‘Aigue Marine’ Cayeux 2012. Possibly my favourite this week. It is a lovely blue with moderately tall stems, moderately sized flowers and a crisp colour and look to it. Though not a giant in any way it is a great garden plant with class.

‘Fabuleux’ Cayeux 2003. This is similar to the wonderful ‘Alizes’ and has the same colour pattern. The pure white standards float above the beautiful blue and white falls.

‘Lovely Senorita’ Schreiners 2002. This is a tall iris and although basically an orange iris it has enough variation in its shades to make it interesting as well as making a good show from across the garden

‘Lovely Senorita’ has tall stems and as many as 14 buds per stem according to Schreiners – that’s pretty impressive for such a large bloom

‘Echassier’ Cayeux 2010. This does not have the form or colour that I would fall in love with and I am not fond of those ‘skidmarks’ on the hafts, but it does have fantastic horns

Those bright beards end in a white horn with a sinister flicker of purple at the end – amazing

‘Conjuration’ Byers 1989. This has become a classic iris and is one that has proved that space-age iris with horns and other ‘extras’ are not just novelties but can be great iris too. Winning the American Dykes medal in 1998 it is one of the late Monty Byers’ greatest creations

‘Conjuration’ has lots of buds and is a lovely garden plant

‘Mallow Dramatic’ Gatty 1995. Cleverly named, this is a beautiful colour although I am not a fan of the ‘lace’ that ornaments the top of the standards.

‘Vin d’Honnour’ Cayeux 2012. Despite its recent introduction this does not have ultra-modern form and it is not the best red. I know reds are difficult to get (well impossible so far) but this one doesn’t quite float my boat. But we will see if vigour and performance gets it some extra marks.

‘Euphorie’ Cayeux 2010. These big, ruffled flowers have great impact even though they are not quite the raspberry colour that Cayeux claim. It reminds me of when I asked in a shop (many years ago) why raspberry Slush puppy was blue and i was told that raspberry juice was blue. (I must have looked gullible – or stupid)

‘Winterfest’ Schreiners 2005. This is a big, bold, ruffled white with a hint of blue that does everything you would want and makes you wish you were a bee so you could bury yourself in those petals – it must be like getting into a freshly laundered bed of crisp linen