The Iris season starts early at Les Terrasses, with a dark blue, the name of which I do not know, but which grows in abundance in local gardens and by the roadside. Later in the month a taller pale blue takes over. Both of these we inherited with the house, and I have been thinning them out ever since, a challenge as Iris grow so well here, an incentive to add some variety.

Yellows and oranges belong in the “hot bed” over the fosse.  Varieties include Pirate’s Quest and Amplified

Tut’s Gold, Feu Follet, Tabac Blond, Rustic Cedar, Miami Beach and Hermes

In the Stone Circle, built to discourage visiting workmen from driving their lorries over the geothermie piping, went Secret Rites, grey-yellow standards and gold green falls, Brasero, with cream standards and burgundy red falls, and Dude Ranch, golden standards and brown falls tinged with violet

All three have done well, and all the planting in this bed has filled out in the past year, even the Viburnum Kiliminjaro seems to have established

The Iris in the pond are doing well too

Our visit in May was brief. Enough to trim some box and spray against the dreaded box moth which I hear is now spreading devastation in England as well as France, at least the box it got last year before I sprayed is beginning to recover. Some weeding too, never enough, but the flowers in the prairie are holding their own, salvia and phlomis, both yellow and purple, dominate at this time of year

but it was good to see some flowers on the poppies as well, as these have been slower to establish.