garden education or those he hired to do his gardening for 
him. And yet, you will find this dingy antique in surprisingly 
fine company. 
However, no great estate is at all necessary to grow fine 
irises. It is an ideal plant for the small garden because of its 
upright compact growth. It occupies a minimum of ground 
and air space and is easily kept within bounds. No one need 
grieve over the fact that his garden is a small one. He may 
have just as fine things—-even finer—because he will have to 
select more closely than for the garden of greater extent. 
Many people visiting our gardens bemoan the fact and 
say, “I have only a small garden. A small garden may be 
as perfect in its way as a large one. Very often they are more 
perfect and a constant joy to their owners. Herrick's beau¬ 
tiful lines always come to mind in this connection. 
"But walk’st about thine own dear bounds 
Not envying others’ larger grounds, 
For well thou knowst, tis not th' extent 
Of land makes life, but sweet content." 
There is one reason for the lack of better irises in so many 
gardens and that is the bad advice put out by so-called 
experts who ought to know better. There are altogether too 
many lists in periodicals and general nursery catalogs in 
which irises are recommended which have long since been 
discarded from first class lists. There is no reason for starting 
with anything but a first class selection and it is unfair to a 
beginner seeking to get the best material he can for his 
garden to foist a list of irises upon him which he will soon 
learn are not first class and which he will discard for better 
ones which he might just as well have had in the first place 
and at no greater price. 
Properly advised by an experienced iris grower and 
gardener or with the catalog of an iris specialist, a gardener 
embarking upon an iris career should have no difficulty in 
starting with irises of first quality. The beginner today 
should start with the novelties of six or seven years ago 
which at this time are at prices well within the reach of 
modest purses. 
The reason why the newer and better irises should be 
planted and the old timers should not be tolerated are these: 
the newer irises are improvements in size, height, branching 
of the stalk and so producing many more flowers to the stem, 
and in substance and texture. We have already noted the 
main improvement, the outstanding development of color. 
Texture is what is on the outside of the flower and is an 
astonishing improvement over the older irises. We now have 
the iris in fabric of velvet, satin, of shimmering silk, lustrous, 
crystalline, the texture having much to do with the color 
quality. Substance is what is inside the flower, the frame¬ 
work and body of it. The substance has been so improved 
that where an iris was a flower only of a day, now a bloom 
on some varieties might last a week. It is a waste of money 
to buy inferior irises when you can get the best quality for 
the same money in the newer types. 
One plant doesn't make a garden any more than one 
swallow makes a summer or a drink. We need other plants 
to precede, accompany and follow the iris. An old time plant 
dating back to our grandmother's childhood, and then known 
in only two species, has yielded magnificently to the hybrid¬ 
izer’s art and it is a plant that seems preeminently fitted to 
bloom with and follow the iris. That is the old-time corn or 
lemon lily and also known as the yellow day lily; botanically, 
the hemerocallis. 
Originally we had only the old fashioned lemon lily, H. 
flava, which bloomed in late May and early June and with 
the irises, and the tawny day lily of July and August, now 
a roadside waif, H. fulva. There are scores of varieties now 
in all the tones of yellow from pale to the richest orange. 
We are beginning to list hemerocallis as we test out 
varieties and we cannot too highly recommend them. The 
blooming season extends from late May to September. The 
iris season finds the old lemon lily—no finer yellow—Apricot, 
Aureole, Florham, Gold Dust, Dr. Regal, Graminea, some 
with brown reverses and ranging from pale yellows to richest 
oranges. The clear yellows with the blue-toned irises are a 
stunning combination, while the bronzed day lilies with the 
red tones and bronze irises and particularly the variegata 
blends, such as King Juba, Shirvan, Claude Aureau and 
others are magnificent plantings. 
The graceful drooping foliage of the day lily is a beautiful 
relief for the stiffly upright spears of the iris. In the later 
season we have evening bloomers. 
Among the established irises of the last few years the 
following were outstanding last season in our garden and 
will, we believe, remain all time irises so far as any iris can 
be such. Missouri, the most beautiful blue-toned iris we 
have ever seen. Mr. Grinter's masterpiece in blue we believe 
to be one of the finest irises ever produced from any stand¬ 
point. Violet Crown, the superlative in violet seifs; Shirvan, 
the most brilliant velvety bronze that has yet appeared; 
K. V. Ayres, a soft and fascinating blend, an intimate iris; 
Vert Galant, a noble iris in brown bicoloring; Claude 
Aureau, the gem of the blended variegatas; Red Dominion, 
the finest of all the red purples; Coralie, the most exquisite 
of rose tones; Jean Cayeux, unique, the finest of the golden 
brown seifs, a beautiful color note; Shining Waters, an out¬ 
standing and beautifully named blue iris, Pale Moonlight, 
a lighter blue. 
We believe our appraisal of our last year's novelties and 
introductions holds even more strongly than we at first made 
it. 
Wasatch we believe to be the finest giant plicata of the 
San Francisco type, the markings being of cleaner color and 
giving the iris better garden effect. Gudrun and Snow King 
are as fine whites as could well be imagined and of absolutely 
different form and character. Junaluska is outstanding in the 
rosy blended bicolors, a magnificent piece of color. Summer 
Tan, small flowered and low growing, a gem of color in soft 
browns and olive. Nothing quite like it. Ella Winchester, 
we believe this year will prove to be the sensational crimson- 
toned iris of the garden. 
Dr. Loomis’ beautiful deep yellow, Eilah, we shall have 
in larger and more imposing clumps and its beauty will be 
even more outstanding than it was last year with but a 
single stalk on display. The Shuber blues, in rich deep tones, 
which attracted so much attention last year, we have named. 
They are fine additions to the much needed dark blue scale 
in which there are all too few good irises. 
We are introducing some unusually beautiful irises which 
are in the nature of memorials, the seedlings of dear friends 
who have passed on during the year, Euclid Snow and F. E. 
Reibold. Mr. Snow’s beautiful ivory, Attye Eugenia, was 
one of the loveliest of the new things shown last year. He 
was an annual visitor, a kindly and greatly beloved iris 
Quality Gardens 5 
