It’s late May and the irises are in full bloom. Irises are definitely in my top ten favourite garden flowers along with roses, foxgloves, poppies, lilies, hellebores, tulips, clematis, dahlias, and, those great favourites of the medieval illuminators, columbines. Each May when the aquilegias flower I think of illuminated manuscripts and the unnamed artisans who spent hours in their workshops decorating religious texts.
And, it wasn’t just aquilegias that filled the margins, for illuminators included images of the different flowers found growing in their own local districts. From about 1300 onwards there is a wonderful variety of illustrations including daisies, honeysuckle, clover, cornflowers, the dog rose along with the blossom of fruit trees and the blooms of flowering herbs.
Gradually, during the course of the 14th and 15th centuries, the making of illuminated texts became a specialist business with the production of breviaries, prayer books, psalters and books of hours from workshops across Europe. Stylised and simple motifs of flowers gave way to more naturalistic representations such as the irises seen in the Bourdichon Hours (above) and the almost ‘impressionistic’ iris seen in the Huth Hours (below).
I haven’t got any irises in my backyard as yet, and I’m still wondering if there would be enough hours of direct sunshine for them to bloom, but, fortunately, halfway down my road I spotted some in the little community plot.
This plot was one of those small, unloved areas which didn’t belong to anyone and has now been turned into a shared space, a community veg plot with a handful of raised beds and some seasonal flowers to brighten the whole affair. A number of local people who live in neighbouring flats or homes without gardens, spend their spare time planting, weeding and harvesting. This attractive project was instigated by one of my neighbours who’s also the Green Party candidate for our ward.
There is something heartening and positive about the continuing existence of a genus of flowers, admired and illustrated, that way we can track through the centuries. It would be nice to think that humans will be around for the next 700 years to enjoy the iris and the rest of the natural world, but that requires the present generation of world leaders to put their own personal ambitions aside, take a longterm view and start to deal with the climate crisis – seriously.
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Agnes Ashe 
Your post is both full of beautiful images and a powerful argument for taking climate change seriously.
Thank you. I think it is worth trying to consider the climate crisis within both a personal and historical context.
I came to love irises when I was in France. The astonishing variety of colours I saw there was beyond anything I’ve spotted in this country: though your photos suggest I may just have been unlucky. This is a delightful post, linking us strongly to our past, and – let’s hope – our future. Thank you!
Ah yes I know France has some wonderful iris nurseries such as the Cayeux firm which I believe has been going longer than Kelways in Somerset when it comes to irises. We are lucky here in Suffolk as up the A12 from us is Woottens of Wenhaston. They are a specialist grower and their address is ‘The Iris Field Hall Rd’!
A bearded iris, methinks? We love them, and most weeks come home from the markets with a bunch of blue/purple irises. Not sure the variation. It’s a simple single stem straight-up type. How interesting to reflect on the creators of illustrated manuscripts. It puts me in mind of a book I read ages back, The Anchoress, by Australian author, Robyn Cadwallader. If you get your hands on a copy, I think you may fined some common themes.