My iris beds don't have many other plants with them. In some iris beds I have kangaroo paws but they attract birds which bump my irises. Since I started hybridizing I get worried that the birds will break a stem with a seed pod on it. I am planning to move the kangaroo paws elsewhere.
A couple of my iris beds have an occasional succulent to provide year round interest. The Echeverias, Euphorbia Rigida and Flapjacks are fine but the Blue Chalk Sticks spread and need to be trimmed back often. There are a few nerines too for autumn and winter interest. I also have a row of evergreen plants behind one iris bed which gives year round interest. I have a protea which flowers in summer and again in winter and some summer flowering agapanthus, daylilies and salvias.
It is late autumn here in Melbourne now. This is what my garden looks like today
My autumn flowering nerines (bottom left) have just finished flowering and my winter flowering ones haven't started yet.
The strappy green foliage plants are kangaroo paws. The shrub is Acacia Limelight.
