396 
The Garden Magazine, August, 1924 
some of the newer plicatas, with only a hint of blue or lilac, are lovely. 
Fairy is well worth having; and the more expensive (and said to be 
delicate) Anna Farr is spectacular, orchid-like, with its very wide falls. 
Color Contrasts That Delight 
OROBABLY the solid colors have the greater value for garden 
*■ effects; but there is great charm in those varieties that have con¬ 
trasted standards and fall. 1 especially adore them when they have 
white standards and purple falls. No, not the always praised Rhein 
Nixe! It is an Iris with only one fault, but that fault spoils it for me. 
It has vigor, height, fine size, good shape, and the loveliest tone of 
white in the standards; but the falls are of a dull hot reddish purple, 
with a silly white edge. Little Thorbeck is ever so much lovelier, 
clouded white standards, deep pansy-blue-purple falls. And still love¬ 
lier is the taller, bigger Victorine, of the same coloring save that the 
standards are boldly blotched with the blue-purple of the falls. This 
very old variety is noteworthy in any company. 
1 look among all the lists of new Irises, in hopes of finding one of 
Thorbeck coloring and modern size, and I wonder if it may not be 
found in Tristram; and the disappointment of the last gardening 
season was that this variety, early ordered and eagerly waited for, 
never arrived. Almost that delicious color scheme can be found in 
Richard II, only I remember it (am I wrong?) as having a white edge 
to the falls; also, the only plant I ever saw was of very weak growth. 
In this class, though of entirely different coloring, is the lovely Dalila. 
It is not very tall, but its white standards are contrasted with falls of 
the most delicious red I have ever seen in an Iris. 
Shades of Gold and Cream 
\/ERY much do I wish that I knew the great series of yellow Iris 
’ recently put out by Miss Sturtevant (Portrait of Shekinah, 
the first pale yellow of pallida habit, on page 293, of June, 1924, G. M.). 
Such yellows as I know are mostly old and small varieties. Flaves- 
cens, seen in most collections, is rather too washy for beauty. Fos¬ 
ter’s Yellow is a shade stronger in color, but it has never been an 
Iris of much note. By far the best yellow I know is Aurea, nearly one 
hundred years old. It has the loveliest possible shade of soft warm 
butter yellow, the shape is very good, the size fair. It is not very tall, 
nor especially vigorous (though I think healthy enough), but I should 
call it indispensable as yet. I love the two little golden-yellows, 
Mrs. Neubronner and Sherwin-Wricht, and see little if any differ¬ 
ence between them, though each has its advocates. They have the 
same brilliant deep color, and I think they are both rather dwarf, 
rather small of flower, rather flimsy of petal. Mrs. Neubronner seems 
to me the more shapely of the two. They both have something of the 
gayety of the adorable Spanish Irises. A delightful newer yellow is 
Dawn, so pale as hardly to be called a yellow at all, it is of that delicious 
warm cream tint so seldom seen in flowers. Not tall nor very big, it 
yet forms a lovely flowery clump. 
I never cared for those varieties—brilliant as they are—that have 
yellow standards and crimson falls. But I ris King is truly a fine thing, 
and I have a fondness for an old and seldom-seen variety in this section, 
Salar Jung. It wears a strange combination of red-purple, white, 
old gold, and pure fawn. The falls never really open out, they remain 
nearly as upright as the standards. It is a queer vivid thing, almost 
as alive as an animal. 
Pinks Pleasant and Disappointing 
B EFORE speaking of the so-called “pink” Iris (there are no true 
“pinks,” I think, any more than there are any true “blues”), I 
must say that I think the Iris makes a mistake when it tries to be pink. 
It has done little to be proud of in that line, and has been guilty of many 
hideous failures. Mme. Pacquitte and Caprice and Windham and 
Rose Unique (and I think Edouard Michel, though I do not recall 
this variety very distinctly), are raw in tone; Trautlieb is pasty. 
Queen of May is grown and liked in most gardens; its lilac-pink color, 
not improved by a brownish suffusion, is sometimes rather lovely 
and opalescent at a distance beside lavender varieties. Yet there are 
some quite nice pinks, and one or two beauties. Her Majesty is a 
dear. It blooms in a low level sheet of color, its rose-pink flowers 
hardly rising above the leaves. Mrs. McKinney’s new seedling, Her 
Rival, is similar, but has so much yellow in its pink that it is sometimes 
almost a salmon, a lovely shade that I have seen in no other Iris. 
I have a soft spot for Lohengrin, the gift of which started my little 
collection, and I admire its beautiful sturdy growth; but I do not ad¬ 
mire the color, which is not a true pink nor blue nor lavender. 
There are a few lovely Irises on the palest pink tones: the blush and 
cream Wyomissing, so especially free-blooming; Thelma Perry, faint 
creamy pink; Aurora, similar, but perhaps a little more on the lilac 
tone; and the adorable Dalmarius, pinkly pale, with lavender in its 
pink, that grows into such a delightful rounded clump full of bloom. 
The two spectacular pinks of my acquaintance, both of which must 
(I think) have some of the dusky squalens blood, are Isoline and 
Magnifica. I was thrilled by my first sight of Isoline, a glorious crea¬ 
ture, wearing strange shades of tawny old rose, with long drooping 
falls. The newer Magnifica rates even higher. It is perfectly huge, 
and of similar color to Isoline, but deeper, the standards rose, the falls 
soft magenta. It has the same long drooping falls. I could not say 
which I prefer, and those who find the price of Magnifica prohibitive 
may be very happy with Isoline (in spite of her reputation for rather 
uncertain bloom). 
A Galaxy of Barbarbic Beauties 
1 HAVE come to my last section, the dusky strange subtle Squalens 
varieties. 1 suppose these could be compared with the Breeders 
among the Tulips, but they have a warmth that the Breeders lack. 
Arnols, Jacquesiana, Prosper Laugier, are a trio of somewhat 
similar coloring. And I understand that the new Ambassadeur is like 
them, though far finer than any. Arnols is the purplest of the three, 
and perhaps the least good, though all are beautiful. Jacquesiana, in 
coffee, maroon, and crimson, is the reddest. Prosper Laugier is, I 
should say, the darkest. It, too, wears coffee-colored standards 
washed with a deeper tint, but its falls are reddish black instead of 
crimson. 
Nibelungen grows into a very tall flowery clump; but its color, 
though soft and rich, is a little dull. And Quaker Lady, too, I think, 
just misses freshness and purity of coloring. Two Irises there are in 
this group that fascinate me by their brilliant queerness. Pfauenauge 
(or Peacock’s Eye, if you prefer to use a translation), is a strange and 
lovely blend of smoky old gold and reddish plum, with blue lights. 
But it is small, ill-shaped, and poor of growth, a combination of faults 
that its color cannot quite redeem. Eldorado is very much better. 
Neither shape nor growth are especially good, but they are fair; and 
its coloring is so barbarically beautiful that you cannot pass it by 
unnoticed: soft shades of bronze and heliotrope, with pink and blue 
lights; the base of the petals bronzy gold, spotted and streaked with 
purple; and the style arms pure old gold, with a pale purple ray up the 
center. It is a flower that is striking at a distance, and that well re¬ 
wards close inspection. 
I had thought to end with a little list of the best varieties out of the 
above-named for the novice to buy, in starting a small collection. 
But it is all so much a matter of taste, of favorite colors, even of pocket- 
book. He can hardly go far wrong in any of these. One strong 
point for the Iris is that its planting season is now just as well as in 
spring. 
IF YOUR LAWN NEEDS SEEDING 
M ANY grasses reach maturity in the early fall and re-seed themselves where they stand, indicating that the fall is their natural seed 
time. This seems to hold good for lawn grasses as well and fine lawns are frequently established by fall seeding. Also the soil 
can usually be put in better shape in the late summer or early fall than is possible in the spring. The fall rains aid in giving the grass a 
start, so that by spring the lawn is already established. 
The seed analyst at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station warns against the purchase of cheap mixtures which are not 
subject to the provisions of law, as many of these have been found to contain weed seeds and chaffy, inferior grass seed. Two parts of 
high grade Kentucky Blue-grass to one part Red-topis recommended. One pound of White Clover may be advantageously added to 
each 10 pounds of grass seed. The mixture should be seeded at the rate of 1 ounce per square yard for a new lawn and 5 ounce per 
square yard of old lawn. 
