298 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1913 



white; Mrs. Neubronner — deep gold and 

 yellow, fine; Maori King — yellow, crimson 

 and gold, brilliant; Honoribilis — gold and 

 mahogany. 



/. amozna: vars. Mrs. E. Darwin — white 

 reticulated violet, 2 feet ; Victorine — white 

 edged purple, 27 inches; Comte de St. Clair 



— violet margined white, 2 feet ; Eugene Sue 

 — white flecked lavender, 1 8 inches ; Thorbeck 



— clear violet blue, splashed white, 2 feet; 

 Calypso — lavender and white, 18 inches. 



I. neglecta; vars. Othello — lavender and 

 purple, 22 inches; Willie Barr — French 

 gray etched purple; Amabilis — pale laven- 

 der and claret; Louis Van Houtte — pearly 

 lavender with lines of deeper color. 



/. (syn. plicata): aphylla vars. Mad. 

 Chereau — widely frilled with clear lavender, 

 tall; Mrs. G. Reuthe — veined and frilled 

 lilac; Agnes, frilled and flushed lilac; Mad. 

 Thibault — bordered violet; Bridesmaid — 

 silvery gray, veined lavender. 



/. squalens: vars. Abdul 

 Aziz — lavender standards 

 clouded with gold, falls 

 purple and white; Gypsy 

 Queen — smoky browns, 

 maroon and old gold, 24 

 inches; J acquesiana— cop- 

 per, maroon and fawn; 

 Mrs. Shaw — purple and 

 white, fawn; A. F. Barron 

 — bronze, claret, etched 

 white; Dr. Bernice — cop- 

 per bronze, with falls 

 deepening to rich maroon, 

 24 inches. 



The squalens varieties 

 do not look well combined 

 with other German irises. 



Next in importance in 

 this bearded section and 

 earliest to bloom, are the 

 two charming dwarfs, /. 

 pumila and /. Chamaeiris 

 and as these two are so 

 nearly alike, as to be sent 

 out by nurserymen under 

 either name, it does not 

 much matter which one 

 has. I believe that the 

 true pumila has no stem 

 and is dwarfer than 

 Chamaeiris and that the 

 genuine article, save for 

 that loveliest of sky-blue 

 mites, /. ccerulea, is ex- 

 ceedingly rare. But for our 

 purpose Chamaeiris (or 01- 

 biensis) is just as satisfac- 

 tory and one is as well 

 pleased with the prodigal 

 purple bloom of the var. 

 I talk a, or the soft yellow 

 of aurea as one would be 

 with the true /. pumila. 



These dwarf irises grow 

 from four to six inches 

 high and increase so rap- 

 idly in a warm sunny 

 situation, and bloom so 

 profusely, that one is re- 



warded by solid sheets of color in a very 

 short time. They blossom with the daffo- 

 dils, making possible many charming 

 harmonies with these and such other early 

 delights as arabis, alyssum, aubretia and 

 the lovely creeping phloxes. 



Iris Cengialti, closely related to pallida, 

 is very nearly blue — Miss Jekyl gives it 

 as the nearest to a blue iris. Slenderer 

 and lighter in all its parts than the German 

 iris and faintly fragrant, it is a delightful 

 flower. Here it blooms below the billowy 

 masses of small blush roses borne on the 

 charming Scotch brier, Stanwell's Perpetual, 

 and the relation of these two is one of the 

 rarest pleasures of the May garden. These 

 irises have been crossed with /. Balkana, 

 the result being a race of dwarf and semi- 

 dwarf irises blooming in April and May 

 called Hybrid Crimean irises. They are 

 said to be very beautiful but I have not 

 grown them. 



Madame Chereau. one of the best known of the "German' 



markings. Fragrant 



The yellow flowered /. flavescens is a fine, 

 fragrant iris growing about 30 inches high, 

 which may be counted upon to give freely 

 of its golden bloom in May when there is no 

 other tall yellow iris in evidence. I believe 

 this is the only pure yellow flower found in 

 the Germanica group. /. Florentina, from 

 the root of which the orris powder is made, 

 is only less familiar than the common 

 purple flag. Its lovely French gray blos- 

 soms are seen in most old gardens, and are 

 most delightful in combination with the 

 late pink tulips of the cottage and Darwin 

 types. The white variety known as Albi- 

 cans has lived in my garden for several 

 years without vouchsafing a single bloom. 

 Perhaps the removal of the fragrant mat of 

 lemon thyme, which grows about its 

 rhizome, will solve the problem, for it would 

 seem that the sunny border answered all its 

 requirements. 



The most beautiful June borders may 

 be made with these irises 

 intermingled with lupins, 

 valerian, peachleaved bell- 

 flowers, foxgloves, oriental 

 poppies, lemon lilies and 

 the gray foliage of laven- 

 der cotton, artemesia and 

 lyme grass, against a back- 

 ground of Persian lilacs, 

 evergreens and great 

 bushes of such free grow- 

 ing roses, as the yellow 

 briers, Mad. Plantier and 

 Stanwell's Perpetual. 



To increase ones stock 

 of bearded irises, pieces 

 may be broken from the 

 parent clump just after 

 the plant has flowered, for 

 then the new growth is 

 starting. Cut the foliage 

 back to an inch or so and 

 set the fleshy root firmly 

 but only part way in the 

 earth. Of the two hun- 

 dred pieces taken from 

 my plants last June, not 

 one died and many are 

 large enough to bloom 

 this summer. Nursery- 

 men for convenience, 

 commonly send out the 

 plants in the spring or fall 

 and many are lost by late 

 autumn planting, as they 

 do not become established. 



THE CRESTED (EVANSIA) 

 IRISES 



The Evansia section is 

 a small one and only two 

 of its members known to 

 me are suitable for the 

 open garden. A jagged 

 crest replaces the beard 

 of the Pogoniris group 

 and the rhizome is thick 

 and creeps along the sur- 

 face of the ground some- 



mses. white with blue . to , , 



what in the manner of the 



