John, You give a real romantic impression of France, where women are still washing their cloths in a "lavoir publique". A pity that in January-February there are so few tourists about to see the "spectacle". Here in the Provence wewould organise this sort of event during the summer. Avec mes salutations. Lauw le 1/01/90 20:11, John Bryan à johnbryan@worldnet.att.net a écrit : > I have often noticed in > France, Iris with blue flowers, no doubt Iris germanica, being grown > close to where there are public washing places for clothes, most > commonly seen now in villages and small towns. On my recent visit, > January/early February, I found out when doing their washing, a portion > of the root was placed into the water as this made all linens brighter, > especially white items Lauw de Jager http://www.bulbargence.com/ South of France (zone 8 Olivier)