MAKE "THE CITY BEAUTIFUL" 33 



all that is intended is that those varieties are very free bloomers 

 either having an unusual number of flower stems or an unusual 

 number of flowers to a stem. 



Some varieties are sometimes described as "fine for massing/' 

 by which is ordinarily meant merely that those varieties are 

 especially good for producing a mass of color. 



For foundation planting use some variety of the germanica 

 section, as Kochii listed by some plantsmen as "Purpurea" and 

 by others as "Atropurpurea" or Crimson King. The leaves of 

 the latter are not quite as erect as those of the former, but they 

 are longer and wider. If a double row is desired, for the back 

 use Oriflamme which has larger foliage. All these do very well 

 even on the shady side, and on the sunny side they fairly revel 

 in the intense heat of the direct and reflected rays beating down 

 on their exposed rhizomes a characteristic indicative of the high 

 temperature of the country of their origin. For such a situation 

 these Irises are not surpassed by any other plant. During the 

 summer not only does their foliage look almost as well as that of 

 a fern, but they also have beautiful flowers and ferns have none; 

 and in the winter when ferns are flat on the ground, withered and 

 brown, a considerable portion of these Irises continue green and 

 more or less erect. When the house is a frame one on a very low 

 foundation, these Irises are better than most flowering shrubs, 

 for in summer their leaves are long enough to hide the foundation 

 but not long enough to keep the woodwork damp during a long 

 continued rainy season, and during the winter nearly every 

 shrub is leafless. The flowers of these varieties are reddish 

 purple. If white flowers are preferred use Florentina (species) 

 or Ingeborg (interregna), but the foliage of these varieties does 

 not last quite as long as that of the varieties first named. 



There are Irises for every purse. The old standard sorts 

 usually sell at fifteen to twenty cents a single root, later intro- 

 ductions at twenty-five to fifty cents, and the very latest and 

 finest at seventy-five cents to two dollars. Even the cheapest 

 sorts will give great satisfaction, and when the price must be con- 

 sidered they will probably constitute the main purchase; but 

 every purchaser should include in his order at least several of 

 the newest and finest varieties. Even if a plant should cost as 

 much as two dollars, in two or three years it will increase to such 



