244 The Iris. 



being diversified by the yellow and purple corollas of the Iris, 

 provided they are so judiciously placed as not only to be doubled 

 by reflection, but carry rather the appearance of growing naturally 

 on the spot, than of being placed there by the hand of art. 

 Where the yellow Iris is allowed to grow on the brink of waters, 

 the purple or blue varieties should be placed on the banks as a 

 contrast, but in no instance in such a manner as to give the idea 

 of a border to the lake,but rather to add irregularity and break 

 uniformity by large clusters of these plants ascending the banks. 

 In the most embellished borders of the vernal season, the dwarf 

 species cannot fail to be attractive. The Persian Iris displays 

 on the same petal nearly all the tints of the dome's high arch, 

 and like it, 



the mingled blaze 



Forms a rainbow of alternate rays. 



This species flowers as early as February and March, but is 

 of too tender a nature for the exposed ^border, excepting where 

 the soil is naturally sandy and the situation warm and sheltered; 

 it prospers well, however, when planted in bulbs filled with sandy 

 loam, or when the bulb is placed on water in the manner of hya- 

 cinths. The fragrance is such that a few flowers will perfume a 

 large room, and on this account, as well as the early season in 

 which its finely painted corollas open, it is as desirable a plant for 

 the house, as the Pumila — Dwarf Iris, is for the open garden, 

 where it endures the inclemency of our winters without injury, 

 and produces its rich purple flowers in almost any soil or situa- 

 tion, being a native of the open hills of Austria and Hungary. 

 Its diminutive height is its protection against the tempestuous 

 season in which it flowers, which also adapts it as a neighbor to 

 the Primrose, the early Narcissus, and other early (lowering 

 plants that benefit by a purple contrast. There are varieties of 

 this Iris with pale blue, and some with straw colored and bluish 

 colored petals, but they are neither so common nor so desirable 

 for the season of their flowering as those of the royal purple. 

 Many of the later blowing Irises are of a height that towers above 

 dwarf shrubs, and they have an enchanting effect when planted 

 among the bushes of the roseries, or between the tall shrubs and 

 dwarf evergreens of the shrubbery ; the pale Turkey, the yellow, 

 or the various colored, being planted in the vicinity of the purple 



