GARDEN NOTES IN 1921 



other, for Peonies were beginning. Wilson's Iris, 

 with its late pale-yellow flowers, was also bloom- 

 ing in the garden, and I had been looking up 

 Mr. Dykes's description of that when I found 

 that Iris ochroleuca was only suited to damp 

 places. Then came a question to the gardener: 

 "WTiere did you grow this Iris?" "It was under 

 the eaves of my house where water drops on it," 

 he replied. This, of course, it was that gave him 

 the flower which the plant refused to yield to me. 

 What a strange Iris this is. The Greek ideal of 

 the human figure included a small head, I think. 

 What would the Athenian have said to the minute 

 size of this Iris bloom at the top of a stalk three 

 to three and one-half feet high, a flower not over 

 three inches in spread? But it is a curiously 

 lovely Iris, and where one comes upon it in colonies 

 in western Asia Minor must have its own fine ef- 

 fect. None could call it really beautiful, because 

 of this disproportion between flower and stalk. 



I am always praising Valerian as a garden sub- 

 ject, but till now, when my two-year-old plants are 

 in their best estate, I could not truly know how 

 valuable they are in the garden. This year they 

 have proved the foundation for two distinctly 

 successful effects. This is the 14th of June in a 

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