September, 1921 
33 
It is not the purpose of this article, however, 
to describe many varieties or to dictate to indi¬ 
viduals what they shall plant in their gardens. 
It is not my desire to enter into technical de¬ 
tails, but rather to point out a few good and 
available kinds in the different groups from 
which each gardener may choose for himself 
according to the space he has to fill and his in¬ 
dividual preferences in the matters of color, 
form and size. These will be grouped under 
three general headings, each covering important 
species and varieties of the type in question. 
The first is the beardless iris. 
Beardless Iris 
The beardless irises are 
found wild in Europe, Asia and 
America and are easily distin¬ 
guished by their grassy foliage. 
Most of them require rich, 
moist soil for best results. 
Though many of them are ex¬ 
ceedingly well adapted to gar¬ 
den culture, they are more 
often met with in botanical col¬ 
lections than in nurseries or the 
small gardens of amateurs. 
The most popular beardless 
irises are the Japanese varie¬ 
ties, which display their large 
and gorgeously colored flowers 
in the latter part of June and 
early July. For centuries the 
industrious Japanese have cul¬ 
tivated these in their rice fields, 
irrigating them just before the 
flowering season. In exporting 
them the Japanese have badly 
mixed the varieties and names 
so that at present it is best to 
buy by color instead of name. 
The plarts should be set in 
August 01 early September. 
The Siberian irises also are 
well known and are exceed¬ 
ingly hardy. Emperor, a rich 
purple, Perry’s Blue and Snow 
Queen are probably the three 
finest varieties and surpass 
practically all the older sorts. 
It seems curious that the 
Spuria group is not equally 
known. There could be no 
more charming addition to a 
garden, particularly if the 
owner is fortunate enough to 
possess a small stream or pond 
where great masses of the purple, yellow and 
white varieties of spuria might be grown. They 
are valuable also for cutting, the flow¬ 
ers resembling in form the Spanish iris 
which, since the advent of Quarantine 37, 
has almost disappeared from our gardens. The 
lavender-purple type of spuria may easily be 
grown from seed, but for other colors plants 
should be secured of such varieties as the yel¬ 
low Aurea, the white Ochroleuca and Shelford 
Giant, or the blue-purple Monspur. 
Gardens rarely contain our common swamp 
Iris versicolor, or its first cousin, the golden 
yellow pseudacorus, the Fleur-de-Lys of 
Trance. No one who sees this at its best can 
be surprised that in the 12th Century Louis 
VII of France adopted it as the emblem of his 
beloved country, thereby making it famous 
throughout the world. 
One of the most distinct of irises, on account 
of its wonderful mahogany brown color, is 
fulva. When transplanted from its home in 
our southern States, it grows well in our gar¬ 
dens, but is unfortunately often a shy bloomer, 
and should be given a moist, rich soil and 
semi-shady position. It is one of the parents 
of the hybrids fulvala, fulvala violacea, and 
Dorothea K. Williamson, which are still al¬ 
most unknown, and which though they lack the 
brown, are rich in color and better bloomers. 
The rarest species of all is the true Icevigata 
(not to be confused with Kaempferi), a small 
flower of very rich blue. 
Crested Iris 
Iris cristata, gracilipes and tectorum are the 
best representatives of the crested iris group, 
the first growing wild in our southern States, 
while the other two come from Japan. They 
are especially suitable for a sheltered nook in 
the rock garden or the wild garden; they will 
undoubtedly become very popular as soon as 
our gardeners realize that, while they may re¬ 
quire a little extra care at first, they are hardy 
except in our most northern States. Nothing 
more charming could be imagined than a bed 
of lavender cristata surrounded by some of our 
choicest ferns and wild flowers, on the edge of 
a wood. Gracilipes is still smaller and dain¬ 
tier, while tectorum, the roof iris of Japan, is 
somewhat larger and grows readily from seed. 
Bearded Iris 
The fame of the iris as a garden plant 
of remarkable effectiveness, 
however, rests chiefly upon the 
varieties of the bearded group. 
Though commonly termed Ger¬ 
man iris, the wild types do not 
come from Germany but from 
southern Europe and Asia 
Minor, and the varieties have 
been developed by French, 
German, English and Ameri¬ 
can breeders. 
In the latitude of New York 
the dwarf bearded varieties 
bloom in April, the intermedi¬ 
ates in May, while the tall 
bearded ones give us our chief 
garden pictures in late May or 
early June. 
All of them require full sun 
and the driest possible situa¬ 
tion. Too few gardens contain 
the dwarf bearded varieties, 
which come so early in the 
spring and make a fine mass 
of color. If we made a selec¬ 
tion, using Standard as a blue- 
purple, Socrates as a reddish 
purple, Coerulea as a light blue, 
Statellse as a yellowish white 
and John Foster as a bluish 
white, we would have practi¬ 
cally the entire range in this 
section. 
Following these come the in¬ 
termediates, among the best of 
which are Dolphin, Empress, 
Ingeborg, Prince Victor and 
Royal, giving a wide range of 
color, all of them of good form 
and free bloom. Only a few 
days later comes the old purple 
flag; good companions for it on 
account of the contrast are Flo- 
rentina and the rather rare 
though by no means new Ger- 
manica alba, both beautiful whites following 
each other in close succession, and the rich 
purple Kochii. 
Blooming at about the time of the interme¬ 
diates are the hybrids between Oncocyclus iris 
and the bearded iris, which are still almost 
unknown. Many of them are more curious 
than beautiful, and none of them is suited for 
garden effect, but only for odd corners to dis¬ 
play their very deep, rich coloring and curious 
markings. Of the set of a dozen or more, Dil- 
kush, Parvar, Shirin and Zwanenburg are per¬ 
haps the best. They form an excellent nucleus 
for more extensive collections. 
(Continued on page 86) 
Irises are splendid border plants, particularly in combination with other 
flowers. A wisely made selection will give bloom from April to July 
