32 
House & Garden 
The most popu¬ 
lar beardless 
irises are the 
Japanese varie¬ 
ties, whose large, 
wonderfully col¬ 
ored flowers 
open in late June 
and early Jidy. 
They should be 
planted in rich, 
moist soil 
Mattie Edwards Ilewitt 
GOOD IRISES THAT ARE LITTLE KNOWN 
One Does not Have to Be a Specialist to Possess a Garden with All the Charm of the 
Old Sorts and the Distinction of the New 
JOHN C. WIS'I ER, President American Iris Society 
N INE years after the defeat of the Span¬ 
ish Armada, and shortly before the 
death of Queen Elizabeth, John Ge- 
rarde, an old botanist, wrote in his “Herbal”: 
“There be many kinds of Iris, or flower-de- 
Luce, whereof some are tall and great and some 
little, small and lowe. Some exceeding sweet 
in the roote, some have not anie at all; some 
flowers are without any smell and some with; 
some have one color, some have many colors 
mixed: vertues attributed to some, other not 
remembered; some have tuberous or knobbie 
rootes, others bulbus or onion rootes; some have 
leaves like flags, others like grass or rushes.” 
If this ancient worthy were living today he 
could truthfully say “there be many too many 
kinds of Iris,” for many new species have been 
discovered since that time and man has pro¬ 
duced nearly three thousand hybrid varieties. 
This has led to confusion which the Ameri¬ 
can Iris Society is attempting to clear up. 
A great variety of iris is not necessary for the creation of an effective 
planting. 4s with most flowers, good-sized groups of each sort make 
the best arrangement, especially where irregular paths intersect the beds 
