I had been keeping an eye out for my Giant Apostles to bloom in my garden. Two weeks ago, I thought the flower buds were showing in two of my beds, but when I got there, I realised the flowers had already bloomed and wilted. Today, three sets opened. You can imagine the joy of the anticipating gardener. Each flower opens only for one day. If I did not spot these beauties from my bedroom window today, I would have missed them completely.

Extra large, richly colored, fragrant flowers distinguish the versatile walking iris ‘Regina.’ Native to Brazil, this tender perennial is very easy to grow and propagate. It grows and spreads from underground stems or rhizomes, and plantlets form at the end of the flower stems after blooming. As the plantlets grow in size and weight, the stems bend down to the ground and they root.

The Walking iris is clump-forming and its leaves are broad, sword-shaped and pointed at the ends. They grow in flat, fan-like arrangements, as do most members of the Iris  family. The brilliant purple-blue iris flowers are marked with white and burgundy-brown spots and borne in clusters on leafy stems held above the foliage. This species tends to bloom in succession from summer to spring, but ‘Regina’ may bloom for longer than average. My collection only bloomed this Autumn.