144 
NOTES FROM ILLINOIS. 
In this section of the Mississippi valley the 
weather is very variable, ranging from the 
extreme heat of 110 degrees in summer to 
20 degrees below zero in winter. The springs 
are often cool and wet, consequently in a 
wet season Irises are apt to suffer from rot. 
This year the season was rather rainy fol- 
lowed by extremely hot weather and Iris rot 
was quite prevalent in many gardens. In 
my own garden it seemed to make little dif- 
ference whether the Irises were planted in 
very porous soil or in clay where the drain- 
age is not so sharp. Some of the older va- 
rieties, such as Darius, Sambucina, May 
Queen, Thorbeck, Mme. Chereau, do not 
seem to be troubled with the rot at all, while 
my clumps of Caterina, Albicans, Edouard 
Michel and Alcazar were completely destroyed. 
I have tried washing the roots in a weak solu- 
tion of permanganate of potash and after- 
ward using the same solution on the ground, 
but this seems to have little effect in check- 
ing the trouble. Now that we know where 
superphosphate of lime is to be obtained, we 
may be able, in a way, to prevent and check 
the rot, but the cutting away of the affected 
parts seems to be the first necessity. Irises 
grow so readily, even under conditions where 
other plants would not live, that they are 
often denied ordinary cultivation which other 
plants would get as a matter of course. I 
believe that improperly aerated soil is the 
beginning of all trouble. 
The various bulbous Irises ( reticulata , 
Juno, Xiphium, etc.) which we used to be 
able to get from Holland, seemed to do well 
here the first year or two and I presume it 
was due to ignorance of their needs that 
they did not live longer. A few warm days 
in the middle of March were sufficient to 
bring Danfordiae and histrioides into bloom, 
the former a sweet-scented species, the latter 
a beautiful light blue of fine form. These 
were followed a few weeks later by the 
Junos, sindjarensis and bucharica, both pro- 
fuse bloomers and the latter particularly 
fine with its bright yellow and white flow- 
ers. Of the Oncocyclus and Regeha Irises, I 
have tried Bismarckiana, iberica, Kot olkowi, 
Mar’ue and Susiana. Out of some fifteen 
plants of I. susiana I have been able to coax 
only one huge blossom a year, yet they have 
all lived and looked strong for five years 
until last winter, when they nearly all died. 
The Regelio-cyclus Irises, however, bloom ex- 
ceedingly well here, even when left in the 
ground the entire year, though I always lift my 
plants a few weeks after blooming and store 
them in dry sand until late in the fall. Even 
with late planting they make 2 or 3 inches 
growth which is usually killed during the 
cold weather but in no way seems to affect 
the vigor of the plants. Artemis, Calypso 
and Isis are particularly beautiful and very 
free blooming. The Oncocyclus x Pogoniris 
hybrids of Sir Michael Foster bloom some- 
what later than these, are equally beautiful 
and much stronger growing. In fact, they 
multiply quite rapidly, though not quite as 
rapidly as the average bearded Iris, and do 
not need to be lifted during the summer. 
In the meantime the dwarf bearded Irises 
have nearly finished blooming and the inter- 
mediates are in full bloom by the third week 
in May together with the Germanica group. 
In a hot season the mass of hybrids comes 
too soon and lasts only a short time, but in 
a normal season we usually have plenty of 
bloom up to the middle of June, when the 
taller growing apogons commence to bloom. 
Siberica, orientalis, aurea. Monspur, etc., 
bloom profusely in the border and with 
practically no attention from year to year. 
I. fulva bloomed well for two seasons in a 
very hot and dry location and then suddenly 
died. The Japanese Irises are hard to man- 
age in this locality, at least in gardens and 
under ordinary cultivation. Even plants 
raised from seed seem to be no better. 
Slower (Brower 
Raising Irises from seed is easy and in- 
teresting and the results often surprising. 
My first seedling to bloom, from a chance 
cross, was practically a duplicate of Parisiana 
but with the added beauty of a strong 
divided line of lavender pink down the center 
of the falls. Others were as good as, though 
no better than many of the older named va- 
rieties. There are too many poor named 
varieties as it is and it is to be hoped that 
the American Iris Society will soon be able 
to prepare a check list of the many varie- 
ties and take votes on their respective mer- 
its. William Spencer Johnson. 
REGISTRATION. 
Couleur de Rose. Japanese. Mrs. Francis Cleve- 
land. 
Dusk. A blend of size and height. B. Y. Morrison, 
Fenella. A floriferous white. B. Y. Morrison. 
Peachblow. Mrs. Francis Cleveland. 
Soubrette. Mrs. Francis Cleveland. 
Names changed at request of Committee on Nomen- 
clature : 
Mandarin, (formerly Grandee.) Mrs. Francis 
Cleveland. 
Aristocrat (formerly Grenadier.) Mrs. Francis 
Cleveland. 
Autocrat (formerly Isolda.) Mrs. Francis Cleve- 
land. 
At the Exhibition of the National Society of Hor- 
ticulture in Paris on May 27, 1920, Certificates of 
Merit were awarded to the following Irises : Allies, 
Chassuer, Dalila, Hussard, Marsouin, Spahi, and 
Trianon as shown by Vilmorin, Andrieux et Cie. 
I trust that none of our members 
have been troubled by an apparent 
similarity between the Iris borer and 
the corn borer, they are absolutely dis- 
tinct, the first might, of course, be 
found in an Iris flowerstalk though it 
is customary to break this off at the 
base before shipping, the latter is first 
found in the leaf sheaf then in the 
rhizome. Whereas the Iris borer is 
known to attack only a few perennials 
with tap-like roots such as Columbine 
or Lupin, the corn borer may be found 
in even the stalks of the common pig- 
weed. There should be no mistake 
among Iris growers concerning the dif- 
ference between these two borers. 
R. S. Sturtevant, Secretary. 
THE IRIS . 
Iris Families. 
There is something about this big family 
of plants which has a special charm for 
many garden lovers. Apart from the beauty 
of coloring and elegant shape of the flowers 
of the majority of species the foliage is often 
strikingly beautiful, setting off the graceful 
blossoms to perfection and making the 
plants handsome objects in the border even 
when the blooms are over. Many of them, 
particularly those of the Germanica and 
allied classes, are so easy to grow that for 
that very reason they often do not get the 
cultivation they deserve and are relegated to 
some out of-the-way spot where nothing 
much else will grow, but where, though 
they may grow, they can never flower as 
they should. Even where they are appre- 
ciated and treated properly, however, it is 
quite a common thing to find nothing but a 
few forms of the Germanica class grown, and 
beautiful as these are, they cannot take the 
place of many of the other numerous species 
some of which are quite as easy to manage 
as the Germanica forms and quite as beauti- 
ful. One does sometimes see a clump or 
two of the Siberian Iris (I am speaking of 
ordinary gardens), and occasionally I. oc- 
hroleuca, and, of course, such bulbous species 
as I. hispanica, and I. anglica, but when one 
has mentioned these it comprises practically 
September, 1920 
all the species known to the average gardener, 
except perhaps, I. Kaempferi, which is sup- 
posed by many to be impossible except in 
a bog or shallow water. There is a great 
wealth of Irises which are little known to 
the average man, but which can be quite 
easily grown even in an ordinary little Lon- 
don suburban garden, and which, increasing 
in beauty as they do year by year, would be 
far more interesting than many of the an- 
nuals or more ordinary perennials with 
which such gardens are usually filled. How 
many people, for instance, grow the lovely 
winter-flowering Algerian Iris which gives 
its delicate sky-blue flowers with their sweet 
scent just when blooms are most precious, 
from November to March. And yet it is 
perfectly easy to manage in a raised bed of 
light or leafy soil at the foot of a south wall, 
growing and flowering luxuriantly even in a 
smoky London garden. Iris reticulata is 
quite as easy, given similar treatment, and 
its deep violet-colored and Violet-scented 
blossoms are most welcome in February. 
The sweet-scented Iris graminea, too, is per- 
fectly easy in an ordinary border, and will 
give plenty of its rather curious blue and 
purple flowers, nestling among the Grassy 
foliage and smelling strongly of Apricot jam. 
Iris missouriensis is another lovely Iris, free- 
flowering and most easily grown in an ordi- 
nary border, but rarely seen. Its flowers are 
of a peculiarly beautiful and delicate shade 
of lavender-blue, difficult to describe, but 
very charming. The Siberian Iris, though 
growing best in moist conditions, does very 
well in an ordinary border if deeply dug and 
well hoed, and is, in my opinion, one of the 
most beautiful of the whole of the Iris family, 
with its long, narrow arching foliage and 
sheaves of graceful flowers on long stems in 
white or various shades of blues and purples, 
which are most decorative in the garden as 
well as in the house. There are many 
named forms. Snow Queen being, perhaps, 
the finest white, and this is, indeed, a lovely 
thing. The flowers of this species seed pro- 
fusely, and it is interesting and easy to raise 
seedlings. So it is from the Japanese Iris 
Kaempferi, which also, though naturally a 
marsh-loving species, is quite easy to grow 
in a well cultivated border. It is, of course, 
a noble species with enormous flowers, but, 
personally, I much prefer the smaller but more 
graceful Siberian Iris. The Japanese Iris 
naturally grows more vigorously in a boggy 
situation, and if a tub or a tank be sunk in 
the ground a miniature bog can easily be 
made which will answer quite well for the 
marsh-loving species. Iris Wilsoni, a Chi- 
nese species somewhat like a yellow I. sibirica, 
will grow well under such conditions— so 
will Monnieri and its hybrid Monspur and 
others. 
The Mourning Iris (I. Susiana), which, 
though subdued in coloring, is a singularly 
beautiful one, belongs to a group which does 
present some difficulties of cultivation, but 
the hybrids which the late Sir Michael 
Foster raised between this group and the 
Germanica group combine much of the in- 
terest and beauty of the former with the 
accommodating nature of the latter, and in 
well-drained, sunny positions, are little, if 
any, more difficult than the Germanica 
forms. 
One of the few Irises which will flourish in 
shade is our native Gladwin Iris (I. fcetidis- 
sima). Although the flowers of this are in- 
conspicuous it is a species well worth grow- 
ing for the sake of the seed-pods, which are 
well-known objects for winter decoration 
when they have half opened, displaying the 
bright coral-red seeds inside. There is a 
rare form of this with yellow flowers, and 
another with variegated foliage. Another 
native, I. pseudacorus, the well-known Marsh 
Iris with deep yellow flowers, is handsome 
and easily grown in the border, but the 
flowers do not last very long. This also has 
a form with variegated leaves. 
