Blue Iris

Blue Iris was photographed in Stanley Park -  situated close to Stokes Bay seafront, it is Gosport's largest formal park and is well known for it's colourful flowers and enjoyed by locals during the summer months as they play games and have family picnics.

According to Gosport borough council's website the gardens are believed to have been designed by Sir Joseph Paxton who is perhaps better known for designing the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851. 

The grounds at Stanley Park were originally split between two separate properties: Lord Ashburton's "Asburton House" (later renamed as "Bay House" and now part of Bay House School, and the author John Coker's "Alver House" (now known as the Alverbank Hotel). 

The grounds of both properties were sold to Gosport Borough Council and 1943 and became the temporary base to the Royal Engineers for the duration of the war. Bay House School opened in 1949 and the rest of the grounds later became the Stanley Park we know today.

Several authors say that the name Iris is a reference to the wide variety of colours found among this species with it's showy flowers, and is taken from the Greek word for a rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow.