The planting of bulbs and iris constitutes the main work for September.
The bearded iris that had grown through the years were or should have been lifted and reset last month, and the new varieties are now on hand and need planting at once.
None of our garden plants are more satisfactory and permanent than the various iris.
Good gardens do not confine themselves to any one kind but use a variety to extend the season of bloom and enhance the beauty of the plantings.
The bearded iris varieties listed by good growers and published list give a wide assortment from which to select.
Choose carefully and put in as many as the budget allows.
Different Bearded Iris Varieties
Iris Ochroleuca
Iris Ochroleuca has tall stems and stately blooms of pure white with yellow markings, and the Golden Standard is just what its name implies.
These, as well as Iris sibirica in many tones, the Louisiana iris, and the gorgeous Iris kaempferi, require a moist situation and multiply like the loaves and fishes.
This is the secret of the spectacular iris gardens of the Orient, where the blooms are shown literally by thousands.
They should be lifted, divided, and transplanted at this time each year.
Iris Kaempferi
Iris Kaempferi can be grown in small gardens if the water supply is adequate and the soil is rich in humus.
Just be sure you can give them plenty of water when the buds begin to swell and see that the clumps are separated each year in the early fall.
White, lavender, pink, blue, violet, and mauve, in fact, every color except yellow – are found in these marvelous plants.
The miniature iris are not used as much as they should be. They are so dependable, so rich in color, take up so little room, and need so little care!
The native Iris cristata is a delicate light blue that grows only 3” inches and sprays its flowers all around.
Pumila in both spring and fall varieties is charming anywhere. But the best of the lot is Iris reticulata with clear blue petals strongly marked with deep blue lines that make the color an unusual deep rich sapphire.
History Of My Reticulata
Ten years ago, a friend brought it from her great-grandmother’s garden in Greenville, S. C., a dump of these roots for my garden spot. Here they have multiplied and grown beautifully with and without care.
Friends have given many clumps, and each one has been a source of delight and beauty. Be sure to plant some of these this year.
The Dutch and English iris are bulbs and should be planted HOW also. Set them deep and forget them until the foliage appears in the spring with the buds and flowers right on the heels of the leaves.
After the flowers fade the foliage dies down immediately and there is no aftermath of yellowing, faded leaves.
The English type is harder to grow in the South than the Dutch, which is permanent and always good.
Plant Daffodils Early
Don’t forget to plant daffodils early and give them a place in the sun.
Snowdrops, camassia, scillas, muscari, and brodiaea are all fine bulbs for massing and extending the season of bloom.
The Holland bulb growers are again able to ship their bulbs (since last season sent us some of the finest ones ever sent), which was a boon to us and to that war-torn country so bravely and proudly again carrying on.
Annuals to be planted over the bulb beds should follow at once. The California poppies in white, carmine, and rose, along with older orange and yellow, are good at any time.
Planting Companion Flowering Plants For A Colorful Display
Phlox Drummond in creamy white, soft yellow, rich scarlet, and clear salmon rose, with lavender and violet to round out the spectrum, will give you bloom from February to June and sometimes into July. Get your seeds in early.
Baby blue eyes (Nemophila insignis or Nemophila menziesii) and Virginian stocks are 3”-inch edging plants that bloom with the bulbs and make soft lines of beauty.
The baby snapdragons, Linaria Fairy Bouquet, grow a little taller, about 8” inches, and give a longer season of flowering with soft and rich tones.
Over these plantings, broadcast the annual baby’s breath (Gypsophila alba Grandiflora). The Covent Garden Market strain is best.
Saponaria vaccaria is a soft pink flower that is much like a baby’s breath in form but lasts longer. Larkspurs and cornflowers will give strong background accents.
Elder daisies and anthemis with the asters frikartii and Star of Wartburg must be transplanted this month.
Feed and spray your roses and pinch back your dahlias and chrysanthemums, and get ready to make your winter lawns.
Early chrysanthemums are showing, Shasta daisies linger on, blue salvias are abloom again and lilies are now radiant.
The early Camellia sasanqua comes into flower now and everywhere is the fragrance of the Russian olives, Elaeagnus pungens, and the loquat or medlar, Eriobotrya japonica.
Tea roses are blooming again, and again there is the rich fall glory of Franklinia alatamaha, that storied tree of history.
44659 by Julia Lester Dillon