HARDY BULBOUS AND TUBEROUS FLOWERS, 99 



they are very hardy and precious, and excellent for the adornment of 

 gardens and even walls and thatched roofs, as we see in France, the 

 Iris of this great group having a valuable power of thriving on such 

 surfaces as well as on good soil. 



There is a group of waterside and water-loving Iris, much less seen 

 in our gardens than the above, and some of them not yet come to us, 

 but of great value. They are allied to the common yellow Iris of our 

 watercourses, but are taller and richer in colour, the golden Iris 

 (Aurea), Monnieri, and Ochroleuca being the best known so far, and 

 very free, hardy, and beautiful plants they are, thriving, too, almost 

 anywhere, but best in rich, moist soil. And we have the distinct gain 

 of the splendid Japanese Iris, in its many strange forms, the Japanese 

 surpassing all waterside Irises in its wide range of colour, though most 

 beautiful perhaps in its simple forms, white and purple. This plant, 

 though its beauty suggests that of the tropics, will grow side by side 

 with our great water dock by any lake side, or even in a clay ditch, 

 where only the coarsest weeds live. The Siberian Iris and the forms 

 near it are very graceful beside streams or ponds, either in open or 

 copsy places, and far more graceful and charming in such positions 

 than in set borders. All these water-loving Irises will do for the wild 

 garden in bold groups when we can spare them. 



Then there are the brilliant purple and gold Iris reticulata and its 

 allies, little bulbous Irises, for the spring garden, early and charming 

 things, many beautiful ; Irises that flower in winter and early spring, 

 like the Algerian Iris ; others happy in Britain on warm soils and 

 warm corners, and some for the rock garden, like the crested Iris ; and 

 the many pretty forms of Iris pumila, of some of which edgings were 

 made in old gardens. The foliage of the evergreen Iris is so graceful 

 and usually so nice in colour that artistic use may be made of it in 

 that way. The most novel of all the groups of Iris, however, are the 

 Cushion Irises, which promise much beauty, but are yet too little known 

 to see how far that beauty may be preserved in our gardens. The old 

 Iris Susiana has been known for many years, and some of its allies, 

 like I. Lorteti and the Wolf Iris, seem more hardy and not less 

 beautiful. 



TULIPS. The old garden Tulip, a favourite for generations, grown 

 in the so-called florist varieties, and the source once of severe mania, is 

 but one of a large number of wild Tulipa, many of which have come 

 to us of late years from Central Asia. The old Tulips are the forms 

 of an Italian species (T. Gesneriana), and these varieties are worthy of 

 all the attention they ever had; but the wild form is as good as any of 

 its varieties for splendid effect, and a selection should be made of its 

 simpler colours, including a good white and yellow. The bedding 

 Tulips, which are earlier in blooming, are forms of T. scabriscapa 



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