GROUPS OF GARDEN FLOWERS n 



this work. The Flag or Bearded Iris (/. germanica) has many forms, 

 which make noble groups in the garden during the early summer, 

 succeeding almost everywhere, even upon a hot sunny dry bank, when 

 the soil underneath is fairly rich. The best time to plant is immediately 

 after flowering, or they may be grown too in the shade. Many a half- 

 shady spot receives its beauty in summer from the massing together of the 

 blue German Flag, and even when not in flower there is some charm in 

 the silvery-toned, sword- shaped leaves. Of this group choose from 

 amongst the following varieties : Black Prince, a new kind, with large, 

 fragrant, and handsome flowers, with light purple standards and darker 

 falls, with yellow markings in the centre the contrast between standard 

 and fall is most marked; Asiatica, a splendid kind, strong, with 

 spikes four feet high, and very large flowers, of which the standards are 

 blue and the falls darker ; Mme. Chereau, white, with soft bluish edges, 

 much grown for the markets ; Mrs. Darwin, standards snow white, falls 

 white with violet reticulation, very pretty colouring ; Pallida dalmatica, 

 a glorious Flag Iris, perhaps the most beautiful of all, with tall stems 

 of delicate blue sweetly-scented flowers, and broad, handsome foliage ; 

 Queen of May, pink and rose, a very quaint, pretty Iris ; and Yictorine, 

 deep purple and white. The grey white Iris of Florence, or the Floren- 

 tine Iris, is, except the ordinary blue, the earliest of the race. It should 

 be grown in quite a simple group, perhaps on the lawn, or amongst dark- 

 leaved shrubs. Coming, as it does, with the Oriental Poppies in May, 

 it seems to be the herald of the large flowers of early summer. In the 

 border, if of sufficient size to accommodate many things in one family, 

 may be grownal 1 the best of the flag-leaved Irises, beginning in May with 

 the old blue German. This is quickly followed by the Florentine Iris, 

 the pale yellow Flavescens, the magnificent pale blue Pallida dalmatica, 

 and the others of the Aphylla, Amcena, and Neglecta families, whose 

 flowers are for the most part of varied arrangements of purple, lilac, and 

 white, and numerous garden kinds, derived from Variegata and Squalens, 

 whose flowers are yellow and crimson and of harmonious minglings of 

 these with various tints of purple-bronze and smoke colour. The Flag 

 Irises succeed quite well in town gardens. 



Noble tall Irises besides these, but not so easily managed are : 

 I. aurea, a tall vigorous kind, with golden yellow flowers ; the six-feet 

 /. gigantea, ivory white and orange flowers of large size a stately plant ; 

 /. monnieri, primrose yellow, reminding one of /. aurea, late, and appre- 

 ciates moisture ; /. missouriensis, soft blue, a very free-blooming pretty 

 species, the common English Flag of the water-side, and its fellow 

 variegated variety, /. spuria, deep blue, a tall, graceful kind; the 

 hybrid yellow, /. monspur ; I. orientalis, blue and beautiful pencillings 

 of colour, a delightful Iris, very pure and charming for its blue shades ; 

 and the Siberian Iris (/. sibirica and alba), grassy plants, three feet 

 high, with an abundance of blue flowers, ivory white in the variety 

 named alba. /. fcetidissima, a native species, is valuable for its 

 brilliant coral seed-pods. 



Then there is a group known as the Cushion or Oncocyclus Irises, 

 which are not beginners' plants. They come from the East, and require 



