Greek goddess of the rainbow ...

At last the thirsty garden has had a shower of rain (who'd have thought we'd ever say that in England?!)  Our stately bearded irises are out in force...

Iris was the Greek goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. One of her main duties was to lead the souls of the dead, particularly women, to the Elysian Fields. The Greeks planted purple bearded irises on the graves of women. Similarly Muslims in many countries have decorated graves with white irises (Iris albicans). Hence there has been tremendous movement of irises from their original habitats to burial sites all over the Middle East. The tripartite flowers found favour with the early Christians and came to represent the Holy Trinity.


In its stylised form the ‘fleur de lys’, the iris was an emblem of the French monarchy from the 12th century...


One of the extras was an accident! :-)