300 COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



All the varieties, except the mottled and double 

 ones, are good and the colours range through many 

 shades of blue to plum colour, purple and white. 

 These Flags flourish in almost any soil, but should 

 be well drained, except in the growing season when 

 a large amount of moisture will increase the size 

 and brilliance of the flowers; in fact much wetting 

 is necessary for a month before they come into 

 bloom. The best clump that I ever saw was lo- 

 cated in the kitchen garden, a little downhill from 

 the tap which was frequently opened in a dry June, 

 and the overflow or waste was continually wetting 

 and cooling the roots, yet did not settle around 

 them as the incline of the ground carried it off. 

 The flower stalks were over five and a half feet 

 high, and the flowers nearly nine inches across. 

 An ideal place for this Iris is on the banks of a 

 pond, or the edge of damp, swampy land where it 

 may cool its toes in the water yet not be inces- 

 santly soaked. It needs sun and warmth and will 

 not do well in the shade. Plant clumps of /ris 

 Kaempferi at intervals of seven feet along the paths 

 in the garden, and even in the narrow bed by the 

 hedge where you will have to irrigate them fre- 



