By Kevin Vaughn
I grew up in Massachusetts in the AIS of the 60’s and when
we went on tours the iris were not grown like a corn field but rather as a part
of a garden picture.
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| 'Cup Race' was one of the famous irises to come out of the Stedman Buttrick garden. Image courtesy of Schreiner's Iris Gardens. |
Some of these gardens were impressive beyond words. Leola Fraim’s, Miriam Corey’s and Stedman
Buttrick’s gardens were amazing collections of irises but housed with an
equally impressive array of other perennials. Almost every garden had three perennials that
bloomed essentially along with the irises. Peonies, in shades of rose and pink,
were used to complement the abundant blues of the irises, and were especially
effective against clumps of blue Siberian irises. The peonies were large enough that they could
almost be used as shrubs in these borders.
Oriental poppies were very much the rage in that era. The Fischer
Oriental poppies brought to the public a range of colors and forms that had not
been seen previously. Clean pinks,
whites, and raspberry shades were now in the palette of colors available to the
gardener in addition to the more vibrant (and less easy to use in landscaping)
oranges and reds. When the Countess von
Stein Zeppelin visited from Germany, she was so impressed that she negotiated
with Mr. Fischer for seeds and plants of hers so that she could develop her own
strain for European gardeners. In Massachusetts, lupines were almost weeds (in fact they
have naturalized in places in Maine) and the Russell strain offered clear colors
and much better density of the flowers on the heads than in previous
strains. One plant that was popular in
Massachusetts at that time was the gas plant (Dictamnus).
Mrs. Corey had actually crossed the dark rose and white strains and had
several unusual shades of white veined pink and clear pink. These are very solid plants. One of the fond
memories of my youth in Massachusetts was blooming a seedling from Mrs. Corey’s strain and
also lighting the gas with a match. Odd
that you don’t see them more used today.
Besides what we were observing at iris peak almost every one
of these gardens featured daffodils and other spring bulbs, daylilies and
towards the shadier portions, hosta. In
many cases, these “other companion plants” became interests of their owners too
and almost everyone dabbed a little pollen from one of these groups as well as
the iris. Consequently, the collections
of these plants were also state of the art.
A visit to these gardens even before or after iris peak was still a
treat.
All of these yards had another component that most of us
don’t think of as part of the garden: beautiful pristine lawns that bordered
every bed. Lawns are like the frame on
the picture. They offer a refreshing green that cools the effect of the garden
and sets off all the plantings. In the
Buttrick garden, these lawns flowed gently down to the banks of the scenic
Concord River.
Polly Bishop, who was my mentor, had a lovely perennial
garden, although not on the scale of the bigger gardens in Region 1. She had crossed pansies with Johnny jump-ups
to create a strain of hardy hybrids that self-sowed and blanketed the irises
and bloomed throughout the year. These
were shallow-rooted plants and provided a living mulch around the bearded
irises in the winter. In Polly’s garden, hardy succulents such a sedums and
hens-and-chickens, were used to highlight the beds as well as many other rock
garden type plants. These plants liked the same sharp-drained soil conditions
as the bearded irises and added interest in both foliage and in flower.
Admittedly, that it is MUCH easier to manage irises in rows
in terms of cultivation. You can’t run a
rototiller through a perennial border!
One only has to look at the magnificent display gardens at Schreiner’s here in Salem Oregon
to see how effective irises can be as part of a much bigger picture. I’m talking to myself somewhat here too. Although I don’t do corn rows, I do use raised
beds chiefly of bearded irises. The
spurias and Siberians are much more integrated into the borders and the Pacific
Coast Natives are incorporated into the shade borders. Now to work on those bearded beds Kevin!
