What Constitutes a Good Iris? 
. For the benefit of those who are newly interesting 
themselves in iris, we would like to repeat, briefly, the 
qualities considered desirable in these flowers. 
Color, altho the most important and most instantly 
appreciated quality in a flower, is not by itself, the final 
measure of iris worth. 
Besides clarity or richness of color we want a bloom 
with good form, standards firm and held in closed position 
at the top, or nearly so, and in pleasing proportion to the 
falls, which may flare or droop, but which should not be 
narrow waisted. 
The bloom should be large enough to match the length 
of stem which, for tall-beared iris should be thirty inches 
or more. A small flower on a tall stem looks “leggy” and 
a huge flower on a short stem looks “dumpy.’ 
Stems should be branched low and wide so that flowers 
do not crowd, and they should be strong enough to resist 
drooping from the weight of the flowers or toppling 
because of wind or weather: The texture and substance of 
petals are important too. Whether silky, velvety, smoothly 
enameled, crisply starched or informally ruffled, the sub- 
stanee of the petals should be tough and durable enough 
to withstand sun and wind and remain fresh-looking for a 
reasonable length of time. Colors should not fade too 
easily in the sun, nor spot too readily from drops of mois- 
ture. 
Some irises are temperamental. To be generally 
acceptable an iris should perform well in different sections 
of the country and be winter-hardy. Unfortunately, some 
of the loveliest sorts originating in California are not 
hardy in Northern winters and many of the most beautiful 
varieties of the Middle West and East are complete failures 
in California. Quite frequently rhizomes from regions of 
wide seasonal differences will require an extra year to 
adjust themselves to the change before blooming. 
