.. jforeloorti ♦. 
Each year a finer discernment is being shown in the selection of out 
door plants, and we are acquiring a new standard by which to judge our 
gardens. A few years ago it would have been impossible to have a suc¬ 
cessive array of pleasing color from early spring until late fall, but now 
with careful selection, we may have flowers in harmonious groups through¬ 
out the season. 
The Bearded Irises have seen great advancement within the last few 
years and we find many new and lovely hybrids in every shade and height, 
but to such an extent has this breeding and introduction been carried on, 
that we must go slowly and not believe all the glowing descriptions we may 
read, but see and judge them before we make our choice. 
Last year, I visited the gardens of many of our breeders and growers 
and saw most of the new irises at their height of bloom. One of the most 
delightful excursions was to Nashville, Tennessee, where I saw the irises 
of three famous hybridizers and had the pleasure of assisting in the selec¬ 
tion of irises for introduction, others being chosen for further observation, 
many of these as well as others from various breeders are in my garden 
for exhibition and may be judged, not only by the layman, but by the 
especial judges appointed by the American Iris Society. 
After these various iris visits, I made a careful selection of those 1 
felt were especially desirable, and you will find most of them blooming in 
my garden and described in this catalogue. 
To such a great degree have the tall Bearded Irises been heralded that 
many other excellent varieties have been neglected, and I feel that we 
should add many of the less familiar ones to our gardens, not alone for 
their beauty, but for the distinct element of interest in prolonging the sea¬ 
son of iris bloom. Indeed it is a wonder, that so many have been slow to 
realize the added charm these will nrovide. 
The Fall Blooming Bearded Irises are still extremely rare, and with¬ 
out doubt there will be great improvement in them within the next few 
years, but at the present time we have several that are well worth the 
interest of any garden lover. 
The Dwarfs and Evansias are delightful rock garden subjects, the 
Intermediates as their name implies are not only excellent border irises, 
but fill their space in the season of bloom. The Siberians are particularly 
lovely grown with Oriental poppies, while the Spurias and Japanese give 
glowing notes of color and are a glorious finish to the pageantry of the 
iris season, but the greatest advancement in the Iris genus is in the new 
Hybrids of the Southern States Irises for they fill the interim between 
the blooming of the Bearded and Japanese Irises. 
About fifteen years ago, Mrs. Washington, an ardent lover of gardens 
and a true collector of rare plants, noticed many unusual and lovely irises 
blooming in the swamp lands of Mississippi. Knowing of the interest of 
her son, Mr. T. A. Washington in the iris family, she sent him each winter 
wild plants which especially appealed to her, and it is from these distinct 
forms that the new and fascinating irises, known as the Washington Hy¬ 
brids, have been produced. 
These hybrids are a great advancement in form, height and color over 
the species named and described by Dr. Small, for even before the dis¬ 
covery of these irises by his expedition to the Southern swamps, Mr. 
Washington had carried on through several years selective breeding of these 
species, and it is from this careful work that named varieties have been 
chosen and are offered in my catalogue. They are of finest form and 
rarest coloring, and it is with pleasure that I recommend them for garden 
planting. 
1 
