Flowers of Late Spring 



It is a shrub that should be in every garden, but 

 it requires a wall. It is one of the most difficult 

 of shrubs to propagate by cuttings or layers ; but 

 it sometimes produces its curious seed vessels, 

 looking like brown broad beans, and the seeds 

 come up readily. This year, instead of being 

 able to send them away in December and 

 January, I could find none fit for picking before 

 February. It was the same with the beautiful 

 Iris Stylosa, from which in 1898-9 I could pick 

 good flowers at Christmas and the New Year ; 

 but this year I could pick none before February, 

 when they were most abundant. I wonder this 

 most beautiful plant is not grown everywhere. It 

 is not a rare plant, and can be got in quantity at 

 a very cheap rate ; yet I seldom see it except in 

 gardens that have a fairly large collection of plants. 

 There are many varieties, all beautiful ; but one, 

 to my mind, stands above all, a very rich deep 

 blue with broad petals ; I believe it has some 

 special name which I do not know. 



Altogether it was a late season ; and it showed 

 itself to be so in many ways. In 1899 Easter 

 was a week earlier than this year, yet for the 

 Easter decorations of 1899 it was very difficult to 

 get daffodils in any quantity ; in some parts they 

 were quite over. This year it seemed at one time 

 very doubtful whether they could be had at all ; 

 they did not " take the winds of March with 

 beauty," and just before Easter the milder weather 

 and bright sun brought them all out at once, but 



