16 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



and substance, and moreover begin to open about the end 

 of May, a full fortnight before the majority of the older 

 forms. It would be difficult to specify as particularly 

 worthy of notice any of these new hybrids, for all those 

 that have up to the present been distributed well deserve 

 a place in any collection. 



Of the older and cheaper varieties, mention must be 

 made of Thunderbolt, a very vigorous plant with flowers 

 of a peculiar mixture of brown, yellow, and purple ; of 

 Leander, a sweet-scented yellow flower ; of lusitanica, 

 which is perhaps a wild species and has wide petalled 

 flowers of yellow and white ; and also of "filifolia," which 

 is remarkably early, with large blue flowers. The name 

 filifolia is misleading, because it already belongs to a wild 

 species which has only just been reintroduced into cultiva- 

 tion, a species that is quite distinct from the Spanish Iris. 



Those gardeners whose soil is too cold and wet for the 

 success of I. xiphium must console themselves by the re- 

 flection that it is probably admirably suited to the Pyre- 

 nean /. xiphioides, or English Iris. This species has larger 

 flowers than the Spanish Iris and stouter foliage. It has 

 been in cultivation for centuries, and now exists in a host 

 of colour varieties. It is hard to advise others in the 

 choice of colours, and the best method is to note down the 

 names of the most pleasing varieties in the groups that 

 will certainly be seen at shows in July. Some will admire 

 the flecked or mottled forms, by which the lover of self 

 colours will not be attracted, and each must choose for 

 himself. 



It is a thousand pities that the most glorious of all the 

 xiphion species, /. tingitana, is such a shy flowerer. The 



