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It is doubtful if the true mesopotamica
can be grown with success in this country. M. Denis in the South
of France gave me some plants and predicted I would not succeed
with them. He was correct; I can no more grow them than I can
the white Iris of Kashmir. In 1907, and again in 1922, I received
some roots of this variety; they flowered in the following year,
and towards the autumn they grew apace, so much so, that when
the winter set in and other Irises discarded many of their leaves,
my clumps exhibited no signs of withering. Fearing they would
be caught by wind and frost I had them enclosed within a screen
and protected overhead. The following year, 1923, they did not
bloom, and although at the moment the plants have an abundance
of leaves, some of which are broad and large, their colour is
not healthy; too yellow and inclined to be blotchy and irregular
in tone.
.....Pumila
Irises I have grovn for a number of years, having either collected
the original plants myself when in my younger days business or
climbing mountains took me into the near East, or else they have
been sent to me from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Turkey, or
Armenia. It was my good fortune to have Dr. Post of Beyrout, the
author of "Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai" in
my party on the Mysian Mt. Olympus. We camped at different altitudes
and collected some 140 varieties of plants above an altitude of
5-6,000 feet. Dr. Post was an indefatigable worker, for, although
by no means a young man, he never would rest or eat his meal on
returning to camp for the day until he had sorted and pressed
all the plants he had collected.
.....Pumila
Irises of the natural species are not as easy to grow as the Germanica
They sulk and sometimes for no apparent reason refuse to bloom.
Like the Oncocyclus they need special study; one has to learn
the conditions under which they grow in their own habitat and
cultivate accordingly.
.....In
Greece and the Levant the rains are usually torrential in September-
October and continue with more or less rain, snow ni-id sunshine
throughout the winter. In April-May fine weather sets in and lasts
throughout the summer. From July to September the rhizomes get
a thorough baking and it is under these conditions that we also
must treat this species in order to insure successful culture.
.....I
have had many failures which would bring to despair many gardeners,
but these dwarf Irises appeal to me as friends, I have lived with
them in the hills and notwithstanding disappointments, I have
had some delights; I cannot and will not abandon them. I have
one much treasured clump of a variety of balkana from the battle
front in Macedonia, the hills overlooking Lake Doiran, sent home
eight years ago. The colony now composed of some ten plants is
growing in a somewhat raised position within the rim of a barrel
cut in half, its bottom knocked out and inserted in the ground.
It of course has good draining and is made up of loam and mortar
rubbish. I ripen the rhizomes very much as one does the Oncocyclus
variety by covering the plants with a frame, though of course
in a less severe degree. In October -November I give fresh soil
and growth starts again.
.....As
Mr. Dykes points out, mellita, balkana, rubro-marginata, Reichenbachii
and other of the pumila varieties are closely allied one to the
other, and accordingly the treatment for one applies to all.
.....In
conclusion a word of caution: do not encourage your Irises to
out-grow their strength. I have in my mind a noble and curiously
coloured variety introduced by M. Denis with much Ricardi strain
in its constitutiori named Mme. Durand. Three years ago this plant
bloomed and seeded so generously that towards the end of the summer
it lost all its leaves and looked hopelessly dead. When I took
up the rhizomes I found them without roots; accordingly I replanted
them in a specially prepared new bed and now after two years they
have recovered their normal vitality and promise again to bear
offspring. Irises after all are only like all other plants and
must not be expected to do too much.
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