THE IRIS 127 



may have irises blooming for ten months in the year. 

 No sooner are the potted beauties of Bakeriana, 

 Histrio, and histrioides over, than stylosa's scented 

 glories await you out of doors, with alata as a com- 

 panion. Then come reticulata, persica, stenophylla, 

 with Warleyensis, sindjarensis, and other of the Juno 

 group ; and, following them in April, pumila of many 

 varieties begins to bloom and, with lutescens and 

 other fine irises, ushers in the summer pageant. Not 

 until the glories of the marsh-lovers are over and 

 laevigata has done, can the show be considered at 

 an end ; and even then pumila will often begin again 

 during a generous season, while the lilac and gold 

 loveliness of fimbriata brightens the conservatory, to 

 the confusion of any early chrysanthemum mop that 

 may be boasting itself in October. Fimbriata, or 

 japonica, will flower at all times and seasons. I have 

 a tall spike full of bloom on this day in late March, 

 and I shall flower others during the year. The plant 

 lives in the open air as much as possible to ripen 

 for bloom. Last year it flowered during October in 

 a sheltered corner, where a pot had been sunk. 

 Mr. Irwin Lynch, whose magnificent "Book of the 

 Iris " should be in every flower-lover's hand, advises 

 us west-country gardeners to try I. japonica out of 

 doors ; and we have done so, but I think no flowers 

 are yet recorded from the open ground. 



I have about seventy irises to show you, and the best 

 way will be to march with the authorities and present 

 every beauty in her proper group. We will deal in 

 sections, and marshal each array under its respective 



