THE DECORATIVE ELEMENT IN THE FOLIAGE OF IRIS 
ROBERT A. STURTEVANT 
Secretary American Iris Society 
Looking at the Many Kinds in a New Way Reveals New 
Uses to Which They May be Put in Garden Composition 
AMPLE SURROUNDINGS HERE AFFORD THE IRIS THE COVETED OPPORTUNITY FOR FOLIAGE DISPLAY 
The simple open planting about this delightful pool at Krisheim, the estate of Dr. George Woodward at St. Martins, 
Pa., allows the individual plant free development and furnishes striking proof of the decorative quality of its blades 
N A garden of intricate design, plants become mere 
JTi masses tone an d shape, rightly subservient to the 
Wli* § enera l scheme. But in a simpler garden, or more, 
even, in a border along a much used path, each plant or 
group receives an individual glance of appreciation. Did you 
ever note in looking through a bunch of garden pictures, for 
instance, how few express an artist’s conception of composition; 
and how many of the photographs of perennial plantings gain 
interest by the chance placing of some strong clump of Iris 
with their upright leaves? 
Aesthetically and to some extent culturally, the Irises best 
adapted to general use fall into two main divisions; the moisture- 
loving Apogons with grass-like, erect growth, and the Pogon or 
Bearded Irises with broader, sword-shaped leaves and fans of 
foliage. In color the latter offer the wider range, and we find 
the harmonizing gray tones that delight Miss Jekyll, but in 
height the former may excel, developing a five foot growth 
under favorable conditions. Withal 1 have excluded the lesser 
species, some perhaps a little difficult to grow, others too small 
or with too sparse a growth of leaves for our purpose, and some 
especially fitted for use in bog or rock garden. 
In Actual practice the amount of space covered by a clump 
of Iris influences largely the pictorial effect, even from the point 
of view of foliage alone, just as the introduction of a graceful 
sheaf of Iris blades into a grouping of cut flowers contributes a 
characteristic zest. With this in mind in studying our garden 
plantings, we have found that, for pleasing /character and em- 
phasis small clumps of well-grown three to four year growth 
from a single root are best ; or, if we need a larger mass, covering 
a square yard or more, we plant the rhizomes in simulation of 
an older planting — that is with the rounded, sprouting ends out- 
ward from the centre, in a rough circle. Without this little 
attention we get, for at least a season, a higgledy-piggledy mass 
of leaves with no unity in growth direction. 
I N THE small border at once comes the question of whether 
there shall be a set planting regularly spaced of alternating 
varieties or intermingled drifts and clumps of many shades. 
If it is a narrow two- to three-foot border, it seems to demand 
the formal treatment, and for this some Japanese varieties are 
among the best. These are easier to keep in condition through 
the season too than the less symmetrical forms of the Bearded 
Irises. Near Bordeaux I have seen these latter grown in pots, 
and 1 have also seen stiff clumps in gardens, but they have 
rather an exotic effect foreign to our usual desires. 
Among the Apogons we have a range of choice as to width of 
foliage, though “deep dull yellow-green” (Ridgeway) is the 
typical color tone. The spuria group, aurea, gueldenstaed- 
tiana, Monnieri, and the hybrids for which we are indebted to 
Sir Michael Foster are slow to become established, but in 
time form vigorous tufts with inch broad, rich green foliage, 
three to five feet high and unusually rigid in character. The 
green leaves of the Japanese, one to two and a half feet long 
with gracefully drooping tips, are too familiar to need comment. 
