28 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



allied group Regelia whose members are distinguished 

 by being far more floriferous and far more amenable to 

 cultivation in England. These Regelia Irises are so called 

 after a certain Dr. Regel, who, as Director of the St. Peters- 

 burg Botanic Garden, was able to introduce into cultivation 

 so many plants from Central Asia. The finest is Leichtlinii, 

 with flowers of a fawn or brown colour shot with electric 

 blue and gracefully waved at the edge, but the best known 

 is /. Korolkowii, after one of the numerous Russian generals 

 or explorers, who have enriched our gardens and come near 

 to breaking our jaws. Iris lovers may be thankful that 

 Przewaldski found no new Irises, though he brought back 

 many specimens of Mongolian and Central Asian species. 

 Gentiana P-r-z may be as good as its name is bad, but one 

 such name is enough. 



When even Sir Michael Foster in his marvellous garden 

 on the south slope of a hill at Shelford found that the 

 Oncocyclus species could not be induced to settle down 

 there permanently, he set to work to infuse as many of 

 their characteristics as possible into more vigorous plants. 

 He experimented in two directions, and in both met with 

 some success. Plants of the Regelia section fertilised 

 with Oncocyclus pollen produced hybrids far stronger 

 and more vigorous than either parent. The flower 

 combined the shape and to some extent the colouring 

 of the father with the floriferous character and general 

 habit of the mother. Similar hybrids raised by the 

 Haarlem firm of Van Tubergen are now widely distributed, 

 and, though scarcely sufficiently distinct one from another, 

 they form a very valuable addition to gardens. 



It is difficult to specify any particularly good specimens 



