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It's a stellar season for irises, as you can see on this weekend's garden tour
rises have become a new ambassador of friendship for me.
Last July at Tomato Day, a friend of my brother's whom I had never met got a copy of my book, "Best Garden Plants for Kansas," and asked me to sign it. She then went off to buy rhizomes of irises from the Wichita Area Iris Club and came back with some of them for me.
We divided the varieties between us, promising to compare notes, and this week, the light blue flower of Eternal Waltz sent up a glorious flag in my front yard, sending a shout-out from my new friend.
Every time I look at it, a warm feeling of kinship comes over me, and I realize anew how plants can knit people together.
You never know if irises are going to bloom the spring after a fall planting -- sometimes they wait until the following year -- but this is a banner year for iris. Not only are my first-season irises blooming, the Wichita State campus has a new little corner of color, part of which was also planted last fall.
To honor the late Hugo Wall, for whom the School of Urban and Public Affairs is named, descendants of his enormous iris collection were brought home to roost between Jabara and Lindquist halls. The new Hugo Wall Iris Garden was dedicated earlier this spring, and the flowers are blooming.
Dr. Wall was a collector and breeder of iris who, in addition to being a professor of political science and administrator at WSU, once served as president of the American Iris Society. He used to welcome new faculty members to WSU with rhizomes from his garden. There's a funny story that colleagues would send the newcomers in to Dr. Wall asking for "flags," a term he disliked, and he'd have to launch into a little lecture on terminology before handing over the plants.
Dr. Wall's irises are growing all over Wichita, but Kathryn Griffith and Jus Fugate came forward to offer irises guaranteed to be his, and those are the ones blooming on campus.
Wall's son John was in town for the dedication of the garden, and he said that his father grew iris because they were hardy; they liked the climate here; they came in every color of the rainbow -- they were like the people of Kansas.
Another indication that this is a stellar iris year is the fact that Betty Lou Bowlin's irises are a good foot taller than usual this year.
Betty Lou is an iris and daylily grower extraordinaire -- with 500 to 600 varieties of each -- and you can see the irises blooming this weekend on the first garden tour of the season. The timing is good, coming pretty much at the peak of iris season.
Betty Lou has lived at 3000 W. 18th St. for 50 years. When she and her husband first moved in, she was able to walk over a spruce planted smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Now it towers toward the sky, a contrast to the mostly sunny yard required for this level of iris and daylily dedication.
"Look at that Forever Gold!" she exclaimed at the sight of a yellow iris. "Doesn't it shine!"
This wasn't my first visit here. Betty Lou's garden has been on tour a few times.
My eyes traveled the rows of old-fashioned flowers -- Betty Lou takes pride in her collections from now-deceased hybridizers -- landing on a bunch of tall white iris heavily blooming in a luxurious bouquet.
"That's Wedding Vows," Betty Lou said, and I went over to sink my nose into the whiteness, which on closer examination was tinged with blue.
The only thing I could say to the heavenly fragrance was "I do!"
The only bad thing about Wedding Vow (Betty has the charming characteristic of capturing the essence rather than the exactness of a plant's name) is it may not still be blooming this weekend. So much for a vow. But it'll be back next year.
Betty Lou likes old iris, and she has some varieties that date back to the turn of the previous century. She says the old ones have better blooms and are hardier than new hybrids.
You'll also see hydrangea and other flowers blooming in her yard, and you'll see tons of clumps of green. Those are the 500 to 600 daylilies that are not in bloom yet. Check back in July.
Elsewhere on the tour this weekend are the annual pilgrimage to Reflection Ridge, where Darryl and Susan Rhodes grow 33 varieties of Japanese maple trees at 2833 Wild Rose Court, and the annual pilgrimage to The Moorings, where Tim and Mary Seitz have a jewelbox Asian garden in their small front yard on 4768 Portwest Court. Their backyard is on the water.
I was intrigued by a grower of Japanese maples -- many of us have loved and lost them -- and asked Darryl Rhodes to expound.
"I just try to plant them in the right places," he said. The grade of his yard helps a lot -- it descends in the back, offering protection from the wind, and there are lots of big trees that give needed afternoon shade.
"All of them are elevated a little to keep the roots dry so they don't stand in mud or water or anything, which is hard on them.
"I just like them. They're neat little trees."
Indeed they are. Stand under the red one in his front yard when the sun is shining. Check out the feathery, filigreed, dappled leaves of others, revealing all kinds of colors and combinations including pink, yellow, white and all-green.
"Some were planted in the last two weeks and some have been there for probably 10 years," Darryl said.
His favorite variety is Acer japonicum Vitifolium, or Full Moon. Hanging clusters of red flowers appear against the green foliage in spring, and the leaves turn yellowish-orange in the fall.
Back at Betty Lou's, I marveled at more irises, each its own little world of complex coloration, often spectacular fragrance and vivid naming. She pointed out to me two varieties that side by side were the inverse of each other -- one had a yellow crown with white falls, the other a white crown with yellow falls.
One variety called Before the Storm was, appropriately enough, in bud, promising to break out in purple-black storm clouds this weekend. And then I had to go back and feast my eyes on the whiteness of Wedding Vow again.
Betty Lou kindly asked if I wanted a start of it, once the tour was over.
What could I say but "I do!"
If you go
GARDEN TOUR
What: Tour sponsored by the Wichita Area Garden Council
Where: 3000 W. 18th St. (go north of 13th Street on St. Paul, then left on 18th); 2833 Wild Rose Court (go north on Ridge Road to 29th Street; go left to Wild Rose and turn left; it is on the third cul-de-sac to the right); and 4768 Portwest Court (take Meridian north of I-235 to Keywest; go left to Portwest and follow it to Portwest Court).
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday
How much: $1 at each garden, or $8 for a season ticket covering 10 gardens (required for admission to a night garden gala and auction on June 29). Tickets available at each garden and at Botanica.
Now you know
SAVE THE DATE
Here is a list of garden-related tours scheduled for this summer:
• Derby Garden Tour, May 31
• Wichita Area Garden Council tours, this weekend, May 31 and June 1, June 28 and June 29 (including evening gala)
• Master Gardener Tours, June 7 and 8, June 21 and 22
• Andover Garden Tour,
June 14 (including Morning Glory Breakfast)
• College Hill tour, June 14
• Pond Tour, July 12 and 13
Reach Annie Calovich at 316-268-6596 or acalovich@wichitaeagle.com.
