TIME OF FLOWERING 3 



it is not at all difficult to have some Irises in flower in every 

 week in the year. It is true that two of the species that can 

 be relied upon to flower in November and December must 

 usually be renewed every year, for in our climate it is 

 almost impossible so to ripen the growth of /. alata and /. 

 Vartanii as to ensure their flowering again in the following 

 season. However, bulbs of /. alata can now be obtained 

 very cheaply, and a shilling or two invested in them will be 

 well repaid. 



In September and October the supply of Irises is some- 

 what uncertain, and depends a good deal on the season, and 

 even, it appears, on the idiosyncrasies of individual plants ; 

 that is to say, that of certain kinds of Bearded Irisis, one 

 seedling may prove to have the habit of flowering a second 

 time in the autumn in favourable circumstances, while all 

 the others that have been raised from seeds of the same pod 

 content themselves with a single flowering season in the 

 early part of the year. 



Instances of bulbous Irises flowering twice are very 

 uncommon, but some bulbs of the rare /. Rosen- 

 bachiana once came into flower in December and 

 January after they had already bloomed in the previous 

 March. Most of them unfortunately paid the penalty of 

 the rashness in flowering again thus prematurely by 

 growing very feebly in the following spring and failing 

 to complete and ripen their growth in a satisfactory 

 manner. On the contrary, an autumnal display of 

 flowers does not seem to be in any way harmful to 

 vigorous, rhizomatous species. A variety of /. variegata, 

 known as Gracchus, which is a most profuse flowerer 

 in May and early June, will not infrequently flower again 



