146 MY GARDEN 



Korolkow. Whether he happened to be a great 

 soldier I know not ; but he certainly contributed to 

 the beauty of the garden world when he found this 

 wonderful flower. 



The shape of Korolkowi is exceedingly distin- 

 guished, and its contour reveals immense character. 

 Some flowers are utterly tame, and have an almost 

 inane expression, like the average sheep and many 

 men and women. Not so an iris. Even my photo- 

 graph indicates the forceful aspect of Korolkowi ; but 

 no black and white picture can give the silver-grey 

 texture of petal or the exquisite colour of the vena- 

 tion. Falls and standards are of similar hue in some 

 of my plants : the palest lavender white, or grey ; and 

 over both a purple net is thrown, that spreads from 

 the median line and breaks into little branches toward 

 the petal edge. The signal is purple-black, and from 

 it, along each fall, there drop a few delicate parallel 

 lines of a slightly darker hue than the surrounding 

 reticulation. The beard is small and black, and the 

 pollen, pale gold. The style-arms are short, purple- 

 veined, and crested. There are several varieties of 

 this species, and my picture answers to venosa. 

 Violacea is not so beautiful to my mind, and the type 

 has paler standards. This I lack, but it is probably 

 the best of all. 



Regelia Leichtlini might be called " Bluebeard," for 

 the hairs, which occur on the standards as well as the 

 falls, are richly tipped with azure. The flower has a 

 fine habit and very neat shape, but is smaller and far 

 less splendid every way than Korolkowi. The colour 



