156 MY GARDEN 



with a little damp cotton-wool to keep their heads 

 cool in the post. Conveyed thus, they travel per- 

 fectly, and tremble out into life and sweetness 

 immediately on arrival. 



Iris graminea springs very neatly amid its bright 

 grass-like foliage. The flower is rather dominated by 

 the size of its great plum-coloured style-arms. These 

 are much in evidence, and, with the neat, narrow 

 standards, are of a rich purple-red, that deepens to 

 pure purple on the crests and along the central line. 

 The falls are lilac, streaked on white and touched with 

 pale yellow, but towards the claw they partake of the 

 prevailing colour of the flower. The pollen is like 

 gold dust. My variety appears to be scentless ; but 

 the older botanists credit graminea with a plum-like 

 odour, as well as colour. It may be so, for my nose is 

 not as swift after subtleties as I could wish, and often 

 misses a delicate and exquisite odour that makes other 

 people quite enthusiastic. This Austrian iris is bright 

 and shapely, but fleeting. There is no hardier plant, and 

 slugs seem not to like it as much as most of the tribe. 



That grand iris, fulva, is too rarely found, but once 

 seen usually acquired. It must have moisture, how- 

 ever. The colour is a rich copper-red, quite unlike 

 any other member of the family. The anthers, with 

 cream-coloured pollen, extend beyond the style-*arms ; 

 the flower is flat, and the falls and standards make 

 a star of alternate large and small petals. Fulva 

 grows with laevigata, and prospers under like con- 

 ditions in my little bog garden. It is a distinguished 

 iris from the United States. 



