30 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



feature in all these hybrids is a kind of compromise 

 between the characteristics of the two parents. 



All these hybrids are more amenable to ordinary culti- 

 vation than the pure Oncocyclus and Regelia species. 

 Indeed, those with Pogoniris blood in them may be left 

 in the open ground all the year round, but the Regelio- 

 cyclus hybrids are certainly the better for an annual lifting 

 when the leaves begin to wither early in July. They 

 should not be planted again until October. 



For those who contemplate hybridisation, it may be as 

 well to insert here a warning that the Oncocyclus blood 

 does not tend to produce clear, bright colour. It imparts 

 a certain gloom and dinginess, which is peculiar and un- 

 doubtedly interesting scientifically, but from the purely 

 horticultural and decorative point of view, it is useless. 

 Moreover, 7. Leichtlinii, which is in some ways one of the 

 most beautiful of all Irises, seems always to produce the 

 most indescribably ugly offspring when crossed with any 

 bearded Iris. This at any rate has been the character- 

 istic of all the specimens that the author has either raised 

 himself or seen in the gardens of others. 



CHAPTER VII 

 THE EVANSIA SECTION 



THE members of this group of rhizomatous Irises are 

 distinguished by the fact that the falls 'are provided with 

 a more or less jagged crest that takes the place of the beard 

 in other Irises. 



