72 HOME AND GARDEN 



beautiful flowers that can be grown, and, moreover, 

 flowers that are surprisingly large for the size of 

 the plant. The dwarf Irises, types and varieties of 

 yumila, olbiensis, and chammiris, and some other dwarf 

 broad-leaved species, begin to flower in the end of 

 May with the lovely pale blue Crimean variety of 

 pumila, the only Iris I have seen except persica that 

 may truly be called blue ; for though the common 

 blue Flag, or so-called German Iris, is of a fine bluish- 

 purple, it is very far from being blue. The best one 

 I am acquainted with of this class of colouring and 

 the nearest to blue is the beautiful and free-flowering 

 /. Cimrjialti, a little taller than the dwarf Flags, but 

 shorter than the mass of those that bloom in June. 



The varieties of flag Iris have a large geographical 

 distribution through the warmer latitudes of Southern 

 and Eastern Europe and Asia Minor ; the many others 

 that grace our gardens coming from all parts of the 

 Northern temperate zone. For garden purposes the 

 flag-leaved Irises are put under certain heads which 

 may be briefly described thus :- — 



Iris albicans, pure white ; a beautiful plant in the 

 type, but the variety Princess of Wales is still better. 



Iris florentina. The grey-white Iris so common 

 about Florence. The dried root is orris, a word which is 

 only a corruption of iris. The Florentine Iris is one of 

 the earliest of its class to bloom, and at the same time 

 one of the most free ; a grand garden plant. 



Iris pallida. This and the splendid 7. pallida 



