October, 1920 
161 
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(Brewer 
The American Iris Society. 
AUGUST has been a busy month 
/ \ with the collection of the seed 
/ \ pods, the propagating, and re- 
planting, and soon it will be time 
to plant the seed from each pod each 
in its carefully recorded square. At 
present they are resting serenely on a 
sunny window sill, cleaned and drying, 
most provocative of joyous anticipa- 
tion for who could resist dreaming of 
what an Alcazar or a Carthusian seed- 
ling might not produce. Mr. Bonne- 
witz tells me that he plants the seed 
immediately, that they will germinate 
this fall and some even bloom another 
year, but with me fall germination is 
of doubtful value. 
Iris dichoioma has been the sole rep- 
resentative of the Iris family at this sea- 
son to bloom, but I must confess that its 
delightful evanescent flowerets are not 
a bit in character. The browning pods 
of the sibericas have almost a pictorial 
value, the scarlet seeded foetidissima is 
bright even thus early and who can re- 
sist the appeal of fresh growths that 
spring up with the autumn rains. 
Sometimes the leaf sheaf is actually 
burst asunder by the sprouts and an 
old rhizome may show a litter of slen- 
der spikes along its sides, only where 
the dead leaves have been left un- 
touched are the plants unsightly. But 
at this season, it is the correspondence, 
not the garden, that proves of interest, 
and, though I have been much involved 
in the routine of getting plants for our 
trial grounds, I want to share with all 
some of my gleanings, mere odds and 
ends to be sure, but bits of information 
at that. 
From Mrs. Minto, out in Oregon, 
comes a note on Caterina which there 
is superb, (how these far-westerners 
can grow things !) and a little report of 
a visit to Mr. Monteith’s show garden 
where the Irises with other flowers are 
on walled terraces, their colors blend- 
ing or contrasting with the grey stones. 
Lady Foster which, with me, is of a 
most shy and retiring disposition, is in 
fine bloom, and I was much amused to 
hear that Nibelungen really wouldn’t 
fit in with others at all. I have always 
considered it A No. 1 in growth and size 
and all but absolutely hopeless for a 
color combination. How does it strike 
you ? 
Then there is a note from Florida re- 
ferring to hexagona and its rarer white 
form. It is sent north in July and as a 
pot plant, or perhaps a tub plant, 
thrives luxuriantly, and blooms from 
November until April. Recently while 
going over some old numbers of the Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle I found a note by W. 
J. Caparne on the forcing of the dwarf 
pumilas. The plants were dug in 
December and single flowering rhi- 
zomes planted in flats or greenhouse 
beds, thirty or forty to a few square 
feet, and by the first of February there 
was a mass of bloom, as the illustra- 
tion showed. I hope that some of you 
will try it and report. From my few 
experiments I should look forward to 
success. 
In regard to I. Susiana, Mr. Lown of 
New York, writes: 
“This is not difficult to grow and bloom, 
but much depends on weather conditions late 
in the season. If very wet the plants start 
into too much fall growth and do not bloom 
well the following spring, while after a dry 
fall they always flower well. It is for this 
reason that my plants are in a very well- 
drained rock garden that is never watered 
except by rain. The soil is as usual for a 
rock garden, sand, humus, and loam and for 
me a rather poor soil seems to suit it. Some 
of my plants did not bloom this year and will 
be moved to a still dryer site. One clump 
has produced five to seven flowers for the 
past six years, but it made too much growth 
last fall to bloom this spring. I. iberica 
bloomed but one year under the same con- 
ditions.” 
The following extract from a letter 
from one of our members, Mr. F. 
Cleveland Morgan, is of interest and I 
am frankly envious of his opportunity 
to import Susiana and the newer Irises 
unrestricted by Quarantine 37. I won- 
der, by the way, what luck our Ameri- 
can members have had with their 
importations this year : 
“In the neighborhood of Montreal, last 
winter proved a very trying one to the gar- 
den. A long cold spell with the thermometer 
away below zero and little snow killed or 
seriously damaged many of the old reliables 
— Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, Canterbury Bells, 
and many of the Phloxes were killed out- 
right, even the Bearded Irises were not im- 
mune, patches of pallida Dalmatica, Chester 
Hunt, Anna Farr , Mary Gray , Black Knight 
and other varieties failed to appear. Cu- 
riously enough one plant of I. bucharica sur- 
vived and bloomed towards the end of April 
and with it flowered a lovely clump of I. reticu- 
lata. A few years ago I succeeded in getting 
one flower of I. persica and though the bulb 
survived several winters, it never bloomed 
again. 
Towards the middle of May the purple I. 
pumila made a brave show and with it came 
the variety caerulea. By the end of the 
month the numerous bearded hybrids and 
other dwarf species were in flower, the deli- 
cate blue gray of gracilis, the deep toned 
cyanea, yellow lutescens, and the fine mahogany 
red of lurida. The white Schnee-Kuppe was 
badly hit and most of Florentina was killed 
outright. Altogether the Bearded Irises 
were a disappointment this season with little 
or no flowers. 
Iris arenaria, which I had from Mrs. 
Wilder, is doing well in full sun and light 
soil and I have a fine clump of graminea. I gen- 
erally succeed in having a number of good 
blooms of Susiana though I find it necessary 
to replace a certain percentage of the tubers 
each autumn, but this winter was too much 
for this southern species and none appeared. 
The hybrids Parvar and Paracina are much 
hardier and do not seem to require special 
treatment. The tall yellow pseudacorus suf- 
fered a good deal, some patches in light 
sandy soil being entirely winterkilled. I 
have had the same trouble as Mrs. Wilder 
with verna in trying to get it to bloom 
freely though it stands the ordinary winter 
well. 
I. cristata proves an easy beauty and this 
summer its cousin tectorum sent up some 
flower spikes. Siberica and the allied ori- 
entalis were very fine, ranging from the 
slender Koreana to the broad petaled Blue 
King, and the white Snow Queen is particu- 
larly good here. I wonder how generally 
the lovely variety nigrescens is known. I 
saw it about five years ago in the Experi- 
mental Gardens at Ottawa and was given the 
roots which only bloomed this summer. The 
flowers are of the typical Siberica type but 
of a deep velvety purple. It is evidently a 
slow growing species and dislikes being dis- 
turbed. I was told by Mr. Perry in England 
this spring that it was not to be had in the 
trade. 
An exquisite and easy Iris for the rock 
garden is gracilipes, it seems to thrive in 
almost any situation with a cool root run in 
sun to half shade. I have twice had minuta 
with its charming little yellow flowers but it 
gave up the ghost. It is hardy, I am sure, 
for I saw it growing happily enough in Mr. 
Lown’s garden in Poughkeepsie.” 
Just a note as to progress and I will 
stop. Our membership is well over 
four hundred and fifty. Let us go over 
the five hundred mark before New 
Years even though we do outnumber 
most of the similar societies already. 
The number of names in the check list 
is climbing also, over 3,000 now and it 
is so well in hand that we hope to be 
able to co-operate with Cornell in its 
publication within a reasonable time. 
We owe much to the Dutch, French, 
and English growers who so painstak- 
ingly have helped us to hunt up the 
old varieties. The classification is ap- 
parently at a standstill, but thoughts 
on symposium, registration, nomencla- 
ture, exhibitions, and all the rest are 
already for winter study. The grow- 
ing season does not seem an opportune 
time for lengthy correspondence. 
Don’t forget that now is the time to 
plant the Bulbous Irises, the Spanish 
and English forms at least are obtain- 
able in this country and I for one, plant 
them even if I do get only one good 
season of bloom. Try a few for your- 
self. R. S. Sturtevant, Sec’v. 
REGISTRATION. 
Black Midget— Black purple dwarf. Mrs. E. P. Mc- 
Kinney. 
Brandywine — B. H. Farr. 
Colonial Dame — Deeper Nuee d'Orage. Mrs. E. P. 
McKinney. 
Dusky Prince— B. H. Farr. 
Georgia — B. H. Farr. 
Glee— Dwarf early yellow. Mrs. E. P. McKinney. 
Her Rival— Her Majesty with more yellow. Mrs. E. 
P. McKinney. 
Insulinde * — Large velvety lavender bicolor. E. H. 
Krelage. 
Mary Orth— B. H. Farr. 
May Morn— Opalescent yellow. Mrs. E. P. McKin- 
ney. 
Mountain Maid— A good sized pink. Mrs. E. P. Mc- 
Kinney. 
My-Lady— Lavender and white. Mrs. E. P. McKin- 
ney. 
Phyllis'— Lilac and mauve. E. H. Krelage. 
Piquante— Lilac pink plicata. Mrs. E. P. McKinney. 
Queen of the Blues' — Tall lilac blue self. E. H. Kre- 
lage. 
Regale -it) in. clear lavender blue. Mrs. E. P. Mc- 
Kinney. 
Semiramis'— Pearl grey and reddish violet. E. H. 
Kreiage. 
Simplicity— White with pink style-branches. Mrs. E. 
P. McKinney. 
Ute Chief— B. H. Farr. 
Wedding Gown— Ecru tints. Mrs. Wm. Crawford. 
* Awards of Merit. Haarlem Bulb Growers. South 
Holland. 
