Flag Irises.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 7, 16 August 1911, Page 40

Flag Irises.

The Hag. or German irises will succeed in the most diverse soils and situations, flowering well in deep, moist soils beneath deciduous trees, while they will ilourish and bloom with equal freedom on shallow, hard-baked railway embank-

ments. Tn fact, they will flower anywhere and everywhere. The beautiful flag irises are amongst the loveliest of our early summer flowers, but nowhere are their eharms displayed to such effect as in the untrammelled freedom of the wild garden. Here are no

stiff lines, no evidence of the foot rule or of the study of geometrical design, but the informal grouping of flower and foliage that creates a picture infinitely beautiful, since in its composition Nature has net been bound hand and foot, but has been permitted to exercise, within

due limits, her beneficent sway. The sword-shaped leaves of the irises curve boldly out. their tall flower heads, with heavy drooping falls, standing boldly against the crimson blossoms of the great leafy paeony. In the background beneath a tree stands a group of irises, a

breadth of white, whilst fine form is present in the cordate leaves of the funkia. and in the thin, rush-like leafage of the bulbous irises that are thrown into high relief by the distant greenery. Irises always appear to the best advantage when planted in fair-sized clumps and

groups of one variety, as they then show, when in flower, a broad colour effect. A wide selection of beautiful tints may be obtained from the flag irises, flower's that, while individually as lovely as those natives of the tropics that can only be looked upon in this country in

the steamy confines of the hothouse, possess the additional charm of being associated with other, and natural beauties —the fresh green of the grass, the fulltrees in the zenith of their loveliness, the shifting lights and shades of the ever-changing skies, and the sense

of atmosphere that softens the blue distances and limns with a tenderer hue the colours of the flowers of the open air. No more effective arrangement of flag irises can be adopted than that of planting large elumps of the different varieties in long borders on either side of a grass walk, for in this way charming vistas of tender colour gradations are formed which the eyes rest on with absolute content. Iris pallida and I. pallida dalmatica, with their faint tints of lavender, are seen to the best effect when a clump of I. flavescens. with its pale yellow blossoms, adjoins them. The dark purple of I. atropurpurea, is accentuated by the white of I. Princess of Wales, while I. florentina, I. Madame Chereau, I. Victoria, I. Queen of the May, and I. Celeste are all worthy of a place in such a border. Flag irises should not be planted in the autumn, as if this is done they make but littla root growth before the following spring, and do not become established by the winter, and their flowering the following season naturally suffers. The best time to transplant is immediately after they have finished flowering, and if put into good soil, without allowing their roots to become dry, they should succeed. It is important, however, that they should be well looked after in the matter of watering during hot weather, so that the roots may be kept in a moist condition, as, unless this is seen to, the rootlets will not take hold of the fresh soil, and, failing this, the plants will not be able to establish themselves until the autumn. The sooner the plants can be shifted after flowering the better will be the chance of a satisfactory flowering season in the following year. — Wyndham Fitzherbert. “Gardeners’ Magazine.