76 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



the flower is not more than 6 inches high. As it flowers 

 so profusely on any dry, windy, and sunny slope, it is 

 obviously well suited to exposed ledges in the rock garden. 

 There are many colour varieties even in the wild state, 

 and forms may be obtained with purple, yellow, blue, and 

 even nearly white flowers. The yellow seems to predomi- 

 nate in the East and the purple in the West, and it is to 

 be hoped that some kind traveller to Greece, and especially 

 to Attica, where the plant is common on Mount Pentelicus 

 and on the surrounding hills, will bring or send home 

 a fresh supply of either rhizomes, seeds, or both, of the 

 Greek form of this Iris. Most rhizomatous Irises are 

 excellent travellers. They can be torn up when in full 

 flower, wrapped in a little dry moss and wool, and posted 

 home by sample post, for, of course, they are scientific 

 botanical specimens. They should not be elaborately 

 packed in damp moss, for this is apt to engender mildew 

 on the way. The close wrapping in some nearly dry 

 material is quite enough to prevent all the natural moisture 

 being evaporated out of the rhizomes, and also secures them 

 against crushing in the post. 



Another little April flowering species for the rock 

 garden, /. minuta, comes from the Far East, and is still 

 rarely seen. It has small, bright yellow flowers and narrow, 

 grassy leaves. It is difficult to say with certainty to which 

 group it really belongs ; indeed, in some ways it stands 

 widely separated from all other species known in cultiva- 

 tion, though it has a Chinese relative that has not yet been 

 introduced. Here, again, one would like to invoke the help 

 of travellers in China. There are at least half-a-dozen 

 delightful little species, all well suited to the rock garden, 



