The Florists' Revicv/ 



Jolt 28, 1921 



DUTCH IRISES. 



Origin. 



"1 can imagine old-fashioacd garden- 

 ers saying to themselves: 'Dutch 

 irises? Spanish I know and English I 

 know, but what are Dutch irises f 

 Dutch irises are a splendid new race 

 of bulbous irises which originated in 

 Holland and whicli lirst appeared in 

 commerce at the commencement of the 

 last decade," writes a grower of them, 

 Joseph Jacob, in the Gardeners' Chron- 

 icle, of London. "They have a general 

 resemblance to the well-known Spanish 

 irises, more especially to such varieties 

 us Flora and Rossini, but they have 

 larger, more important-looking blooms; 

 and what differentiates them more par- 

 ticularly from the utilitarian jjoint of 

 view of a gardener is that they come 

 into bloom from ten days to a fortnight 

 earlier. Thus, in a fairly comprehen- 

 sive trial which, thanks to the kindness 

 of the firms of C. G. Van Tubergen, Jr., 

 and De Graaff Bros., I have carried out 

 this last season, the first 'Dutch' vari- 

 ety opened May 21 and the last June 7, 

 whereas the first Spanish iris did not 

 open until June H. The mention of these 

 firms leads me to say that included un- 

 der the heading 'Dutcli' there are 

 botanically two distinct strains. The 

 original one is that of V.m Tubergen 

 and was ])roduced by the intercrossing 

 of two early-flowering forms of Iris 

 Xiphium, vix".,filifolia (prieco.x) and lusi- 

 tanica .-md, later, by introducing tingi- 

 tana blood. Of this cross, of which the 

 pretty soft jiale mauve David Rles is 

 an example, not many varieties have 

 been saved on account of the somewhat 

 tender constitution and sliy blooming 

 habit of the i):irent. The second :nid 

 l:iter str.iin is that of De Graaff Bros. 

 It originated in this way: 'First, 

 crosses were made between Iris tingi- 

 tana. T. Boissicri, and I. filifolia. The 

 seedlings were crossed with Van Tuber- 

 gen 's iris and also again with tingitana' 

 (extract from a letter from Mr. Jan de 

 Giaaft' to myself). From my experi- 

 ence this year 1 have no hesitation in 

 saying that it is both appropriate, look- 

 ing to their origin, and .nlso convenient 

 from a practical gardener's point of 

 view, that the two should be grouped 

 under the omnibus heading of 'Dutch 

 Irises.' They cannot bo separated by 

 their colors, their size of bloom or their 

 time of flowering. 



Tlie Two Strains. 



"Two questions naturally arise from 

 what has been said. I may well be 

 asked: 'Have you found these new in- 

 troductions quite hardyt' and 'What 

 do you think of the relative merits of 

 the'two strains?' My reply to the first 

 is that, fortunately for the vast major- 

 itv of people, we had hardly any winter 

 in 1920-1921; hence it was no test of 

 hardiness for a variety to have come 

 through it. With no covering at all 

 but that of mother earth, only one of 

 the 110 that were planted last autumn 

 in my trial b«d failed to flower or looked 

 in any way sorry for itself. It should, 

 however, be mentioned that catalogues 

 advise a covering or protection against 

 frost in cold districts. My reply to the 



Th* florlsta whoa* card* ■vpMtf on the paces carrylnK this baad* are prwparad to ttU order*. 

 . — from ottierflorUta for local delivery on a* oanalbaala. 



^j oujlimn^lowers 



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