IRIS 201 



as any native. There are now scores, if not hundreds, 

 of gardens all England over that possess big established 

 tufts of Iris unguicularis, as solid and autochthonous in 

 appearance as if they had come over from Normandy 

 with all our ancestors in the train of Matilda Duchess. 

 The more sunshine you can give it, of course, and the 

 more exposure to sun, the better will the plant thrive 

 and bloom. But this sun-loving Algerian is as hardy as 

 anything need be, and will never suffer from any English 

 winter, unless you have been very brutal to it indeed in 

 the matter of soil and situation. Further, the dense, 

 spidery leafage into which our shadowy English climate 

 leads it has one very favourable result, for the exquisite 

 blossoms, peering up as they do into the sere, dead eye 

 of midwinter, must undoubtedly be ravished and spoiled 

 and dishonoured by rains and storms were it not for their 

 protecting nest of foliage, which would be so unnecessary 

 under the brilliant clear winter of Algiers. As for the 

 white unguicularis, it is a flower straight from heaven — 

 a transcended snowy Crocus or Zephyr antlies. The plant 

 is choice, but not much more delicate than the type — 

 though, being rare and so exquisite, it has a right to 

 extra-special attention in the matter of soil, site, and 

 guardianship. 



Iris graminea and Iris prismatica are, roughly speaking, 

 miniatures of unguicularis, blooming in early summer, 

 on short stems, amid a thin jungle of long grassy leaves. 

 The flowers are large, of thin build and design, in vary- 

 ing shades of purple. The prettier of the two, I think, is 

 /. graminea, which has a fine, hearty fragrance of plums ; 

 but both are perfectly easy to grow in any open place on 

 the rock-work, where they go on for many years and never 

 need any attention beyond, perhaps, the occasional stimu- 

 lant of a little fresh, rich soil. Iris douglasiana is a rare, 

 new North American, of whom I can say little. Iris 



