October, i Q 2 j 
53 
GARDENS OF IRISES AND PEONIES 
From These Tu'o Great Flower Families the Thoughtful Flanter Can Create 
Garden Schemes that JFill Delight the Eye from Early May until "July 
ROBERT S. LEMMOX 
T F it were feasible to take a straw vote of 
garden enthusiasts the country over, one 
might safely wager that irises and peonies 
would score heavily in the nomination for 
best loved flower. Yes, even though the 
majority of those turning in ballots would 
know these nominees as plants with but a 
short blossoming season. 
There are so many planks in the Iris- 
Peony election platform that citation of any 
particular one as outstanding smacks of the 
ill-informed. Beauty of foliage and blos¬ 
som, ease of cultivation and rapid self¬ 
propagation, res.stance to disease, adapta¬ 
bility to combination with other plants, per¬ 
manent dependability—these are some that 
come to mind. When there is added to them 
the fact thatjby proper selection of varieties, 
a peony and iris garden in the Middle At¬ 
lantic States will furnish blossoms from early 
May until the first or second week in July, 
it really looks as though the Opposition had 
better concede defeat without calling for a 
re-count. 
Few indeed are the garden situations 
which need be without their representatives 
of these two splendid flower families. The 
mixed herbaceous border can have them, the 
formal garden with its geometric lines, the 
friendly little dooryard patch where are but 
a few square yards of carefully tilled earth. 
Whether by themselves, or intermixed with 
flowers of other races, the irises and peonies 
hold places in the garden scheme that are 
peculiarly their own. 
Yet of all the many ways in which they 
may be used, perhaps none is more satisfy¬ 
ing than a planting devoted exclusively to 
them, with but few additions of other flow¬ 
ers. What a visual treat is such a spot from 
early May until the closing days of June! 
Yes, and an odorant pleasure, too, for many 
of the peonies and now and then an iris de¬ 
light the senses with the very essence of 
sweet scents. Of a truth, these be assets 
Levick 
In May and June the peony and iris plantings are a 
delight. Perhaps they attain their greatest beauty when 
presenting mass effects, to which their striking foliage lends 
supplementary charm. Japanese iris, at the left, is otic of 
the finest and latest to hlootn. The peonies in the opposite 
corner are not of exceptional size — you, too, can grow them 
as large 
