14 
CARL PURDY, UKIAH, CALIFORNIA 
THE IRISES 
JAPANESE IRIS 
Gloriously beautiful plants arc Japanese Irises. At their best, stems 4 feet tall 
rise from a mass of grassy leaves, and bear at their tops flowers as much as a foot across. 
The colors are delicate, and the texture of the flowers is like silk. 
These are my varieties: Apollo, pure white with pink center; Blue Danube double, 
deep indigo-blue, center violet shading to yellow; Frate, double, silvery white, veined 
and shaded with lilac, center deep lilac; Helen von Siebold, reddish purple with white 
veins and a yellow center; Oriole, double 
rich plum-color shading deeper toward the 
center, and brightly marked with yellow; 
Pyramid, also double, lilac-blue, center of 
each petal shaded white; Robert Craig, a 
delicate French gray with violet veins, 
most charming; Topaz, single, reddish 
amaranth throughout; T. S. Ware, 
reddish violet, veined white, and white 
center with some lemon markings; 
Victor, white, veined violet-purple, pure 
violet-purple center. 
1 have them in mixture at 20 cts. each, 
or $1.50 a dozen. Strong plants of named 
varieties at 25 cts. each, or $2 a dozen. 
Plants can be set out from August to 
March. Where plenty of water is avail- 
able, September planting is the best. 
They do well on the edge of ponds, running 
streams or ditches, and will grow under 
several inches of water. Heavy feeding 
and plenty of water are necessary. 
On dry hills plant in rows 3^ feet across 
and a foot apart in the row; the plants 
about 3 inches above the trough between 
the rows. Give a dressing of nitrate of 
soda and bone meal when planting. Mulch 
with manure in spring. The ground should 
be kept well cultivated, and do not allow 
it to become hard or baked. The plants 
will grow in almost any soil, if it is made 
fairly rich, and the roots supplied with 
moisture during the summer. A garden 
cannot have too many of these splendid 
flowers; each year the clumps increase in 
Spanish iris (see page 15) size and become more valuable. 
GERMAN IRIS 
The German Iris is one of the very best flowers that the garden can hold. Every- 
body knows the older sorts under the name of Flag Lilies, or Fleur-de-lis, but few know 
the lovely new sorts, cither in dwarf or tall. In structure of flower and in the delicate 
colorings the Irises are rivals of the aristocratic orchids, but they can be grown suc- 
cessfully in the most humble garden. I have unnamed bulbs in white, blue or purple 
at 10 cts. each, $1 per dozen and $5 per 100. Or 1 will put up sets of twenty of the 
finest sorts, one each, unnamed, for $2.50 (with names, $4 for the 20). 
Purdy's Blue is a light blue, very sweet-scented sort and a fine thing. Price 20 cts. 
each. This Iris will grow in either dry or wet soils, sun or shade; yet, in rather good 
soils, with moderate moisture, it does its best. The bulbs should be reset about every 
third year, in August. Plant new bulbs before Christmas, at the latest. 
Irises of the Pallida class are very tall plants, with stems often 4 feet high, and 
among the best of these is Odoratissima, almost the same as Princess Beatrice, at 25 cts. 
each. I have quite a number of this class in quantities too small to offer, and can 
make sets at 30 cts. each variety. 
