[Illustration:  G. C. Hawkins, of Minneapolis.]

Mr. Hawkins:  We have several hundred plants on a southern slope, and I thought perhaps the sun beating against the southern slope is what started them earlier.

Mrs. Sawyer:  Ours weren’t on a southern slope, pretty near level, rather north than anything else, and they got frozen.

A Member:  What causes the rot in the iris?

Mr. Hawkins:  That depends upon the kind of iris.  With the bulbous rooted iris, the bulb is filled full of water during the heavy rains, and if you add more water to it it simply decays.  The Siberian and many of the fibrous rooted iris will stand a great deal of water.

A Member:  Does the German?

Mr. Hawkins:  The German is a bulbous root.  As I said, it takes all the moisture it needs.  That is one reason why iris never wilts down in a dry spell.  It always looks fresh and green.

A Member:  I would like to say it is well not to plant the iris deep.  The natural iris will lie almost on top of the ground, and they like to have the sun beat down on them.  The iris likes to bask in the sun.

Mr. Hawkins:  This would prove to you that the bulb takes enough water to support it and doesn’t need any more because it rests on the top and basks in the sun.  Has any one tried anything new in the garden that will stand our climate?

Mrs. Norton:  I would suggest that hardy alum-root, or heuchera.  It is a perfectly hardy perennial, can stand our worst winters without any covering, and it grows about so high from the ground (indicating two or three feet), with its geranium-like leaves, and the flower grows about three feet high, all covered with pink bells on the stems.  It is a very decorative plant and perfectly hardy.  I think it has been much neglected in the Northwest because it is so perfectly hardy and it increases very rapidly.  I have over one hundred.

Mr. Hawkins:  I would like Mrs. Gibbs to say a word.

Mrs. Gibbs:  The only thing I can say is that I enjoy being around among other people’s gardens.  I think that is one of the best places to find out things that we want; so many times we buy something that sounds well, but when we have it planted it doesn’t look as well.  I think one of the best ways is to visit gardens and especially those that use labels.

A Member:  I would like to ask about the trollius.

Mr. Hawkins:  Has any one had experience in raising trollius?

Mrs. Gould:  I have had experience in not raising them.  I planted three years, and after getting the seeds from all the seedsmen I discovered in a book on plants that the seed would have to be in the ground two years in order to germinate.  I didn’t know that and left them in only a few months.  I think the only way is to buy the plants.  It is a very beautiful plant, yellow and shaped like golden glow, belongs to the same family as the buttercup.