For March, 1920 



97 



The Garden Plus Irises 



Robert Swan Sturtevant 



A 



ins 



HARDY garden where irises have not a place is 

 unusual, but rarely does the gardener seem to take 

 full advantage of their infinite colors, their vary- 

 heights and forms, their easy adaptation to environ- 



.1 Gtirdiii — Plus [rist-s. With a Promise of Coming Beauties 



ment. There is a certain impersonal appeal to a broad- 

 spreading sheet of iris color, but a far greater warmth 

 of fascination when one suddenly perceives an iris in a 

 new setting, its character revealed by the close vicinity 

 of water, rock, or contrasting foliage mass. 



At first my garden was just garden 

 with irises here and there, slowly 1 

 developed an increasing appreciation of 

 color relations, then my interest became 

 centered on irises and now they are 

 everywhere and the garden has just 

 grown with many an outlying bed or 

 border. Sometimes there are serried 

 ranks of irises carpeted with chance 

 seedlings of Forget - me - nots and 

 Johnny-jump-ups, their pert little faces 

 lifted toward the towering iris flowers: 

 elsewhere we find iris in miniature, wee 

 things that hold themselves in vain dis- 

 dain above the creeping thyme ; or, still 

 elsewhere, in the lush growth by the 

 pond they rise shoulder high as wild- 

 lings. Only in well-shaded areas am i 

 forced to forego an iris in some form. 



There is the garden proper, the seed 

 beds, the rock-garden, odds and ends i>\ 

 narrow borders, and a less tame 'plani 

 ing by the ])ond. Perhaps a brief revie\> 

 of each of these may suggest to yen 

 some of the possible ways of using iri 



The rock-garden is on a steep south 

 em slojje under great larches, a narrow 

 strip, the sub-soil pure gravel and the 



beds prepared merely with a generous admixture of leaf- 

 mold. Here in early April /. reticulata shows its deep 

 red-purpled, narrow segments, the awl-like leaves just 

 showing above the soil; later there are some of the true 

 pumilas, equally small but making rich 

 drifts of color ; then verna, a native, its 

 l)lue tone intensified by the vivid orange 

 splotch at the throat : cristata, and its 

 slightly larger form lacustris, form 

 great mats of semi-shade, and the fas- 

 cinating Japanese /. gracilipes is estab- 

 lished at the foot of an old apple tree. 

 The solid deep green, luxuriant foliage 

 of /. graminea reminds me of verna's 

 evergreen leaves, and its curiously at- 

 tractive deep rose style-branches have 

 a mellow fragrance that recalls "the 

 rich and fruity odor of a freesia." 

 Occasional plants of rare reglo-cyclns 

 forms have a foot hold and I look 

 forward to the blooming of some 

 of the California natives that have come 

 from the seed bed. None of these with 

 their dainty growth can compete with 

 their more sturdy and showy brethren 

 but few of them fail to intrigue the 

 passer-by. 



In the garden we come to the great 

 variety of Bearded Irises. Pitmila 

 hybrids, vieing in early Alay with the 

 solid mats of the low phlox, make gor- 

 geous edgings ; then there are clumps 

 of intermediate varieties in gorgeous 

 combination with tulips of every hue. and with the late 

 blooming varieties the garden becomes a veritable palette 

 spread with contrasting tones of color. With my interest 

 in irises, few varieties are used in large masses, many 

 in small clumps, and more and more I come to realize 



The Same Go 



t III ;.■ (( 1 1 



i.atcr With the liises in Their Glory. 



