1896, Iris Xiphioides

Gardeners' Chronicle p. 790, June 27, 1896

Iris xiphioides (English Iris).— A box of new varieties of this showy and easily-grown, hardy flower, sent by Messrs. E. H. Krelage & Son of Haarlem, Holland, represents it in quite a new light, the excellence of the flowers being beyond that of the old kinds. Indeed so large arc they, and so rich in colour are the darker ones with their spreading oval falls, that they forcibly remind us of the beautiful Iris laevigata (Kaempferi), and seem to suggest a way out of the difficulty which some experience in growing that handsome species, viz., to abandon it and take to these new forms of I. xiphioides, which require little attention and never fail, provided they get a good supply of water until their flowers are over. Some twenty distinct kinds represent all the shades known in the species, and all are good. A selection of the best is Leon Tolstoi, a noble dark Tyrian purple, with yellow feather on the falls; Argentea, with pure white, falls, bearing a few purple spots and rose-feathered standards ; Tricolor, two shades of blue, with yellow ring on the falls ; Mont Blanc, pure white ; Almano, white tinged with lilac; Miss Wild, true blue ; and Volunteer, rosy-lilac.

For more information on historic Irises visit the Historic Iris Preservation Society at

-- BobPries - 2014-11-06