104 
The Garden Magazine, October, 1920 
The sibericas, with the exception of the orientalis varieties, are 
of dense tufted habit with grassy leaves not much more than a 
quarter of an inch wide. 
T HE tall varieties with their flowing lines are a softening 
element in the picture while the orientalis, so densely 
tufted as to become spreading rather than erect in growth when 
long established, offer a variation in color; var. White Queen is 
clean, vivid green while the deeper tone of var. sanguinea har- 
monizes with the rich red tinge on base of fans and flower buds. 
All these Beardless Iris will endure considerable moisture and are 
particularly delightful when placed where their erectness may 
be reflected on some still pool. I have neglected the sturdy 
Flag, Pseudacorus, with its yellow blooms, for with me it self 
sows by the pond’s edge — even stands with its feet in the water 
during the winter — and is altogether suited for naturalization 
with our native Flags. 
In the Pogon or Bearded Iris, with their hundreds of hybrid 
forms, a slight glimpse into their history shows to what may be 
traced the particular foliage character of any one variety. Let 
us first, however, set aside the dwarf varieties with leaves from 
two to twelve inches in length, just mentioning that the pumila 
hybrids make excellent, bristly borders that are a solid bank 
of color in earliest spring. All die down conspicuously after 
blooming but they may be almost completely submerged by 
other growths; and the hybrids form a new growth in the fall 
which, though it becomes flaccid with frost, holds its cheerful 
green well into the spring. 
With the larger, later blooming Bearded Iris, which through 
their ease of culture are most adaptable, we come to the most 
popular members of the genus. In the consideration of the 
garden effect of foliage, the twenty or more botanical species 
may be reclassified something like this; amoena, Cengialti, 
neglecta, and variegata with no winter growth; germanica, 
pallida and plicata with moderately long foliage that becomes 
unsightly with cold weather; and trojana, cypriana (or Ricardii 
as the botanist may see fit to term the group) which have almost 
a full growth of green throughout the year. 
T HIS winter value may be taken advantage of for borders 
near the house, for there is a host of smaller evergreen 
perennials to associate with the Iris. It reflects quite accur- 
ately too the summer value of the foliage. A certain analogy 
between winter growth and the climate of the place of origin 
of a species is traced by Mr. W. R. Dykes, but as the Bearded 
1 ris all come from central 
or south Europe or Asia- 
Minor this is a safe guide 
only in the broader appli- 
cation. 
Visiting the garden on 
January 30th, to note 
once more the Iris foli- 
age 1 found almost with- 
out exception that the 
old varieties and the old 
clumps showed no foli- 
age value. Two strains 
only carried good fans 
of green — the pumila- 
interregna hybrids and 
the so-called trojana 
or “tall, late-flowering 
hybrids,” most of which 
are still in the seed beds. 
The pallidas may be kept 
in fine fettle during sum- 
mer and also a number 
of the newer bicolors of 
red and yellow or pur- 
ple shades; but only the 
trojanas are fully dependable through the year. Hence it seems 
that where you can trace pallida or trojana blood, then the Iris 
is likely to be effective as an all-season foliage plant. But of 
course general soil conditions must be considered, as even the 
best show the result of a long drought while the poorest can, 
within limits, develop size and luxuriance when well treated. 
In color we may choose from the gray, glaucous (Mytho) 
green of a fine pallida variety or its white-frilled (plicata) varia- 
tions, the greener hues of a lavender bi-color, or the yellow-green 
that perhaps reaches its climax in variegata aurea. These 
show a very even gradation in green; some are bright and glis- 
tening, some dull and so striate as to be rough to the touch, 
and others, particularly among the lower lavender bi-colors 
(amoena, neglecta) and the yellow variegatas, often deeply 
tinged at the base with red. Mr. Fryer’s seedling, A. E. Kund- 
erd, is stained for half the length of the leaf; and in our own 
Lugarda, the shading seems to echo and enhance the rich 
purple of the bloom. Indeed there seems to run a certain 
parallel between flower color and depth of leaf tone; the warm, 
creamy white of Samite, Mr. Bliss’s new seedling; of Athene, or 
La Neige is reflected in the bright yellow-green leaf fans; while 
on the other side, the cool, bluer white of Mrs. Horace Darwin 
or Albicans, and the lavender wash of kashmiriana are coupled 
with a blue glaucous tone of foliage. Roughly this relation holds 
true as the color deepens. 
F EW individual varieties stand out in my memory and few 
purchasers would be justified in considering foliage only, 
but some examples to illustrate the possibilities of variation are 
not amiss. There is what we bought as Mme. Almira (prob- 
ably a selected I. pallida speciosa) with enormous sheaves of 
leaves, a single blade sometimes being two feet long with a 
breadth of two and a half inches. OurGloirede Hillegom, with 
flowers of lightest lavender like Celeste, has large, lush leaves 
with drooping tips; the stalks of Foster’s Yellow scarce rise 
above its light green; Carthusian, that gigantic lavender of 
French origin, has markedly short, broad leaf blades; pallida 
dalmatica is typical of the rather stiff, wide shape; Caterina 
of the more flexible, bending class; and Mr. Farr’s description 
of the fountain-like growth of Juniata is not far fetched. Varie- 
ties even of similar parentage show great variation and 1 hesi- 
tate to specify names, for locality or intensive cultivation have 
so great an influence. The widely scattered readers of the 
Garden Magazine should be able to make comments of value 
on the point of locality, and also should have notes far more 
valuable on what rela- 
tion, if any, there may be 
between foliage character 
and the difference in the 
length of the blooming 
season of certain varieties. 
This is very marked in 
California, for example. 
Now to what aim is all 
this talk? Firstly, there 
is an ever increasing ap- 
preciation of gardening 
when you open your eyes 
to the fascinations of de- 
tail, whether it is in the 
pleasing manner of 
growth in the plant itself 
or in its location in rela- 
tion to its neighbors ; 
secondly, it is grounds for 
an appeal to grow only the 
worth-while varieties in- 
cluding the finer of the 
new hybrids; and lastly, 
who can resist writing of 
a hobby? 
A DELIGHTFULLY SILHOUETTED MASS OF FOLIAGE 
Which convinces one that the Iris, at any season, is a valuable asset, furnish- 
ing as it does a vertical note of decided character among lesser, broken greens 
