Difference: InfoEwbanksOnOncoCultivation (r2 vs. r1)

Taken fromp. 13 13-27, The Book Of Iris, 1904

CHAPTER III

ON THE CULTIVATION OF ONCOCYCLUS IRISES


I. THERE are some things which you have only to stick in the ground and the rest follows with the utmost regularity bud blossom fruit are mere matters of course the end may be taken for granted from the beginning ; but this cannot be said with any truthfulness at all about the subject of these remarks there are all sorts and kinds of ways by which the cultivator may go wrong, and only if the idiosyncrasies of the flowers are consulted will they ever prosper at all ; and yet it does seem to me after handling them for a long time that it is not a case of a "forlorn hope," as some have judged it to be.
wrong, and only if the idiosyncrasies of the flowers are consulted will they ever prosper at all ; and yet it does seem to me after handling them for a long time that it is not a case of a "forlorn hope," as some have judged it to be.

I have known gardeners who have pitched these plants away in exasperation almost in disgust and who have declared that they will never spend any more time or trouble over such ungrateful beings. The truth is that Oncocyclus Irises must be considered to be very exacting creatures indeed they will have what they will have there is seldom any such thing as compromise on their part ; but if you comply with their demands they reward you handsomely for not only as I think is their beauty quite a thing by itself and about this there will be more said hereafter but if they live at all they grow and grow and grow and you soon have very fine plants to use a very familiar expression, it is all with them neck or nothing ; they either fail and then soon after quite pass away or they go on with a good deal of regularity and surprise you with an apparition for which you were unprepared. It is this latter circumstance which makes it so much worth while to do a great deal in their behalf. The reward for success is not measured out on their part in any half-hearted or stinted degree, but is satisfying and large. I confess when I first made the acquaintance of Oncocyclus Irises a very long time ago I thought that by comparison with them I never had seen anything beautiful at all certainly not in the way of flowers ; and though an egret's wing or the hollow of a shell would stand for a good deal, yet the freshness of the Iris blossom, the quaintness of its shape, the contrasts it presents, the very refined markings which are so peculiarly its own, for the most part its subdued and delicate colours are sufficient to make it distance everything else that I have ever known, and in a figurative way I could almost fall down and worship it. I remember a good many years ago when I was out for a ramble on the Continent with my wife in the month of May that we arrived one evening rather late at the Mecca of gardeners I mean of course Baden-Baden and I only had time to pay my respects to the Magician who lives there and to ask leave of him that we might visit the "Jardin Botanique" on the following day; this was at once readily given, and I soon after retired to rest with a fine prospect before me. I have known gardeners who have pitched these plants away in exasperation almost in disgust and who have declared that they will never spend any more time or trouble over such ungrateful beings. The truth is that Oncocyclus Irises must be considered to be very exacting creatures indeed they will have what they will have there is seldom any such thing as compromise on their part ; but if you comply with their demands they reward you handsomely for not only as I think is their beauty quite a thing by itself and about this there will be more said hereafter but if they live at all they grow and grow and grow and you soon have very fine plants to use a very familiar expression, it is all with them neck or nothing ; they either fail and then soon after quite pass away or they go on with a good deal of regularity ....unpkt and surprise you with an apparition for which you were

unprepared. It is this latter circumstance which makes

it so much worth while to do a great deal in their

behalf. The reward for success is not measured out on

their part in any half-hearted or stinted degree, but is

satisfying and large. I confess when I first made the

acquaintance of Oncocyclus Irises a very long time ago I

thought that by comparison with them I never had seen

anything beautiful at all certainly not in the way of

flowers ; and though an egret's wing or the hollow of a

shell would stand for a good deal, yet the freshness of

the Iris blossom, the quaintness of its shape, the con-

trasts it presents, the very refined markings which are

so peculiarly its own, for the most part its subdued and

delicate colours are sufficient to make it distance every-

thing else that I have ever known, and in a figurative

way I could almost fall down and worship it. I

remember a good many years ago when I was out for

a ramble on the Continent with my wife in the month of

May that we arrived one evening rather late at the Mecca

of gardeners I mean of course Baden-Baden and I

only had time to pay my respects to the Magician who

lives there and to ask leave of him that we might visit

the "Jardin Botanique" on the following day; this

was at once readily given, and I soon after retired to rest

with a fine prospect before me. Very early on a trans-

parently clear and most delightful May morning I got

up and passed through the well-known little gate into

the enclosure which contains more exceptional and

highly interesting floral treasures than any other garden

in Europe. I knew not what there was to be seen, but

from former experience I was sure I should find a great

deal ; and so it was, only former experience was com-

pletely distanced at once. For the first time in my life

I came across a very fine specimen of Iris Lorteti at the

Very early on a transparently clear and most delightful May morning I got up and passed through the well-known little gate into the enclosure which contains more exceptional and highly interesting floral treasures than any other garden in Europe. I knew not what there was to be seen, but from former experience I was sure I should find a great deal ; and so it was, only former experience was completely distanced at once. For the first time in my life I came across a very fine specimen of Iris Lorteti at the zenith of its beauty with its pale grey-lilac falls its dark brown spot about the throat, its orbicular standards which are of a pale grey colour most delicately veined with red-brown, and I thought I had never before seen anything to come up to this, it distanced everything else whatever it may have been : at last the rb /caX&v had been found.

I left the garden at once there was room for nothing else in my mind at the same time and I fetched my wife from the hotel in hot haste, and before she had been able to breakfast, lest any accident or unlooked-for occurrence should deprive her of a sight which she might never see again. From that time to this, Iris Lorteti has reigned supreme in my affections though it has been closely run by two or three near relatives of its own upon occasion Iris iberica and some others have gone far to equal it.

But now came the real difficulty of the affair for I had often tried to grow these Irises before, and I have had many and many a disappointment to deplore ; these Oncocyclus Irises made such a very deep impression on my mind, that I almost registered a vow that I would never leave them alone while the smallest chance remained to me of doing them well. It should be said here that I possess and work in a garden which has been appropriately called a veritable sun-trap, and I therefore judged that I had as good a chance of prospering with these beautiful flowers as anybody could have in the British Isles. I put therefore first and foremost as a desideratum in the way of cultivation which must be taken into account, a bright sunny exposure.

I would advise no one to waste time or money on Oncocyclus Irises who lives in a low-lying or wettish locality I think they would damp off very soon, and any notion on their part of posing as aquatics is very far distant. But, given the ordinary amount of sunshine which is to be met with in the Southern and Midland counties of England, and I should say that the prospect is favourable if only other things be right. I would recommend any one who lives in such parts of the world as Westmorland or Cumberland to take up with Cypripedium spectabile or Myosotidium nobile (if it be hardy enough), rather than to think of growing Iris Lorteti or Iris iberica among his treasures.

II. Another point to be insisted on is that these Irises must be grown in frames or, at any rate, they must have a shelter of some sort not during the winter, but rather the summer months. The reason is this : soon after they have blossomed and much too soon for their own good they will grow again in this country if no protection is offered they come, for the most part, from very hot regions of the earth, and when they die down they are baked hard by the burning rays of the sun, and for long weeks and months together all chance of growth is denied to them. But this is the very thing which is best and most suitable to their case ; perfect rest is enforced, and for a long period of time they remain quite quiet, and have no thought of movement at all. And let us contrast this with what would happen here in any ordinary year. Some passing thunderstorm and rain, which is so frequent in July, may flood the whole country round, and though soon afterwards the land may be dried up again, the Irises will have begun to grow, and great harm has been done to them. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to put some covering over their heads soon after they have blossomed, so as to enforce rest upon them at all events, it is necessary to do this unless an alternative plan be adopted, which I do not like at all. I refer to what is called the taking-up system, which may be followed if there is nothing better to offer, but for which I do not care myself. According to this treatment, when the Irises have blossomed and the foliage has died down, the rhizomes are dug up out of the ground, and are put on the greenhouse shelf till the time for planting them has come round in the autumn. It is not to be denied that they will succeed after a fashion with this mode of culture but the contention, on the other hand, is that they never can do themselves justice when they are treated in this way, and the reason for it is quite obvious ; they take a long time to anchor themselves in the ground, ancf beyond everything else, they hate to be disturbed or tampered with in any way. It was an oracular saying of Herr Max Leichtlin, which he uttered a long time ago, but which should be as much respected now as when it fell from his lips, " Oncocycli do not like to be disturbed " ; and if that does happen, they lose for a time fulness the magnificence which they would otherwise have. I am sure that any one who has seen the blossoms of these Irises which have come from plants that have been long seated in one place, and others which have been taken from such as have been regularly moved, would say at once, if I grow these things at all I never will be contented with a makeshift and half-hearted sort of process, I will either find out how to do the thing properly, or I will leave it all alone, and I will turn my hand to something else. The following are Sir Michael Foster's words, who knows more about this matter than any one else, and who is treating it from another point of view : " If these Irises are taken up and are replanted somewhat early, the stimulus of the warm autumnal soil goads them into active growth, so that they try to make up for the time lost while they were on the greenhouse shelf, and soon the cold of winter bruises and spoils them ; or if they be planted late, the hand of winter is upon them before they have had time to anchor themselves by new roots, and frost thrusts them out of the ground ; and even if this be prevented by careful covering and the like, they are not so ready as plants which have remained in the ground to avail themselves of the forces of spring when these at last come." And all this is indisputably true, and should govern any measures that may be taken on their behalf. The Irises have a much better chance of braving successfully the rigours and the disagreeableness of an English winter, if they are well established in the ground long before it begins, than ever could be the case if they have only a very slight foothold in it and a precarious tenure. But then all this necessitates their being grown in frames, and, at all events, they must have some shelter over their heads in summer. It is not to be supposed that they will ever do quite well in the open all the year round, as so many of their congeners do their nature, their habits, their way of growing are peculiarly their own and in our artificial way of treating them we must find some method of enforcing on them rest for a sufficient length of time.

III. Another point of primary significance, if they be grown in frames, is that the drainage should be good, and ample ventilation be afforded at all times. Anything like a stuffy or confined mode of treatment is sure to be fatal to them. I do my best to keep them quite dry for a sufficient length of time after flowering, but I never by any chance shut them up closely or deprive them of a full current of air the sides of my frames are always left open and there are ventilators placed at the back of them ; the plants are protected from any torrents of rain, and besides this and a covering overhead, nothing is done to them.

But drainage is very carefully considered, and if there were any flaw on this head it would invalidate everything. These Oncocyclus Irises can never bear to be water-logged they simply perish offhand if they have any standing water about them. On this account when my frames were constructed, some rather elaborate steps were taken to make sure that the water could run quickly away broken brickbats and large stones were put in for a foundation to some little depth, and

on the top of them sods of grass were placed bottom

upwards so as to prevent the earth getting in and

blocking up the interstices below ; above this came

the properly prepared soil about which I shall speak

hereafter, and the drainage was so laid down that no

rain could settle among the roots but it should run

quickly away. It is not at all difficult to manage this

in reality, though a written description of it seems to

imply trouble at once.



I have never had any disappointment on this head, and

the plants have been very successfully kept from any

stagnant water about their roots ; it should be added

perhaps that the surface of my beds in the frames is

carefully raised a few inches above the surrounding

level, and this very greatly helps in throwing off the

rains. I again say that this point must be carefully

attended to, for nothing will go well if there is here

a muddle of any sort.



IV. Another practice which I follow and which

should not be overlooked is that of making the beds

very hard and firm where the Irises are to be placed.

I did not take this in at first when I began to attend to

their cultivation, and I am sure I lost by my negligence

in this respect, though I was quite unaware of it. I am

now very much alive to the advisability of very firm

planting, and my gardener and I think no trouble too

great so as to make sure of it. We remember that

Oncocyclus Irises never grant any pardon for an omission

of duty regarding them, and we try to leave them no

excuse for being sulky in our hands. When the com-

post for the Irises has been prepared it is thrown into

the frames and then it is beaten down with spades with

all the force at our command, and lest this should not

be enough the whole surface of the beds is covered

with thick boards, and I get men to stamp on them and