168 MY GARDEN 



as water lovers, and while this is true of a large majority 

 of them I have not found any that will not grow and 

 flower contentedly in rich, deeply dug garden soil. The 

 blossoms of this type of Iris are more delicately modelled 

 than those of the Bearded group and seem poised like 

 gay butterflies above the slender grasslike foliage, and 

 instead of the fleshy root there is a bunch of slender 

 rootlets. 



Of the Beardless Irises preferring the dryer parts of 

 the garden, /. missouriensis, a native, is the best. It is 

 an early bloomer producing its yellow-blotched lavender 

 blossoms very freely. /. foetidissima, growing wild in 

 Great Britain, is unique among its kind, for, while the 

 blossoms are dull and not lovely, the orange-scarlet 

 seeds, which cling all winter to the flaring pods, are 

 pretty and decorative, and are useful at a season when 

 colour in the garden is at a premium. This Iris is also 

 one of the few which does not abhor shade, but it has a 

 drawback in the disagreeable odour which emanates 

 from its handsome foliage when bruised. A low-grow- 

 ing and very pretty Iris for near the front of the border 

 is /. graminea. Its gay, reddish-purple blossoms are 

 almost hidden among its narrow, grasslike leaves. It is 

 easily grown in any sunny border and has, an agreeable 

 fragrance. I. fulva, which I have not yet been able to 

 flower, is described as bearing handsome terra-cotta 

 flowers on stems two feet tall. Mr. W. R. Dykes 

 speaks of it as "difficult" and says it demands "a hot 



