Retail price list of California bulbs / Carl Purdy

              PERENNIALS   AND   CALIFORNIA  BULBS
23
GERMAN IRISES
GERMAN IRISES, popularly known as Flag Lilies and Fleur-de-Lis, are hardy
plants whose value in the garden cannot be overestimated. Easily grown, free-flowering,
drought-resisting, and many of them fine for cut-flowers, they fit into many portions of
the garden most admirably. If they receive little or no care, they still respond with
fine flowers, while, if they are treated as such noble plants should be treated, they are
simply indescribably beautiful. They have been greatly improved and wonderfully
varied of late years and I can offer everything from little plants a few inches high to
giants 4 to 5 feet high, in all shades of color.
Culture. Plant in sun or light shade from August to March; the best time is fall.
The soil may be light or heavy, sandy or rocky, if fairly well enriched, but the best
results will be had on a good loam with old manure dressing as a winter or summer
mulch. Lift and divide in early fall every three or four years. Use only the most vigorous sections, pulling the mat of
rhizomes to pieces to get them.
Plant 15 to 20 inches apart.
Garden Arrangement. The worst
possible way to use them is as a
permanent edging to a mixed
border, for after flowering they
lack interest and leave an ugly
place. Strong clumps, say of six
or more, from 3 to 6 feet from the
walk, are good and give fine flowering masses in season. If they are
reset every second year, gladioli
can be alternated and do well.
The best of all plans is to choose
some bed a little out of the garden
center and use Irises alone. Such
a border can be planted with successive groups of different heights
and flowering seasons and will
be a thing of beauty for a long
period and can then be dried off
until fall.
Do not use Japanese Irises with
German Irises, as the cultural conditions are different, but the
Spanish, English, Oriental, and
Sibirica varieties will blend admirably in such an Iris garden.
The midwinter-flowering Iris
stylosa will blend well in this
scheme, as it too takes a summer
rest, and all of our California Irises
can be used. If some of the rarer
late, winter-flowering Irises were
used, a bed would flower from
November till July.
German Irises are divided into
a number of classes. The Amcena
and May-flowering sections are
on pages 25 to 26, and the remaining sections are treated on pages 26
to 29.
Quality of Stock. My stock of
these is superfine and cannot be excelled. Of course they are divided
to so-called single crowns, but in
many cases there are two or three
strong  crowns  of  most  vigorous
quality connected. They are always /„ the flower the upright petals are termed the
taken fresh from the ground and       "standards," while the bottom drooping petals are
shipped in moist sphagnum moss.       known as "falls."