Plant of the week - white bearded iris

This majestic bearded iris was given to me by my mother about 4 years ago. I'd never grown irises before so was surprised to learn how tasty slugs and snails find them!

White flag iris

The blooms really are stunning, with delicate papery white petals on a stem 2 feet high. Each flower-bearing stem has about four blooms, they are each only in their prime for a couple of days before they wither and its neighbour comes into its own.

They aren't without problems, slugs and snails (a real pest in my garden) love the sword-like leaves and will eat the whole lot if they aren't protected. I use copper rings to protect my vulnerable plants as its more effective, more environmentally-friendly and in fact less effort than slug pellets, although the initial cost may be off-putting, the rings last for years. The tall stems are also at the mercy of heavy rain and wind, but I may not have planted the rhizome deep enough to make them stable.

Last year I managed to divide the one plant into two, one of which I planted in an open space away from other plants of a similar height (the one in the photo) and one among the delphiniums and poppies, which was a total mistake as the slugs used those plants as ladders to hop over the copper ring and reduce the iris to a stump. You live, plant and learn.