Gardening in Californi 



Propagate by dividing the bulbs, taking the offsets from the 

 old bulbs as soon as they are taken up; place the offsets in 

 separate boxes and plant them, in small beds or borders, two 

 inches deep in light rich soil. They flower the third year. 



IRIS. 



The Iris belongs to a genus of over one 

 hundred species of hardy herbaceous plants with 

 creeping or tuberous root-stocks. The Iris is 

 found naturally all over the Temperate Zone, 

 in America, from Canada to California, and in 

 Europe from Russia to sunny Spain, while the 

 gorgeous Iris kaempferi and Iris tectorum come 

 to us from Japan; others are natives of Siberia, 

 and quite a few are from China. 



The Iris delights in a deep rich clayey soil, 

 preferably alongside the bed of a stream or 

 canal or on the banks of a pool or lake where 

 the moisture rises within two feet of the surface. 

 If these conditions are not available, a bed 



should be prepared by trenching the soil two feet deep and 



mixing the soil freely with old decomposed manure. 



Plant the bulbs or roots so that about one inch of soil covers 



the crown, and give them water copiously during the growing 



season. 



Iris Germanica, Iris Florentini, Iris Susiana, and the dwarf 



Iris pumila, besides many others, are well worthy of prominent 



positions in our gardens and pleasure-grounds. 



Propagate by division of the roots or bulbs in early Spring, 



or by sowing the seeds in light sandy soil in either a cold frame 



or a sheltered border as soon as the seeds are ripe. Cover the 



seeds a quarter of an inch deep. 



Iris. 



