MARIAN C. COFFIN 



The display of Irises lasts fully six weeks. First, 

 there is a big show of Florentine Iris that makes 

 a solid mass four feet wide. The Florentine Iris 

 begin to bloom while the Darwin Tulips are still 

 out. There are maroon Tulips, and black ones 

 and cherry red ones, all mixed together to form 

 an edge for the pearly Iris near the grass. On 

 the path side Poet's Narcissus are planted for a 

 very early spring effect. German Iris make the 

 second big show in this border. There are the 

 lilac blue Iris pallida dalmatica, the delicate 

 creamy Iris flavescens, the golden Iris aurea, and 

 Iris Dr. Bernice with yellow standards and deep 

 bronze falls. These are planted in back of the 

 Florentines, thirty or forty of each kind massed 

 together. Just as the German Iris are fading, 

 the Spanish Irises in yellow and smoky coloring 

 are beginning to bloom, and at about the same 

 time the English Irises in white and lilac blue 

 shades. These make a delicate intermezzo before the 

 third show of Japanese Irises. The Iris are massed 

 so thickly that there is no room for other peren- 

 nials except for a narrow row of edging plants. 



At first Tree Peonies and standard Lilacs 

 emphasized the intersection of the paths but now 



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