222 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edhi. 



of leaves, to the sturdy tree form C. 

 lactea or arborescens. 



Aloes are another class resembling the 

 Agaves or century plants. Many of them 

 are handsomely marked in shades of 

 green. 



Echeverias are familiar forms much 

 like the Sempervivums or hen and 

 chickens but the several varieties differ 

 distinctly, and are quite interesting. 



The Mesembryanthemums are quite 

 interesting, most of them bearing splendid 

 flowers, and some in great profusion. 

 M. acinacifolia is an instance of this. A 



mature plant will he one mass of cin- 

 namon-colored bloom, open wide in sun- 

 light and closed at night. Most of them 

 are adapted to baskets, drooping grace- 

 fully and always attractive whether in 

 flower or not. M. tigrinum, is very odd, 

 each pair of leaves forming a well toothed 

 jaw. The flowers are a bright yellow, 

 about two inches across. The writer has 

 about 100 varieties of succulents growing 

 in his conservatory, and visitors never 

 seem to tire of looking at them, because 

 they are always discovering one that ap- 

 pears to be the oddest one yet. 



Should Irises Be Protected ? 



Fred. H. Byshe, Ottawa, Ont. 



IT may be admitted at the outset that 

 there are many good iris growers who 

 consider protection unnecessary, even 

 risky, unnecessary inasmuch as the iris 

 is said to be perfectly hardy, and risky 

 inasmuch as protective covering may in- 

 duce rot. Any divergence of view in this 

 relation, however, is more apparent than 

 real. It depends to a large extent, first 

 on the variety, and secondly, on the 

 climatic and even on the garden condi- 

 tions. In some climatic conditions where 

 the winter temperatures are not too low, 

 or in cases where snow comes before and 

 remains until after severe frosts, no pro- 

 tection may be necessary in so far as the 

 older varieties are concerned. Again, the 

 situation of a plant in the garden in re- 

 lation to soil and to incidental shelter 

 may make it unnecessary to provide 

 protection. But even in such cases a 

 series of late frosts in the spring, if growth 

 has started, may injure the foliage and 

 bring about conditions favorable to iris 

 rot. Though rot may not always develop, 

 it is difficult to believe that such injury 

 is of so little consequence to the pro- 

 spective bloom that it may be discounted. 

 Hardiness of Varieties 

 So much for the "older varieties." 

 When we come to the newer varieties we 

 are on different ground. We Canadians 

 cannot say of any variety that it is hardy 

 until it has been tried out under average 

 Canadian conditions. The fact that a 

 variety is hardy in California is no in- 

 dication that it will prove hardy in 

 Toronto or Ottawa. My point, then, is 

 that while it may have been appropriate 

 a few years ago to say in a general way 

 that the bearded iris is hardy, it is no 

 longer advisable. In fact, it is misleading, 

 to say so now, in view of the many ac- 

 cessions to the bearded iris family during 

 recent years. It will continue to be in- 

 advisable to generalize until the new 

 varieties have been tried out for a number 

 of years under our own climatic con-^ 

 ditions. 



It follows then, that the newer irises 

 should be protected, at least until we 

 know more about their behavious. If 

 there is anything in my contention that 

 late frosts are apt to injure the foliage 



and bloom of even the older varieties, 

 and to induce conditions favorable to rot, 

 the only remaining question is, what 

 form of protection will protect without 

 smothering the plant or inducing disease? 

 This is a question about which there is 

 bound to be considerable difference of 

 opinion. If, however, we can get a clear 

 view of what we want to achieve and 

 what we want to avoid, any good gar- 

 dener may safely be left to work out his 

 own means to the end in view. 



Kirtd of Protection Needed 



First, then, let it be understood that 

 the rhizomes of some irises can be frozen, 

 with disastrous results. In the winter of 

 1919-20, and again last winter, I had 

 quite a number unprotected, which were 

 actually frozen to the point of destruc- 

 tion. These were growing alongside some 

 which, though equally exposed, came 

 through safely. Again, an iris growing in 

 a shallow sensitive soil may survive the 

 winter and start into active growth in the 

 warmth of early spring, only to be 

 caught by late frosts, the foliage injured 

 (and, in exceptional cases the flower 

 buds), which makes a splendid culture 

 for the bacillus which causes iris rot. 

 Apart from this possibility, now that the 

 era of iris shows has commenced in 

 Canada, no wise exhibited wants his 

 chances of success jeopardized by any 

 setback to his plants in their early growth. 

 What w^ want then, is such protection 

 as will protect from disastrous freezing 

 during the winter and prevent precocious 

 growth in sptingtime, without smother- 

 ing the plant or inducing disease. 

 Materials for Protection 



I previously stated that any good 

 gardener may safely be left to work out 

 some form of protection for himself. I 

 will not venture to dogmatize. I will 

 only state that I know of manure being 

 used successfully, though I would not 

 recommend it, and straw, which, because 

 of its tendency to "mat" and exclude 

 air, should be used with great care. 

 Others have used garden litter with 

 success, and some make a practice of 

 crushing the leaves of the iris down in a 

 protective way over the clump, and with 

 a good growth of leaves persisting until 



autumn this should afford consKierauje 

 protection. 



The most interesting form of protec- 

 tion which I have seen, however, was in 

 the case of a fairly large clump growing 

 under a maple tree. Mother nature took 

 a hand in this operation and did it well. 

 She gently dropped the tree leaves so 

 that they lodged between the sword-like 

 leaves of the iris, where they dried out 

 and curled up as they dried. Finally, a 

 cushion about eight inches thick of dry 

 curled leaves was deposited over that 

 clump, the iris leaves sticking up above 

 the "cushion" and helping to hold it in 

 place. Because of the absence of the 

 owner, that clump was not interfered 

 with, except by my periodical inspection 

 of it, until the 15th of May, when I 

 noticed that the new leaves had pressed 

 their way upward to the sunlight and 

 they looked more fresh and thrfity than 

 any in my own garden that had had the i 

 protective material removed and had 

 been caught by late frosts. 



A Practical Demonstration 



Now there you are! That generous 

 covering of dried, curled up leaves, so 

 delicately applied and left on till danger 

 of late frosts was practically over, had 

 brought the clump through the winter 

 in ideal condition, without any of the 

 disastrous results that are often said to 

 follow any attempts to protect irises. 

 There I received a practical demonstra- 

 tion, and that is the plan I am attempt- 

 ing to follow. I see to it first that the 

 leaves are dried to the curling point and 

 then sprinkle them generously among 

 the leaves of the iris clump, pushing them 

 down towards the rhizomes where neces- 

 sary, without undue packing. Clumps so 

 protected have come through satisfactor- 

 ily, but many of the new irises not so 

 treated, have been actually frozen to the 

 point of destruction, while others, only 

 slightly nipped, have developed rot. 



It is not difficult for a farmer to 

 care for his vegetables in winter, as he 

 has, as a rule, a good cool cellar, but 

 in cities, cellars are usually too warm 

 for most vegetables. Hence, where the 

 main cellar is too warm, a part of it 

 where cool air can be admitted should 

 be partitioned off from the rest for a 

 vegetable room. 



In planting the flower garden it 

 should always be kept in mind that 

 green grass is one of the most pleasing 

 sights about a garden. Flowers without 

 grass to set them off may be compared 

 with a picture without a frame. The 

 flower garden then, should be so planned 

 that the grass will not be much cut up 

 by flower beds. See th&t the places for 

 flowers are along the boundaries, in 

 corners, or close to the house, leaving as 

 much grass as possible in an unbroken 

 area— C. E. F., Ottawa. 



