Taranaki visit

We have just arrived back from a trip to Taranaki, so I thought I would post a few photographs showing some of the horticultural highlights.
As an iris lover I was interested to see lots of gardens featuring a little bearded iris I think is ‘The Gem’, an old variety bred by Jean Stevens down the road at Wanganui. This photograph comes from the front garden of our motel!



I was interested to see a few colonies of the crested iris, I. watii, in flower. This used to grow wild in my grandparents’ garden, but not with the same vigour it displays in Taranaki.



The Head Gardener found this Ferraria flowering at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park, and did not know what it was. I used to grow this about thirty years ago, so I was glad to see an old friend again!