Bearded pendant petals adorn this iris beauty. There are hundreds of species of iris in nearly all colors. The name iris comes from Greek for rainbow. The sunlight was just right for this close shot.
Passing deer often eat my iris blooms before they fully form. Not this year. I built a wire capsule to enclose them. Some of it is visible in the upper left.
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Our View From Iowa 
Oh my favorite flower in my favorite color! (Those darn deer!)
They must be tasty to the deer.
Everything is! At least around here. (Northern VA)
It is one reason why I don’t plant special things. They get eaten. I keep it natural.
I love irises, and I hate deer! They love eating pretty things.
Gorgeous color – glad you protected it. Deer can be such a nuisance and heartbreaking, too. One year they ate every single one of my sisters tulips just as they were about to bloom. Arrgghhhh!
They seems to wait until just the right time to nip them off. So disappointing. 😦
Uncanny.
It’s a beautiful flower. Now, I’m wondering about the wild iris that fill ditches and ponds here in the springtime. There certainly are deer around, but the flowers don’t get eaten. I wonder if there’s a difference in taste between the wild iris and the cultivated? The wild aren’t nearly so showy, but it may be that the cross-breeding has made them tastier, too.
I suppose that could be. I was a bit surprised to read they were mostly found in the northern hemisphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(plant)#Distribution_and_habitat