THE IRIS GARDEN 5 



flowers with which their " furnishing" or " decoration" 

 is accomplished. Better this interest than none, but it 

 is not satisfactory, and we can but desire the develop- 

 ment of a higher level of intelligent appreciation. 

 May it be hoped that this book will excite some real 

 interest in this one genus ? If so there is some reward 

 for having written it. 



There are few gardens in which the members of this 

 genus are dominant. Sir Michael Foster alone has 

 demonstrated how much may be done wi*h Irises in making 

 a garden, and perhaps it is of equal importance that he 

 has shown how a great speciality may be kept up without 

 excluding a large variety of other choice plants. A 

 garden of only one line of interest is not to be advocated, 

 and in many, added to other features, we find that of a 

 Rose garden. Why should we not have, as a variant, an 

 Iris garden ? Truly, it may be said, without depre- 

 ciating the " Queen of Flowers," that Irises are quite 

 equal to Roses in the pleasure they mayafFord. There is no 

 garden in which some Irises may not be especially suited. 

 A good loamy soil suits the majority ; most of them cer- 

 tainly are fond of lime, but where no lime is, there is the 

 place for the many magnificent forms of Iris laevigata 

 provided, of course, that moisture is available. The late 

 Mr G. F. Wilson made a most magnificent display at 

 Wisley Wood, now the property of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, and it has been said that this place was 

 " more beautiful with flowering Irises than the Homeric 

 meadows of Elysium ever could have been with 

 Asphodels." Most Irises love sun, and they love good 

 drainage, so that even on a hill great results may be 

 obtained. It is even possible to say that the absence of 

 soil may conduce to success, for then it is that beds and 

 borders have to be made, and the opportunity is pre- 

 sented for making them of good material, sufficiently 

 deep, and well drained. Some Irises may even be grown 



