IRIS LETTER TO IRIS LOVERS 
As I write this I look out of my office window on 4 very beautiful ar- 
rey of lovely iris blooms and among them are five of our introductions, 
all lovely and beautiful due to a very favorable season, which so far has 
beenmild and delightful. 
My Crystal Palace makes a fine showing, stands 36 inches, is erystal 
white witha slight bluish tint and holds its tone for the full life of the 
bloom which is five days, and holds up well under rain, wind and sun, bet- 
ter than the average iris. 
My McMinnville which is listed for the first time this year is tall, 
50 inches, and graceful, and resembles its parent Sierra Blue, and seems 
more attractive than the parent plant, stalks are straight anditisa 
fine iris for a back row where it can stand stately and magnificent. 
My BePeO.E. stands 36 inches, isa Lovely deeprich purple with strong 
straight stems and a wonderful even growing foliage, alittle darker than 
El Mohr but not as dark as the real dark purples, is silky in its standards 
and velvety in its falls, and has a very fine fragrance, every one notices 
that, like the oldman from the old country of whom the story is told, when 
he was taken to a flower garden to see the beauty and fragrance of the 
flowers, he finally remarked ina very praising way ‘*Dotis fine, the 
whole place stinks.'' 
My So Big Texas stands 30 inches is astrong grower and is a lovely 
Lavender blue, very large and similar to my Southern Pacific which is a- 
round 36 inches, but some plants are at least four feet tall this season 
and both of these are making a wonderful display of color. 
My Spirit of Amity is avery light blue almost white and is crystal 
clear, the standards are like thin ice and falls are of firmsubstance and 
the blooms last well before folding up. 
These six are wy only introductions so far, and I have hundreds of fine 
seedlings with good color but few of them are outstanding enough to be 
considered as worthy of introduction. 
I have three however that seem to be very fine, one a tall large lav- 
ender of the Frieda Mohr type, one very much rike San Francisco, hut Lar- 
ger and more pronounced stitching, and one very dark similar -to Black 
Wings, this dark one came from Purissima polenized by Black Wings, can 
you imagine that? an almost black froma pure white, ancestors don't seem 
to count. when it comes to color, for there is no telling what will come 
frome chance crossing. The mention of ancestors reminds us of the story 
of the two Negro boys who were having a heated argument over Ancestors, 
one says ‘Course you got ancestors, everybody's gotum, I'se gotun, 
You's gotum', the other replied heatedly, ‘IT ain't gotum, if I 15 gotum 
I'se gotum from you.' 
The most outstanding iris in our garden according to our judgement is 
El Mohr, it seems to be the very top iris in irisdom. 
The picture of this magnificent flower on the back of this letter .is 
nota good likeness of the real bloom, but it gives one an idea of its form and size 
but the bloom is much more clear and has more red in it than the picture shows and 
is really much more beautiful. 
We have a very fine collection in our garden and you may be assured that your 
order will be filled with desirable kinds, all are good. 
With best wishes we remain, Very truly yours 
AMITY GARDENS 



