BORDER IRISES 161 



and delight in the sunniest situations in the garden. 

 Among them may be found plants from four inches in 

 height to three and one-half feet, all bearing large, con- 

 spicuous flowers above the erect, swordlike foliage, the 

 strong vertical lines of which are so valuable in the 

 borders where so much is uncertain or spreading. 



Most important in the Pogoniris group are those 

 known as German Irises which include, not only I. 

 germanica, the type, a May-flowering species with few 

 varieties, but many closely allied forms blooming in 

 June; as pallida, squalens, amoena, aphylla, florentina 

 and others, each of which has numerous garden hy- 

 brids. The familiar blue-purple Flag of old gardens is 

 typical of these German Irises hardy and patient 

 blooming with prodigal generosity under the most un- 

 toward conditions. How often we see it holding high 

 its splendid head close to the dusty roadside whence it 

 has found its way through the broken palings of a 

 neglected dooryard, or keeping guard in great spreading 

 patches with the enduring Lilacs over the crumbling 

 ruins of what was once a home. 



Some of the other varieties of I. germanica are much 

 finer than the Old Purple, though none are more willing 

 and few are better for mass planting, as: 



I. Kochii, deep claret-purple, twenty-three inches. 



Amas, amethyst standards and violet falls, thirty-two 

 inches. 



Crimson King, splendid red-purple, twenty-one inches. 



