Is this new iris good enough?

Over on my Royal Horticultural Society New Plants blog, I’ve just posted about a new two-tone, bright yellow form of Iris sibirica. Called ‘Scramble’, it’s introduced in Britain for the new season by Cotswold Garden Flowers. It’s really lovely, well worth taking a look.

‘Scramble’ was selected by John Grimshaw, one of  Britain’s foremost plantspeople with interests in a wide diversity of plants including snowdrops, trees and kniphofias as well as irises.

And he has another, as yet unnamed, form of Iris sibirica he thinks is very promising, and I do too. At the moment it’s just known informally as “pastel blue” (above, click to enlarge).

This is what John told to me about it: “There is a gorgeous pastelly blue one as well that I think is outstanding for floriferousness, longevity of flowering and charming colouring, though the flowers are not large: it is fertile & the pods are held on very stiff stems all winter - one of the few perennials I can bear to leave uncut. I doubt the Iris aficionados would like it but I think it’s an excellent garden plant. I've selected a few others, including one with peachy flowers, because I like them, but they're probably not worth distributing - "pastel blue" is.”

So do you think this new blue iris is worth passing on to a nursery for them to introduce? Looks good to me, I love the broad falls with the intricate patterning. And what about the peachy one John mentions? That sounds tempting too.

Be sure to check out John Grimshaw’s blog as well as the site for his snowdrop garden at Colesbourne Park.

Thanks to John Grimshaw for the image.