More information about George’s aristocratic Iris.

Iris ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’ is a very useful garden plant.

Iris Lady-Beatrix-Stanley in open ground

Iris Lady Beatrix Stanley grown in a pot

The petals, or falls, are wider than many forms of Iris reticulata showing that it is a selection from Iris histrioides.  Iris historides grows naturally at around 1500 metres on mountains in Turkey, but is now scarce in cultivation. It is very weather resistant and reliably perennial unlike some dwarf Iris.

Iris ‘Beatrix Stanley’ is named after Lady Beatrix Stanley (1877 to 1944) who married the Hon. Sir George Stanley in 1903. While her husband was Governor of Madras, Lady Beatrix developed the gardens around their official residency in Ootacamund (Snooty Ooty).  Ooty was the Queen of Hill Stations with an artificial lake, churches and stone houses to remind the expats. of home. Beatrix studied the local flora and submitted drawings to the RHS.

On returning to the family home at Sibbertoft Manor in Leicestershire, she developed bulbs together with her daughter Lady Barbara, particularly snowdrops. Galanthus ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’, a double snowdrop, was named after her in 1981.

Galanthus Lady Beatrix Stanley at RBGE