pot of dwarf iris have been blooming for a few weeks.

The first to pop up were a clump of palest blue-grey ones, marked with delicate ochre and looking exquisite against the dark compost in a blue glazed container. For once, I had been organised in late autumn, selecting the pot for its colour and planting layers of tulips topped with the small iris. As the pale iris faded, they were followed by darker coloured ones. These have lovely deep blue petals marked with a central yellow stripe running through white marbling and freckles on the upper surface of the flower.

Now these are on their way out, the tulips are beginning to take over with their long leaves through which will shortly grow the flower stalks.

Dwarf iris are only a few inches tall and need to be somewhere on show to be admired. A large glazed pot is ideal as is a raised alpine bed or small area in a flower bed, where the iris come up first before anything larger drowns them out.

They need well-drained soil or compost and a sunny place, and once settled will come up year after year as early as February depending on the species and weather.

 

In the veg garden

WE PICKED the first rhubarb last weekend and had it in a crumble. There is nothing better than picking home-grown fruit, giving it a wash then cooking it straight away. Delicious.

There are two clumps of rhubarb in the veg garden planted at the same time and now going into their third summer.

The first year they were left to grow unpicked, just watered regularly, we had a hot, dry summer that year, and mulched in autumn and the following spring.

Last year we picked a few stems but tried not to get too much off them. This year they are good big plants that will stand more harvesting over the next few months.

I tried an experiment with them this year and covered one of the clumps with a large black plastic container while leaving the other open to the weather. After a couple of months the stems of the covered clump pushed the container off the ground and it was taken off to reveal several long, bright pink stems ready for harvesting.

They were little longer than those of its uncovered friend, whose stems are deeper reddish green, but after a week there was little difference in length.

The cover was perhaps put on too late to make a dramatic difference between the two clumps. I’ll try doing it in January next year.

 

Open gardens

Today

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Burnby Hall Gardens, 3 The Balk, Pocklington, YOYO42 2QF. Nine-acre garden with two lakes, rockery, secret and Victorian gardens, natural shrubbery and stumpery. The gardens also hold the national collection of hardy water lilies. Open 10am-5.30pm, last admission 4.30pm, admission by donation.

Tomorrow

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Millrace Nursery, 84 Selby Road, Garforth, Leeds, LS25 1LP, five miles east of Leeds. Well-stocked garden overlooking a secluded valley and including large herbaceous borders containing more than 3,000 varieties of perennials, shrubs and trees. There is also a vegetable garden, pond, small woodland, bog garden and walled terraces leading to a wildflower meadow. Open 1pm to 5pm, admission £3.

3, Pilmore Cottages, Pilmoor, YO61 2QQ, 20 miles north of York and six miles east of Boroughbridge. Two-acre garden surrounding 18th-century cottages developed in an informal style with year-round interest and colour, ponds and rockery as well as a clock-golf putting green and miniature railway around the garden. Open 11am to 5pm, admission £3.50.

RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, HG3 1QB, off the B6162 Harrogate-Otley road. Large garden planted with a huge range of plants and with many elements, including a streamside garden, alpines, scented and kitchen gardens, woodland and wildflower meadow. Plenty of picnic areas as well as Bettys Tearoom and plant nursery. Open 9.30am to 5pm, admission £7.50 adult, £3.75 child.

 

Gardening TV and Radio

Tomorrow

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio York, Mark Forrest. Mark Forrest presents his weekly programme of gardens and gardening advice.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Toby Buckland, Bunny Guinness and Anne Swithinbank join chairman Eric Robson in Cornwall where they advise gardeners from St Kerverne.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Eric Robson and panellists Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden and Matthew Wilson are in Kent where they join the audience at the East Malling Research Centre.