Snowdrops are the darlings of the garden press and their purity adorns many  garden magazine at this time of the year. They are lovely and I have hundreds of them in my own garden yet flowering at the same time is Iris reticulata in all it’s many beautiful variations and it hardly gets a look in. I have just a few but they provide a real sparkle in pots or in the garden soil and light up the winter garden.

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’

Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’