3S0 



The Garden Magazine, August, 1922 



belladonna, its beauty further enhanced by the pure white spikes 

 of candidum Lilies and Phlox Miss Lingard. The Polyantha 

 Roses in the half-moon bed were put out like a little hedge with 

 an edging of pink Verbenas, the variety being Gruss an Aachen 

 with large pink flowers suffused with cream. The Orientalis 

 Iris Snow Queen makes a brave showing,' and after it come 

 stately Japanese Iris Kaempferi, in varieties. 



For midsummer, dependence is mainly on that prettiest of pink 

 Phlox Elizabeth Campbell, and the showy Speedwell (Veronica 

 longifolia subsessilis) for perennials. The annuals, too, are then 

 beginning to cover their beds, and a little later the Heliotrope 

 fills up the foreground with a mass of lavender-blue flowers, while 

 the Verbenas vie with one another as to which can fling its flower 

 farthest from the edge of the bed. To accentuate the pink color 

 note, a group of three Cannas is planted out in each of the points 

 at the back of the straight borders. The variety used is the 

 lovely Hungaria with rose-pink flowers. 



During August and September lavender takes the place of 

 blue and we find Boltonia latisquama, Aster Beauty of Colwell, 

 and Buddleia Davidii flowering in succession with the ever- 

 blooming Cannas. 



In such a tiny garden, yellow and orange, no matter how 

 beautiful, must be kept away from the pinks. We feel this es- 

 pecially in midsummer, but later in the autumn how eagerly 

 we look for Helenium autumnale rubrum with its warm tints 

 of orange and red, and for the gold and bronze of the hardy 

 Chrysanthemums. As the season draws to a close, the delicate 

 Japanese Anemones are still blooming while Aster St. Egwin 

 stands erect on either side of the garden covered with mist of 

 pink. 



The silvery leaves on the Willow come fluttering down blown 

 by the autumn wind, yet even in November a bunch of brightly 

 colored Chrysanthemums may be gathered or perchance a Rose 

 bud untouched by frost. 



PLANTING IRISES 

 FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSES 



ROBERT SWAN STURTEVANT 



Landscape Architect; Secy. American Iris Society 



Some Selections of Good Varieties that are Specially Adapted for 

 Mass Effect, for Succession of Bloom, and for Specimen Plantings 



i N ALL our garden trials, whether it is the mere trial 

 of a new variety or the trial of an old friend in new 

 surroundings, there is a thrill of anticipation as well, 

 perhaps, as a pleasure in the result if we form a picture. 

 With Iris, above all among the newer varieties, we may 

 choose many colors; also we can select those of similar color, 

 but of different shape or height, that seem especially effective 

 for certain positions. We can have a mass or sheet of color 

 that forms part of a set design, a spot of color that gives interest 

 to a varied group, or finally an individual specimen for close 

 inspection of the beauty of its flowers. Now, of course, some 

 few Iris are suited to all purposes, effective alike in mass, in 

 clumps, or close at hand, but others are preeminently fitted to 

 a single setting. Partly it is a matter of scale, whether they be 

 planted as masses, or as individuals; and also a question of view- 

 point, the distance from which we view the planting to be a de- 

 ciding factor. 



Achieving Sweeps of Color 



IN MASS we delight in the evenness of the color, the pattern 

 of the design rather than in the form, size, or substance of 

 each flower. The Apogon Irises, both Japanese and Siberian, 

 are supreme in mass effect, the one a solid surface of rich color, 

 the other airy with its myriad flowers interspersed with green. 

 They are also fine as clumps where the strong leaf growth in 

 contrast with other perennials is of value throughout the season. 

 But with the Pogoniris or Bearded the greater delicacy and 

 variety of color, height, and form, as well as the variation in 

 time of bloom, tend to give continued and diverse interest 

 from day to day. Here is an opportunity for selection, the close 

 high-branched varieties with flaring or horizontal falls giving 

 a more continuous plane of color. Pallida dalmatica is typical 

 and well-known, its cool blue-lavender a joy in sun or shade, but 

 loveliest, I think, toward evening when the level rays of the set- 



ting sun illuminate each blossom. Pallida varieties in other 

 hues and heights are many and, though few have such flaunting 

 falls and such fine substance, they give a block of color; Albert 

 Victor is a deep lavender, and darker still and taller is Juniata, 

 Edouard Michel and Caprice clear claret, Dream almost pink. 

 Lower for the most part are Her Majesty and Rose Unique in 

 pale rose and deep "iris" pink respectively, Innocenza in white, 

 and in yellow selfs, Shekinah, Aurea, Flavescens, and Dawn, 

 ranging from three to two feet in height, from yellow to old ivory 

 in tone. All these have a habit that masses well. Many of us 

 avoid the red and yellow bicolors as crude, but most of these 

 variegatas are effective. As a rule it is the paler color of the 

 standards that carries from a distance, the bright yellow of 

 Gracchus or Prestige, the intermediate tone of Mithras or 

 Gagus rather than the varying tones of purple in the falls. 



Among the lavender bicolors (the greatest in number of any 

 class) Albatross, Perfection, and of increasing height, Nine 

 Wells and the equally dark Othello might be mentioned as good 

 examples. Othello as a single flower is poor with narrow seg- 

 ments, but in mass its rich color gives us an effect that makes 

 us realize how little the individual blossom counts under some 

 conditions. As might be expected the contrast of white and 

 dahlia carmine in Anne Leslie, velvety purple in Victorine or 

 Thorbeck, or violet in Rhein Nixe carries well from a distance;" 

 but a similar contrast in plicatas is different, the white carries 

 only in Ma Mie or Jeanne d'Arc, the pale blue in Mrs. G. Reuthe, 

 the purple in Parisiana. 



Many that are fine for massing are from their very simplicity 

 of color and ordinary form lacking in interest to the connoisseur. 



Selecting for Succession 



IN A clump we begin to value growth, manner of branching, 

 and the finer points of the flower aside from the carrying 

 quality of the color and though as fine a thing as pallida 



