274 



The Garden Magazine, February, 1920 



with no other color under the sky as far as I can discover. 

 So it is all planted in a clump of cherry trees and bushes — and 

 thus framed it receives an almost undue amount of attention 

 and praise! 



For the unrest in the border there was plainly but one 

 remedy — moving the whole family to new quarters. This 

 turned out to be something of an undertaking, for when the 

 plants were lifted and the roots broken apart, there were 

 hundreds to be set out again. Having come to see that in 

 gardening as in life haste is quite as nearly akin to error as 

 ignorance is, I studied the matter rather carefully. Garden- 

 ing, we all find — unless we are wise beyond our generation — 

 isn't a mere matter of planting and cultivating, but — during 

 the period of our novitiate at least — a question of digging 

 up and planting somewhere else! And these moves, like 

 the moves of chess, must be sure to be effective. 



But this time I went somewhat against my better judg- 

 ment, after all, for I selected a heavily shaded plot of ground 

 lying some three feet lower than the newly built tennis 

 court and between it and the fence along the highway. The 

 location was ideal but for the shade, which could be only 

 partially removed as much of it was cast by the row of old 

 Maple trees outside the fence. However, by trimming these 

 and the apple trees within the grounds, standing in the place 

 selected, I did manage to let in a certain amount of sunlight; 

 and this, though not really enough, seems to answer. 



THROUGH the mistakes 

 1 have made by over- 

 eagerness to see results, I 

 have at last learned to do 

 my moving always on paper 

 first. So in this case I began 

 by carefully working out to 

 scale a planting plan, the final 

 form of which is given here. 

 The problem was not very 

 complicated. The beds had 

 to be so arranged as to give 

 access to the stone steps up 

 into the lawn and the tennis 

 court, and to leave the grass 

 plot in the centre in such 

 shape that the spraying ma- 

 chinery could be drawn in, 

 turned, and taken out again 

 with a team of horses. There 

 was of course an attempt to 

 make the lines generally as 

 graceful and natural in ap- 

 pearance as might be. Then 

 there were perhaps thirty var- 

 ieties of I ris to be placed so as 

 to show their colors to the 

 best advantage, and with some 

 thought as to pleasing color 

 groupings and to following 

 nature's plan by putting the 

 colors of distance — lavenders 

 and blues — at the far end of 

 the garden. 



The accompanying plan and the photographs give an 

 idea of what was intended and of what my Iris garden looked 

 like the third spring after planting. As the reader may have 

 surmised, my garden contains mainly the Flag Irises. There 

 are a few Japanese sorts included and the season could of 

 course be greatly extended by the addition of the early 

 Dwarfs and the later Orientals. I realize what an improve- 

 ment this would be and plan to bring the change about. By 

 introducing these other sorts into the scheme the color group- 

 ing can be made much more effective, because the sorts 

 blooming at the same time can be separated by clumps of 

 such as flower earlier or later. Possibly I shall introduce 

 also some of the low, small flowering perennial plants 

 such as white Moss-pink, Alyssum, and Arabis — not as 

 "carpet bedders," however, for Flag Iris doesn't thrive 

 unless its rhizomes can bask with their backs in the 

 summer sun. 



The favorite Iris in my collection is the pallida dalmatica 

 mentioned above. Her Majesty, I believe, takes second 

 honors. This is a beautiful nearly pure pink variety, the 

 falls darker than the standards and heavily veined. Of 

 the rest the most desirable seem to be the old-fashioned 

 Florentine queen Emma or alba odorata, whose roots 

 furnish the sweet orris of the apothecary shops; Mrs. H. 

 Darwin, a white with violet-marked falls; the soft rose-lilac 

 colored Queen of May; and Edward Simmons, very late 

 with purple-splashed yellow standards and velvety dark 



violet falls; neglecta has pale 

 lavender standards and pur- 

 ple falls reticulated with white. 

 Of the white sorts frilled with 

 a blue border, Madame Che- 

 reau is the best, the border 

 being clear blue and not 

 clouded. Trojana, a blue 

 and purple variety, is the 

 tallest and largest-flowered 

 Iris in my garden. 



PLANTING KEY 



PLOTS NO. 



Pallida dalmatica .... i 



Pallida speciosa 2 



Her Majesty 3 



Florentina, alba odorata . . 4 



Queen of May 5 



Edward Simmons .... 6 



Maori King 7 



Dandy 8 



Sans souci 9 



Mrs. H. Darwin 10 



Penelope 11 



Britannicus 12 



Neglecta 13 



Due de Nemours .... 14 



Charles Dickens .... 15 



Madame Chereau .... 16 



Lady Jane 17 



Zenobia 18 



Lurida 19 



Gazelle 20 



Trojana 21 



Trautlieb 22 



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by 



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