Giants in the £anc) 
For many years our “Iris Lover’s Catalog” has 
reached most of the iris fanciers of America, as well 
as many in foreign countries. These fanciers already 
know many of the finer iris and eagerly await the 
new improvements introduced each year. There 
are annually, however, several thousand recipients 
of our catalog to whom the iris probably connotes 
a moderately low-growing flower with individual 
blooms two to three inches in diamter. These flower 
lovers who are yet to be initiated into the fraternity 
of iris fanciers have one of the big thrills of their 
lives coming when they see, blooming in their own 
garden, some of the gorgeous new giants of the iris 
world. Such varieties as Paulette, War Eagle , and 
Nene have been grown with blooms up to eight and 
nine inches in diameter — more than the diameter 
of this page. Many others, such as Rameses, Theodo- 
linda, Gudrun, Wm. Mohr, Pres. Pilkington, Ethel 
Peckham, Happy Days, Lucre&a Bori — to mention 
only a few — are six to seven inches long (or wide, 
if of the flaring type). In fact, excepting petite, 
ruffled Euphony, there is scarcely an iris under 4-5 
inches in diameter in this catalog. Of course size 
alone does not make a fine iris, but improvement in 
form and color has been as rapid as increase in size. 
Most modern iris have the fine broad falls so essen¬ 
tial to classic perfection of form and colors far purer, 
richer, and more varied than the varieties of even 
a decade ago. 
On pages 25, 27, 28, and 29 we have pictured 
several of the newer giants of the iris world. 
Motif, an iris which the critics seem to have 
overlooked, is probably the finest production of 
Miss Sturtevant, long one of America’s leading 
hybridizers. It is a tall, beautifully branched, deep 
purple of distinctive form and splendid substance. 
A true self-color, it has an unusual silky-velvety 
sheen. Motif is a more brilliant, deeper Pioneer — 
truly a first-line Iris. . . . One of the most distinc¬ 
tive of all varieties is Persia, Dr. Ayres’ finest blend. 
This flower has tones of silvery lavender, dove grey 
and rich purple. Texture is unusually smooth and 
glistening, suggesting an overcast like a soft blue 
haze. Persia is one of our finest iris, having height 
and carriage as outstanding as its beauty is distinc¬ 
tive. There is no. other variety even remotely like 
it, except that in its strikingly rich Oriental coloring 
it becomes comparable in uniqueness to Shah Jehan 
or to that other very novel blend, Serenite. . . . 
Among the mauve-pink blends we have lovely Mary 
Senni. The enormous silky standards, so delicately 
fluted, are an exquisite lavender-rose faintly flushed 
silvery blue. Falls are a deeper shade. The bright 
beard serves to emphasize the delicacy of the color¬ 
ing. Mary Senni is a prodigious bloomer, and quite 
early. 
Though there are numerous blue and white or 
lavender and white plicatas, this type of coloring 
in the pink and white combination has been rare. 
Graceful Tarantella, pictured opposite, is undoubt¬ 
edly the best to date. It has a dainty, uniform stitch¬ 
ing of delicate pink on a snowy ground. Size is 
medium, branching and placement fine. Tarantella 
takes the place of True Delight as the best pink 
plicata. . . . An exquisite silvery lilac with a 
creamy-pink iridescence is Imperial Blush, one of the 
finest and largest of the pinks. 
Depute Nomblot (page 29) is a robust giant: tall, 
full-petalled, courtly. Standards are a rosy purple 
shot with an infusion of bronze; the bright-bearded 
falls are a rich claret-crimson. It is in every way a 
great iris. . . . That bewitching blend, Serenite, 
(page 29) is a medley of blue and gold. Falls, wide 
and flaring, are a bright pastel blue with inlays and 
sparklings of pale crystalline yellow toward the 
golden-bearded haft. Standards are a shimmering 
silvery blue warming to a gleaming haze of plati¬ 
num motes toward the margins. This never-to-be- 
forgotten iris has amazing substance, fine size and 
height, and oddly crinkled petals which contribute 
to its charm and individuality. 
On page 28 we have pictured both the pinkest and 
the bluest of all iris. 
The former honor belongs to the much-sought- 
after Noweta, a warm creamy pink with no sugges¬ 
tion of lavender. Every year this fresh, genuine 
pink with waxy curled and crinkled petals strikes 
us as more beautiful. Aline with its fine enameled 
finish is a shade nearer spectrum blue than any other 
iris. Close runners-up are the new Shining Waters 
and Sierra Blue. . . . 
26 
