Are you familiar with Monet and his garden home at Giverny? If you've seen his paintings, you know how much he loved color, light and his fabulous iris collections.

Yellow flag and white and yellow spuria plants still grow at the pond. Do you remember his most famous paintings of the water lilies at Giverny?

Monet loved the spectacular bearded specimens. He planted masses of them - all shades of lavender, mauve, blue and purple. They were his inspiration for many of his stunning paintings.

But his iris collection expanded to include more than just the colors of the sea and sky. He continually experimented with new varieties that reflected the countless colors of the rainbow. White, orange, yellow, rust, pinks, brilliant reds, burgundies and “almost” black...

There are no perfectly black flowers but if there were, artists wouldn't paint them. That's because true black has no light quality and art, photography included, is entirely dependent on the light.

This is my attempt at a Monet style photograph using a blurring tool in Photoshop. I wanted to give the effect of a painting rather than a sharply focused photo.

I usually use special filters on my lens for creating various types of blur. I can tell you about different types of filters and how to make some creative filters in your home.

Irises make up about 90 genera of perennials and bulbs with about 300 species and hundreds more cultivars.

• The flowers have 6 petals - 3 standards point up or out - 3 falls point out or down.

• The leaves are shaped like swords or grass. Iris leaves are unique - both sides of the leaf absorb and use sunlight. They leaves stand straight and tall, reaching for the sun through other thick vegetation.

• The cultivar flowers are all colors of the rainbow, often super-frilly - sometimes not - but always super-showy!

• This family is closely related to the orchid family. Look for similarities when you photograph them.

The blue flag, I. versicolor, is a beautiful wild plant. There are lots of interesting facts about it so here's a little trivia:

• Ancients considered it to be a symbol of power and majesty and the deep purple color is associated with royalty. In 1147, these irises were on Louis VII's banner during the Second French Crusade. They were called the Fleurs de Louis - now they're called the fleur-de-lis.

• The ancient Greeks called the root “machaironium”. They ground it and mixed it with flour to make a pasta - today's macaroni!

• The blue flag has a history rich in naturopathic medicine. American Indians used the root as a laxative and to treat all manner of stomach problems. Also as a poultice and a treatment for snake bite.

• But it also goes by the name “poison flag” so be warned. Don't ingest the resin from its rhizome. It has to be used in very controlled doses to treat heartburn, sinusitis, colic, gastritus, enteritis and a lot more.

• The rhizomes contain tannin, an acid, so don't get the juice on your skin. It will cause burning irritation.

• Blue flag flowers produce a lovely blue dye. It can act as litmus paper. Remember your high school chemistry? In acid it becomes red and in alkaline it turns blue.

• In the 19th C. the roots were used in perfumes, especially in Tuscany. And still today, they're used for fragrance in soaps, perfumes and cosmetics.

• The wild blue flag is the official provincial wildflower of Quebec.