THE GERMAN IRISES. 



Fig. 1626.- 



-Iris Siberica (left) Iris Gbr- 

 MASICA (right). 



^TT^HE German Irises, Iris Ger- 

 manica, or Fleur de Lis, fur- 

 ,_L nish us with some very useful 

 and very hardy garden plants. 

 They will cover a period of three weeks 

 with their showy flowers The earliest 

 varieties were showing open flowers May 

 25th and at present writing (June 7th) 

 it certainly appears as if there will be 

 quantities of good flowers yet to be cut 

 June 1 5th. There are a host of named 

 Germanica varieties, we suppose on ac- 

 count of them being easily handled from 

 seed. Some of the varieties are certainly 

 grand enough for any collection of hardy 

 plants, but the seedlings show a great 

 percent of p)Oor flowers and unattractive 

 colors. The collection at our nurseries 

 numbers twenty varieties and comprises 

 a great variety of colors and shows quite 

 a lapse between the earliest and latest 

 varieties. Spectabilis, a pure deep pur- 

 ple, and Alba Odorata pure white, are 

 two of the earliest bloomers and the 

 largest flowers The former is the most 

 striking garden plant in flower at the 

 time. Queen of the May is a delicate 



reddish heliotrope shade, also one of 

 the largest. Bleu Parfeur, white lightly 

 edged and beautifully netted with dark 

 blue. Hortense a clear yellow. Old Gold, 

 the standard or upright petals are true 

 old gold, falls marked white and purple. 

 Leopold is alter the same style, stand- 

 ards dark old gold, falls veined with 

 brown. Tubiflora reminds one of a 

 greatly improved common blue flag, the 

 spikes are very long, sometimes bearing 

 seven open flowers on a stem, the color 

 is a delightful shade of blue and the 

 fragrance is like that of orange blossoms. 

 Mme. Chereau still holds first place as 

 the best fancy variety, a clear white 

 ground with a deep and delicately feath- 

 ered edge of sky blue, makes it at once 

 the most admired flower in the bunch, 

 The roots may be planted with equal 

 safety in either spring or fall, however, 

 if you are anxious to transplant them 

 during the summer do not hesitate to do 

 so, for you run no risk, just shorten the 

 foliage slightly and water well after plant- 

 ing ; if planted in mid summer, you will 



Fig. 1627. — Irises at Websters'. 



have the roots nicely established by au- 

 tumn and gain several months. Among 

 dwarf Irsises the Siberian species Si- 



277 



