For March. 1922 



77 



Irises 



GRACE STURTEVANT 



THK year 1922 marks an epoch in garden irises. In- 

 ternational Iris Conferences are scheduled by the 

 Societe Nationale d'Horticulture de France in 

 Paris and by the Royal Horticultural Society in London 

 during the blooming season, and the six hundred and 

 fifty members of The American Iris Society plan to be 

 well represented in the discussion preceding the acceptance 

 of standards of nomenclature, classification, and descrip- 

 tion/'' 



If you are not already an iris enthusiast you do not 

 yet realize what visions of delight the word "Iris" con- 

 jures, what wonderful col- 

 or etifects are possible when 

 tlie modem irises are 

 planted in masses with your 

 other garden flowers. This 

 is the month for planning 

 and I hope that all of you 

 have marked a generous 

 number of spaces on your 

 garden maps with the magic 

 word 'Iris'' and that al- 

 readv you have dreamed 

 over the tantilizing descrip- 

 tions in the catalogs of the 

 speciahst. The iris is best 

 planted after the flowers 

 are past, so reserve the 

 space, not only by marking 

 it on your plan, but also by 

 placing a corresponding 

 stake in the garden itself. 

 Tliis late planting also per- 

 mits you to visit exhibits 

 and nurseries (the New 

 York Botanical Garden has 

 an official Test Garden and 

 this year an exhibit on 

 June 3rd), to select from 

 the blooming plants not 

 only the color, but the very 

 height, or habit, that will 

 perfect your pictured 

 sclieme. 



I do not want a garden 

 of irises onlv (a collection is another proposition 

 altogether) but rather one where other perennials in 

 contrast may enhance their delicate beauty of form 

 and color; early bulbs, Arabis and Mat pinks with 

 the Korolkonn- and Pnmila hybrids. Phlox dnmri- 

 cata and tulips with the Intermediates, Sweet Rocket 

 and Lupins in pink and purple and white, with 

 the later irises with here and there yellow roses, Hugonis, 

 Han-isoiii. and Persian. Sometimes the peonies and 

 raml.iler roses flower before the irises are gone and then, 

 as is the case with some of the flaming oriental poppies, 

 we must restrict our iris colors in the interests of har- 

 mony. A garden of irises alone should be in a secluded 

 spot, a fairy land where one can visit in its glory and 

 then leave to the gardener until another Spring. 



For distant and mass effect clear self tones in various 

 colors are the best, markings on the falls reduce the ap- 

 parent size and blended tones become a mere blur in the 

 distance. Varieties with short, high branches that bring 

 the blooms nearly on a level form a more solid sheet of 



'iarrclane. 



*For further inforniatinn write R. S. Sturtevant, Sec'y. Wellesley Farms, 

 Mass. 



color. But in the garden where the flowers are within 

 reach and generally below the level of the eye, plant 

 those with some outstanding quality of delicate color or 

 unique marking, of form, substance, or satiny or velvety 

 texture. There are varieties of blended tones where thin 

 layers of lavender and pink and yellow in varying inten- 

 sities seem laid one upon another, others where two sap 

 colors seem actually comliined in the cellular structure, 

 and many whose beauty changes with every change of 

 light. Some are most fragrant, redolent with the odors 

 of grape or walerlily. Select a few, too, among the 



whites, or plicatas, that are 

 cream, or white delicately 

 penciled with mauve and 

 violet, for their airy grace 

 when you brave the dew 

 on a moonlight night. And 

 lastly put the rich, sombre 

 purple and maroon varie- 

 ties and others with colors 

 that do not carry well into 

 the garden where they will 

 add character as accents. 

 All these points and many 

 more will add immeasur- 

 ably to your pleasure as 

 you become intimately ac- 

 quainted with the charm 

 of each individual iris. 



The early Pnmila hybrids 

 make excellent informal 

 borders next the path, and 

 and in drifts now running 

 to the back, or reaching to 

 the front, can be arranged 

 the majority of the varieties 

 that range from 15-36 

 inches in height; while be- 

 hind and in selected spots 

 can come the five foot 

 stalks. These giants are 

 mostly of recent* introduc- 

 tion and I call them of the 

 garden "decorative type" 

 as they seem best suited to 

 planting in clumps that will reveal the branching habit 

 and the poise of tiie immense flowers. In England they 

 are often staked as a precaution against wind and rain. 



The effect of light and shade on the different iris colors, 

 or on even the same tone in dift'erent varieties, is a study 

 in itself. In some the beauty is intensified by the flick- 

 ering shadows from nearby trees : others reveal a vivid 

 vitality in the sun of noondav which thev lose when 

 brought indoors : while an ethereal beautv envelopes my 

 planting of Pallida Dalmatica "Princess Beatrice" when 

 the level rays of the setting sun make translucent the 

 flaring falls. And to an even greater degree are iris 

 colors modified by artificial lighting. For cutting, use 

 the pale colors, whites and near-whites tinted with blue, 

 lavender or pink, mere touches of color that suggest com- 

 binations with darker tones. Do not neglect the deco- 

 rative value of the foliage either within or out-of-doors. 

 An iris leaf seems one of Nature's bequests that cannot 

 be bettered by man or art as an accompaniment to the 

 iris flower : the contrast of the strength and simplicity 

 of its upright, sword-shaped blade with the delicate tissue 

 of rounded segments grouped in threes, the subdued 



decorative type" of Iris. 



