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Ep.57: Celebrating 100 Years of Bearded Iris: The Legacy of Schreiner’s Iris Gardens
970 Plays21 hours ago
This week on The Backyard Bouquet, we’re celebrating a century of spectacular blooms with Schreiner’s Iris Gardens, one of the most iconic names in American flower farming. For over 100 years, the Schreiner family has been growing and breeding world-class bearded iris—a legacy that began in Minnesota and eventually found its forever home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
In this conversation, Ben Schreiner and Liz Schmidt offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a multi-generational iris farm, from hybridizing breathtaking new varieties to caring for over 150 acres of flowers. Whether you’re dreaming of adding irises to your garden or curious how these resilient blooms perform as cut flowers, you’ll walk away inspired to see bearded iris in a whole new light.
We talk about:
- How bearded iris earned their place in the world of cut flowers
- What makes these perennials so tough, low-maintenance, and stunning
- Tips for planting, dividing, and growing irises in Zones 3–9
- The decade-long process behind breeding a brand-new iris
- Why Schreiner’s believes beauty and legacy can bloom side by side
This is a celebration of history, horticulture, and the flowers that keep on blooming—season after season, generation after generation.
Learn more about Schreiner's Gardens: https://www.schreinersgardens.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Backyard Bouquet Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet Podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens. I'm your host, Jennifer Galizia of The Flowering Farmhouse.
Focus on Flower Farmers & Gardens
00:00:12
Speaker
I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon.
00:00:17
Speaker
Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers. From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer,
00:00:32
Speaker
The Backyard Bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice. All right, flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
Special Guests: Ben & Liz from Shriners Gardens
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome back to the Backyard Bouquet Podcast. Today's episode is extra special. I'm joined today by Ben and Liz from Shriners Gardens, America's largest iris farm and a true cornerstone of the horticulture world.
00:01:11
Speaker
Shriners Gardens has been family owned and operated since 1925. twenty five And in that time, they've not only become renowned for their breathtaking blooms and award-winning hybrids, but also for their deep-rooted values of family, quality, and community.
00:01:29
Speaker
Now in their fourth generation of stewardship, Shriners Gardens cultivates over 150 acres of irises in Oregon's stunning Willamette Valley, including a 10-acre display garden that draws thousands of visitors,
00:01:45
Speaker
Each spring during their once a year bloom season.
Exploring Shriners Gardens' Heritage
00:01:49
Speaker
So whether you're already an Iris enthusiast or just beginning to discover their magic, this conversation is going to transport you into a century long legacy of color, care, and creativity.
00:02:02
Speaker
We're going to talk about what goes into breeding world-class irises, how the business has evolved across generations, and what's in store as they celebrate their 100th anniversary this year.
00:02:15
Speaker
So let's step into the garden and welcome both Ben and Liz. Hi, welcome to the podcast. Hi, Jennifer. and they haven Thanks so much for joining us. I know it's a busy time of year year for both of you.
00:02:29
Speaker
And I'm so excited that you are both joining us today. ah Shriners Gardens has been a place that I have visited throughout my life, and it is gorgeous. And I can't wait to share your story with our listeners today.
00:02:43
Speaker
You have such a rich and inspiring history. And as someone who loves learning the stories behind the flowers that we all grow, I'd love to start with the beginning.
00:02:54
Speaker
Can you take us back to 1925? How did Shriners Gardens first come to be? Well, that's that was um all are Ben's great-grandfather, my grandfather, who I've never met.
00:03:10
Speaker
um He was raising ah poultry um chickens, and he was raising iris just a little bit on the side, and he kind of got bitten by the bug, um started hybridizing them, and published his first list in 1925.
00:03:31
Speaker
And he had so many varieties. That's one of the reasons why he published his list. He thought to start selling them. Wow. And it was back in St. Paul, Minnesota.
00:03:43
Speaker
so So the business did not start in Oregon. No, no. It started 1925 in St. Paul, Minnesota. And they um that was one of the reasons he he grew the IRIS back there. And back there, the weather is a lot different than here. It was then a lot of freeze-thaw issues. So that is one of the reasons why...
00:04:07
Speaker
he kind of talked to his son, his oldest son, Robert, and said, it'd be ah yeah this would be a great business to get into, but but because of the weather issues here, it would it'd be good to possibly find another location. So they tested like three different valleys, one in Tennessee, one in Texas, actually.
00:04:29
Speaker
wow. And the Lamette Valley, they sent Iris here, and the Lamette Valley was the one that... um the the best growing conditions, the longest, you know, season. And so they moved here in 46, I think. Right, Ben? 46. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker
That's amazing. So this family operation started in the Midwest. Is that? Mm-hmm. And Paul. And St. Paul. And then...
00:05:00
Speaker
Irises were sent to three locations to see where they would grow best. And the Willamette Valley was obviously the preferred location that they liked to be growing in. So did the entire family move across the country just for the irises?
Current Operations at Shriners Gardens
00:05:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, they they did at the time. um So our grandfather, he he passed away in 1931, so he never moved to Oregon. and Okay.
00:05:27
Speaker
His son Robert, was actually going to school. and He was going to the university in St. Paul. And he... um he ah had to drop out of school. He had to drop out of college and because he had to help um his mom and and his brother and his sister because it was Connie and my dad, Gus.
00:05:53
Speaker
And so then in 1946, yes, they all moved. um ah They got on a train and and moved. We actually have Adirondack benches. They actually moved those.
00:06:06
Speaker
And my dad was actually in the Army. World War II was happening. So he was in the Army. He came a little bit later. But yeah, they they moved. The office that we're sitting in right now was their home.
00:06:21
Speaker
So they had three families living in it. Wow. Yeah. Did you grow up in that as your home? Quite a bit. Yeah. ah I'm sorry, what?
00:06:33
Speaker
Did you grow up in what's now the office as your home? No, no. um Ben's dad and um was one of the first that grew up um in the new home. They built a new home probably, what, 500 feet maybe or 1,000 feet away from here.
00:06:50
Speaker
Okay. So i know um there's eight siblings my on my dad's side, so... Yeah, no, the first four siblings. There was probably seven kids, though, in this home, in the office home.
00:07:04
Speaker
Wow, that's amazing. And so are all seven siblings involved in the farm? no, no, no. out of um Out of a lot of the grandchildren, only, ah well, myself, my brother Ray, and my brother Steve, and then Steve and Ray retired, and and my cousin Dave and my cousin-in-law Tom.
00:07:26
Speaker
um They were all in the business and my cousin Ellen and they've all since retired. And so now it's been um fourth generation and myself, third generation.
00:07:39
Speaker
So it's, it helps to have a lot of kids. So that's, a that's amazing. So how many family members are currently involved in the business? Do you happen to know? Just, just Ben and myself.
00:07:51
Speaker
Just the two of you now. Okay. Okay. What do you think has allowed Shriners to not just endure, but thrive for four generations? I mean, that's amazing. then i will let you do you think um well i think i mean like luck is a part of it um but also like um we've we focused on like perfecting uh you know one thing basically um you know we've we've focused i mean we do have other things we do but we focus real exclusively on on bearded iris and that becomes a focus um and that's kind of um
00:08:31
Speaker
the main thing that we do. And I think it's like, once you get really good at, at one thing, it allows you kind of stand out. And I think that's been one of the keys to our success. I love that because I think as flower farmers, we often try do a lot all the time, but you found success because you have focused on one thing and you've allowed yourselves to get really good at that one crop.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah. I can, you know, like, because we've been growing Iris and mainly just Iris for a hundred years, um you you get a lot of expertise built up um over that time that's passed down. And so that's that's really key for us.
00:09:12
Speaker
I love that. That's amazing that four generations you're in and you've managed to just stick to one crop i've had the opportunity to visit your gardens before you have gardens that are open to the public i know in there you grow more than just bearded iris is that more for the show or are you also selling and cultivating other varieties now or i mean not varieties but um plant species and We, we, we, uh, we grow a little, we grow day lois, um, and they're in the garden, but they're not gonna be blooming when the irises are blooming.
00:09:51
Speaker
Um, we sell and grow a little allium. Um, but mainly everything in the garden is, um, is for the irises to kind of better showcase the irises rather than just having irises alone. It's kind of the whole point is to kind of show people what they will look like in a garden setting and give people ideas about how to use irises in the garden.
00:10:13
Speaker
Um, and that was mainly, um, my dad's doing, he's a huge gardener. He loves plants, loves gardening. And so he just kind of took what was just kind of like an iris display and just kept on adding more perennials and trees and shrubs year after year. And I think what was that probably started with like the early mid nineties. Yeah.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah. About right after that, the last convention, he really took this main garden right outside our window here and, And he just bought trees and plants and and things to complement and companion plants for the garden.
00:10:54
Speaker
So he's he's a definitely a garden addict.
00:11:00
Speaker
I have had the pleasure of seeing this garden that we're speaking about. But for those that are listening that haven't seen it, can you help paint a picture? What would someone find when they come to visit Shriners? Mm-hmm.
00:11:13
Speaker
Well, they'd see, um and you you walk through the display and you see iris with lupin and there's peonies, roses, flowers.
00:11:28
Speaker
ah poppies, allium. um And then there's all kinds of shrubs too we have that are that are blooming on the sidelines and trees. We have um dogwood trees blooming, lilacs.
00:11:44
Speaker
It's not just an iris garden. It is ah beautiful display garden that that that really Ben's dad put together to show people you can you can create a garden like this in your home.
00:12:02
Speaker
And he gave them the palette. He showed them how to do it. So the way he planted things. So it's, you know, it's very inspirational that way because people can see that and go, well, I can do this. I think I'll, I'll try and do little, I'll try and do a little more a mix because in the old days, it seemed like people used plant everything in rows and You know, you'd have, when you'd go see a garden, it was rows of iris or rows of, you know, rows of roses, rows of dahlias, rows of, but he really incorporated this garden setting.
00:12:40
Speaker
It's a beautiful setting. I want to make sure people can see this picture in their minds that you have these grass pathways between many of the rows and you have walking trails that guide people through the property and you have benches that people can sit and are they still allowed to bring in like a lunch or a little picnic and eat and just enjoy the gardens?
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
And then because we've been here so long, the trees are, you know, that we've got very large trees on the property, which also grace it so well. And that's 10 acres that people can walk through and see these gardens, these inspiration gardens. Is that right?
00:13:20
Speaker
And then Ben added, go ahead, Ben, and tell him you've added the field now. Yeah, but we have i mean like we have the garden. and there's There's two gardens. um There's the the main garden that's right off the office.
00:13:35
Speaker
um And then there's a path that connects it to the smaller um display garden, which was the original display garden. um And then we also have fields planted. So people that want to see Iris in in the field setting, they can go out and walk through the fields. um We added...
00:13:53
Speaker
couple years ago, a small pollinator meadow um so people can go out um and and enjoy that. That's planted this year with clover. Um, so yeah, it's, it's kind of nice because, um, well, in addition, we have a inside, we have a cut flower display. So everything that's blooming in the field that particular day is cut and put on display.
00:14:15
Speaker
So it allows people to see iris in different settings. You can see the same iris in a field with a bunch of other iris. You can see it in the garden with companion plants and then you can see it cut alone,
00:14:26
Speaker
in a vase inside. So it's really a good way to to to see the irises. I love that. So you grow on 150 acres, is that correct?
00:14:40
Speaker
Of bearded irises, yeah. Of bearded irises. Are you growing those, are those ones that you are breeding or you are growing so that you can sell the, are they called, the rhizomes, the rhizomes?
00:14:52
Speaker
You sell those online and on site, is that correct? Correct. we we On-site in May, we have um irises and pots that people can take home.
00:15:03
Speaker
So we don't have bare root, and just just the potted ones. But um online we sell, and people can also place orders here. But um all the all those orders are going to be bare root.
00:15:15
Speaker
They're dug in July um through September and shipped out July through September as well. Okay. And are those ones that you as a family have bred or that are just named varieties? How does that work?
00:15:33
Speaker
It's a mix. I mean, like we hybridize, uh, new varieties ourselves and we do generally around 16 tall bearded introductions each year. Wow. Um, but we also bring in, um, other hybridizers, irises, um,
00:15:49
Speaker
And then we'll build up stock using for hybridizing ourselves and then we'll sell them as well. So um it's a mix. I mean, probably the majority of them are going to be our irises, um but it's not 100%. Okay. So you have a mixture of them.
00:16:07
Speaker
I'm curious.
The Art of Iris Breeding
00:16:09
Speaker
yeah What inspired your, Liz, your grandfather and Ben, your great grandfather to first start growing Iris? Was there something that drew him to bearded Iris of all flowers? Hmm.
00:16:23
Speaker
and I'm not real sure on that. I mean, i think he he was, like I said, he was hi cross-pollinating, if that's the correct term, chickens, poultry breeding was something he was doing.
00:16:38
Speaker
And he had some iris in his garden. And he actually met and a man who, on the train, um and ah John Wister, who who they used to ride the train a lot back in those days. Not everyone had cars.
00:16:55
Speaker
And he talked to them about iris. And i think they traded some. And then he started growing different varieties and he started cross-pollinating them. I'm not sure why it was iris, but he got bit by the bug. I mean,
00:17:11
Speaker
so And they are so, they're such a different, unique flower compared to so many things. They really are. They're very different than most cut flowers. And I think a lot of people are still getting used to the idea of growing bearded iris from more than just a landscape plant and adding them to cut flower arrangements.
00:17:33
Speaker
Can you tell us, in your opinion, both of you, I'd love to hear from you, what makes irises so special to grow and breed?
00:17:44
Speaker
Um, I mean, I think irises are, are so special because of all the different color combinations, i mean, if you have basically all the colors, um, there's not a true red, but there's very close.
00:17:55
Speaker
Um, maybe there's not a true blue, but there's very close. Um, mean, there's, there's some that are pretty much black, um, if you, if you're on a cloudy day, um, so like the, the variations in color that you can get with irises, um,
00:18:10
Speaker
I think is one of the things that makes them special. The other thing too is, um, and maybe some people view this as maybe like a knock against Iris's, but I think it's one of the things that makes them special is that they're not in bloom for a long period of time.
00:18:23
Speaker
You know, it's like they're going to be in bloom for a few weeks in May. Um, and so it kind of makes that time more special. Um, and so I think that's, um, to me, those are the two things that stand out that make, um, Iris is so great.
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What about you, Liz? and Also, I think that, well, if you if you look at the iris flower, um ah ah it has a lot of, there's that luminous quality to it.
00:18:53
Speaker
Some of them actually, if you look at some of the petals, some of the flowers, they actually seem to sparkle. and They are, there's, and like Ben said, there's just so many different colors.
00:19:06
Speaker
And that's one thing the hybridizers are doing now. They're the the The color range is is through the roof. I mean, it used to be what? It used to be yellow, purple, blue, white.
00:19:19
Speaker
Now there's just so many variations. the Orange is one um has become one of my favorite colors in the iris world. um and you know We'd love to get a true pink and ah a real true um red, like Ben said. that's you know Everyone's striving trying to strive for that like a geranium red. but But to I think it is such a special time because it's a unique, a short time and just kind of take a pause and really go out and enjoy your your garden.
00:19:52
Speaker
you know they go out and Go out in the morning, go out in the evening and take a look around. It's it's yeah it's so fun to see what's blooming. I love that they, what you both said about the short season, it really makes them fleeting and you really have to stop and appreciate them in the moment because they don't last long.
00:20:13
Speaker
And they also don't last very long in storage. I've found I can't store them for a super long time in the cooler. Is that true or am I storing mine wrong?
00:20:23
Speaker
um Yeah, and they're not the longest cut flower. I mean, we do sell a lot of cut flowers to wholesale customers that use them in storage. When we store them in cooler, we try to store them at like 33, 34 degrees.
00:20:39
Speaker
um And then generally once once they start to open, get usually like ah about a week of vase life on them. Okay. And how long can you store them in the cooler?
00:20:53
Speaker
um Yeah, and I would say probably about the same period of time. mean, I think a week would probably be pushing it. It also depends on how close the buds are when you cut them. um You know, like if you're cutting them just as the first tiny glimpse of color is emerging, you're going to a little bit longer.
00:21:13
Speaker
if you if you're cutting them when the bud is almost full color, then it's going to little less... okay So it's not like a peony or a tulip where you can harvest it and dry store it for a while and then let it bloom. It's really fleeting. Correct. yeah Yeah. So even your shipping window, because you ship your bearded iris across the country, you have a very short shipping window then as well. Is that correct?
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah. the cut The cut season ah is very short. and It's also like highly weather dependent. I mean... It was, I think it was two years ago, we had a very cool and wet spring and we were cutting tall bearded iris for cut orders for about six weeks.
00:22:00
Speaker
Okay. And then some years that's gone down as short as three weeks. um So like if you if you get really hot when things are blooming and things go quickly, then the season just kind of can be cut in half.
00:22:13
Speaker
And is your garden center, the inspiration area, is that only open while the bearded iris are in bloom? Yeah. um Yeah, just just when the irises are blooming.
00:22:25
Speaker
So I think um we open this week a week early because it's been a little bit warmer, but um generally it's Mother's Day weekend to Memorial Day weekend. Okay. So you have a very short season that the public gets to see it, but I imagine that you're actual production and operations go year round at the farm. Is that correct?
00:22:48
Speaker
yeah Definitely. Yeah.
Year-Round Operations & Challenges
00:22:50
Speaker
There's no stopping. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I, the irises too, I think we have dwarf irises. um And so those, you know, we'll start blooming about a month before the tall ones.
00:23:03
Speaker
Oh, okay. And so those will bloom well before any, of any visitors are in our garden. um But yeah, then it, you know After bloom, it's on to digging and and shipping orders, and then we've got to go from that into planting.
00:23:18
Speaker
um Every field every year is dug, divided, and replanted. So 150 acres have to has to come in, be processed, either shipped out or sent sent out to the fields to replant. um and So that's a pretty big process.
00:23:33
Speaker
Wow. Every single one of them gets dug up every year. Yeah. yeah Wow. How many rhizomes does each one produce per year? um You know, that'll kind of vary, but generally we we want to see it increased just by three. So plant one rhizome, at least get three um new ones.
00:23:54
Speaker
And when you divide it, can you reuse the, like in Dahlia, as we call the that original one, the mother tuber, can you use like the mother rhizome again for another year of planting?
00:24:05
Speaker
We do to build up our stock, but those ones, usually you'll see, um you know, each rhizome blooms once and only once. But the mother one, you'll see like a bloom stock on it from the previous year.
00:24:18
Speaker
and if there's And you cut off the ones that have foliage. If there's no foliage left, usually you'll see a little kind of speck on the corners of new increases. um So you can plant those, ah but they won't bloom the following year. those Those ones will take at least two years to bloom.
00:24:34
Speaker
Okay. So it's quite a process to replicate one to have enough to ship out into the world. Yeah. I mean, like from the ah time we cross or hybridize to the time we have enough stock to sell, it's generally 10 years or more.
00:24:55
Speaker
Oh my goodness. That's why they're so much more expensive than Dahlias. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have always loved bearded iris because they remind me of my grandmother.
00:25:06
Speaker
And so, well, I don't have a ton. And unfortunately, I lost a lot when we moved. So I've got to rebuild my stock. So maybe next year, once we get our new farm set up, I'll come see you guys so I can yeah get more planted again in my garden. So I do love them. And I love the blushes and the kind of the sherbet or the like really soft peachy colored ones.
00:25:27
Speaker
But um some of them I couldn't believe how expensive they are, but that makes sense. I mean, people complain in the Dahlia world about paying $35 for a tuber, but I've seen bearded iris in the 60s and 70s range for one.
00:25:41
Speaker
But that makes sense. If it's a 10-year process, that's a long time to bring a flower to market. We don't want to sell them all out in the first year. I mean, we we you know that's we don't have that many.
00:25:53
Speaker
That's exactly why. They're in row or something or or just a small bed. Well, let's talk about the breeding a little bit. Do you both participate in the breeding, the hybridizing?
00:26:06
Speaker
No, that's that's Ben's role. Ben learned it from his dad and his dad learned it from my dad. But Ben, that's Ben. And he's creating some beauties.
00:26:18
Speaker
So Ben, you're a fourth generation hybridizer also, not just a grower. yeah yeah, I guess so, yeah. What inspired you to continue that legacy?
00:26:29
Speaker
Oh, geez. Yeah, I mean, like got I grew up working on the farm. um Started, like, when I was 12. And so I'd i'd always worked here and then, like, went to school. And I kept on working here in the summers. And then, um you know, I would, on the hybridizing stuff, I i didn't do a lot. But I was around my dad in May and you'd show me stuff. And, like, you know,
00:26:55
Speaker
So I was familiar with it. And then when I was, um, you know, late twenties or so, um, that's when I officially came into the business. And it was, um, you know, i got to have, think like 15 cousins on my dad's side and, I'm on the younger side of my cousins and, um, ah no one else, um, wanted to come in the business. And it was kind of a point where,
00:27:19
Speaker
um you know, it's either me or, or, you know, maybe there's got to be like an ownership change or something. um And I didn't want to see that happen. um We have, ah you know, a great history here. And we also have employees that have worked for us for,
00:27:37
Speaker
30 plus years and lived on the property. Um, and so it's not just, you know, our families, other families involved too. So, um, you know, it's got to a point where I wanted to just keep things going.
00:27:52
Speaker
That's amazing. Can you tell us a little bit about the breeding process? How does it work? I'm so curious. Yeah, um it's actually really easy to breathe. The limiting factors for people are going to be like patience because it takes two years after the first cross to see ah your first bloom and then time ah right all right ah and at space um because it's going to take a lot of crosses generally to get something that's worthy of introducing.
00:28:23
Speaker
Um, so, you know like things are just starting to, the tall bird is just starting to bloom now. So, you know, this is the time that you're, you're hybridized. And so you take, you know, the pollen from one variety and you put it on another variety that you want to cross with.
00:28:37
Speaker
Um, and if it takes the the seed pot, it'll start to form. And, um, you'll see that, you know, as soon as a couple of weeks after the cross is made, um, and then in late July or so that seed pod starts to brown and, and crack. And that's when we go out and harvest them.
00:28:55
Speaker
Um, and then we, we store them, um, and let the seeds dry all summer into fall. Um, and then late November, uh, we plant the seeds out.
00:29:08
Speaker
Um, And then they start to grow the following spring. There'll be no bloom on them. um we We put them in a cold frame for that first year. um and then, um you know, early summer, we'll go out and grow them out in a field.
00:29:22
Speaker
And then it'll be the this the next year. or So two years after cross, you'll see the first bloom. So like part of the process right now is like we're we're making crosses, but we're also going out and looking the seedling field to see the first blooms on crosses we made two years ago. Wow.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah. That's a long waiting process. Yeah. um So yeah then ah another part, too, is obviously the the record keeping. You want to make sure that you have good records because when you see varieties that you like or traits that you like from across, you want to be able to make sure that you know where they're coming from.
00:29:59
Speaker
Absolutely. So when you cross them, are you hand crossing them or are you letting the bees help you or a combination? It's all hand crossing. um Strangely enough for the bearded irises, the beard, the kind of the bushy part on the falls, the petal falls, is so big and the pollen's right behind the beard.
00:30:21
Speaker
It's so big that they don't really get naturally pollinated. mean, like for in all our fields, like there's maybe a dozen or so naturally pollinated seed pods each year with the tall bearded.
00:30:33
Speaker
um On the dwarf irises, that's different. there's the The bees can get in there and pollinate those on their own. um But yeah, all of our hybridization is based on selections we've decided to cross.
00:30:49
Speaker
Amazing. So when it goes to seed, I'm just so fascinated because I i love breeding dahlias. And with dahlias, I let the bees help me so I don't hand cross because our season isn't long enough here.
00:31:02
Speaker
um usually I've run into trouble of like rain or different things, messing them up when i try and hand cross. But anyways, if I harvest a seed pod of a dahlia, I might get anywhere from five to 40 seeds out of one seed pod that I can grow out the next year. How many seeds you get from a cross on a bearded iris?
00:31:23
Speaker
its It's actually pretty similar. is it okay? Yeah. I mean, that range is about right for for irises as well. Okay, interesting. So how many crosses are you doing each year to then grow out the following year?
00:31:39
Speaker
ah ah ton. um um like it Again, that's highly dependent on the weather. If you have a wet May, you can't get out and cross as much. um But generally, i think we're hitting at least 1,000 crosses every year. Wow, so you're growing thousands and thousands.
00:32:02
Speaker
of seedlings yeah we have we have yeah so i could you know each seed and from that pod is going to be a different variety um so yeah if you if you count all those up yeah we have thousands of of different seedlings going oh my goodness do you have specific goals that you're breeding for Yeah, I mean, i we try to get a range of of colors that we can, because we, like I said, we introduce 16 tall-braided ones each year. We try to, you know, generally get at least one in different, in each color class.
00:32:38
Speaker
Um, so I mean, generally what we're looking for is like more buds per stem you want, you know, like ideally like 12 or more buds per stem. That's going to provide a longer bloom time for people. It's going to be a better cut flower for people.
00:32:52
Speaker
Um, and then, you know, like things like re-bloom, um, that's, um, oh, it was a sought after trait. um And then like, you know, just any kind of new variations and and patterns or colors are also going to be something that you're going to want to keep.
00:33:11
Speaker
Can you control the breeding so that like if you want to get a blush bearded iris, you can cross certain ones to get a blush or it's like with dahlias, they're octoploids. So the gene pool is so huge when you cross them.
00:33:26
Speaker
How does that work with bearded iris? Yeah, generally. I mean, likes it's not, um I mean, if you cross two blushes, you're going to have ceilings that are mostly blush. But I mean, sometimes there's an outlier here or there.
00:33:39
Speaker
um you know like um But um it's not, you never know exactly what you're going to get because theyre there could be some recessive genes in there that but pop up.
00:33:52
Speaker
But generally, you have a pretty good idea. And then it's just a matter of um seeing what happens when it blooms. Okay. And are there any colors that you cannot get with a bearded iris?
00:34:06
Speaker
Um, yeah, i mean, like there's colors you can get really close, but like, like we said, technically like there's no red, there's no, um, and Well, blue, I guess it depends on who's looking. I mean, there's some varieties that I think are blue, but maybe aren't technically blue.
00:34:24
Speaker
um So probably blue, um you know, like green, there's nothing close to green. And then um black, again, like there's really close, but, you know, technically not black.
00:34:36
Speaker
um But that's ah the thing ah that's really unique about irises is like, yeah, there is no red, but there's stuff that's very, very close. um And so like ranging colors and irises is is incredible.
00:34:49
Speaker
Some of the muted colors that have like those antique shades are so amazing and how they can have like on the bearded part, the different colors from the petals. I don't know if I'm using the right descriptive words, but just the color combinations that are possible are so intriguing to me.
00:35:06
Speaker
it's funny about the muted colors because i would say like, maybe it was like six, seven years ago, those are not popular. Um, and we had more stock of a lot of stuff and and we kind of culled some of those back because,
00:35:22
Speaker
they weren't selling and then all of a sudden that changed dramatically and now the muted colors are the most popular colors yeah um especially for like garden and maybe more garden enthusiasts or iris enthusiasts um and like the bright bold colors that have you know They're still popular, but they're not maybe as highly sought after as the muted ones. So it's just funny how the trends and preferences kind of change.
00:35:50
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm really excited. We have a new farm and there was all of this trash that we cleared out and we cleared it out underneath it. all of these bearded iris are coming up.
00:36:02
Speaker
And I believe it was a garden from like the 1980s and 90s. And I'm so anxious and curious to see what these bearded iris are going to be. And I have a
Discovering & Growing Irises
00:36:11
Speaker
feeling they're probably going the brighter colors because of when they were. But, um,
00:36:15
Speaker
Hopefully I can maybe send you a few pictures and you can help me identify what varieties they might be. Or maybe someone was breeding them back in the day. We found ah all of these old world heirloom daffodils. But I'm so excited to have these bearded iris blooming. They just kind of feel like this little treasure that we found after doing some cleanup on the land.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah, that yeah yeah and that's other thing about bearded iris is that they're hard to kill. i mean, like, once they establish, they, like, I think it's pretty common, too, like, you know, like, people throw um the iris in compost pile. We have, you know like, a big compost pile, and, like, we were throwing the scraps in there all the time, and it blooms every May.
00:36:55
Speaker
um That's awesome. We always joke sometimes with like our dahlia tubers that we've got this dahlia graveyard. So you kind of have a bearded iris graveyard where they continue to bloom.
00:37:08
Speaker
So I jumped into the breeding, but let's go back to the growing. Who can grow bearded iris?
00:37:16
Speaker
Who can? Yes. Yeah. And anybody. They're pretty easy to grow. I was thinking so when you said that you can throw them in the compost and they'll grow and you said they were hard to kill.
00:37:27
Speaker
So are there any growing zones that can't grow bearded iris?
00:37:34
Speaker
Well, South Florida, um so some of the tropical areas, you So they don't do well in tropical areas. but They need a dormancy period, you know, a cold dormancy period of six to eight weeks. so Okay.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah. Southern Florida, part way south Texas, sometimes they don't bloom for them. They'll grow lush green leaves. But but other than that, they do they grow anywhere.
00:38:02
Speaker
Awesome. So when you say they need the dormancy period, does it have to get below freezing or it just needs to get cold enough for them to go dormant? They need six to eight weeks of cold period. I believe that that's oh that's freezing.
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. And what kind of conditions do they need to be planted in? So if someone's listening today and is intrigued about bearded iris, what kind of garden do they need to be able to plant bearded iris?
00:38:33
Speaker
I'll let the grower handle that one.
00:38:36
Speaker
I think the the key things is, you know, at least half a day of sun. The more sun you have, the better. And then while draining, um you know, like a raised bed, ideally. Ivers just don't want to be wet through the winter or spring.
00:38:53
Speaker
um they They want to dry out. um and then And then sun. And then once you get them established, the next thing you you just need to kind of be aware of is that you know, they will multiply fairly quickly and eventually they'll spend they all energy multiplying and that you'll see a kind of decrease in bloom.
00:39:10
Speaker
And usually you can see that as like, you know, the it spreads outward. You kind of get this circle where you have the foliage on the outside of the circle and in the center you have the rhizomes with no foliage um because they've kind of bloomed themselves outward.
00:39:26
Speaker
Once you kind of see that, that's a sign that time to dig them up and divide them and replant them.
00:39:33
Speaker
And it's pretty easy to dig them and divide them. Yeah. I mean, like irises too. Some people view bearded irises as bulbs and so that they will try to bury them real deep, but they don't like to be buried deep. You can plant them pretty much right the top of the soil.
00:39:50
Speaker
like that The top of the rhizome can be just under the soil soil where it could be exposed. But um because of that, you don't have to dig down deep to get them out. um They're just right on top.
00:40:02
Speaker
ah That's nice. i When we lost our previous growing space, I created these raised beds in our garden where I'd have bearded iris. And I thought I dug most of them up. And I put 12-inch raised garden beds.
00:40:14
Speaker
And by the end of the summer, I had bearded iris growing through all of my raised beds. And I couldn't believe it because I've always planted them on the surface. So they are incredibly resilient. Yeah. Yeah, we we see that in our fields too. like you You rotate the field and so it's been disked or plowed and planted with something else and you'll see iris you know growing up through weed or grass um because it just takes a little but chunk. And a lot times um you know that happens in people's gardens when they dig them up and they didn't realize a little chunk fell off when they're shaking the dirt off and and the next year, two years later, they'll have a bloom there.
00:40:52
Speaker
That's awesome. So they're easy to share with others. For sure. Are they susceptible to any diseases or is there any certain care and maintenance that they need?
00:41:04
Speaker
I mean, like you have, um, you know, like leaf spot, um, in the spring, it's a fungal disease that's present on the foliage, like little brown spores.
00:41:17
Speaker
Um, that's, you know, we, we get that some, especially in our garden, cause there's not much circulation in the garden and we have pretty wet springs. Um, and you can, um, you can spray forage as, like, a general fungicide if you want, um, or you can trim off the, the foliage that's affected, you know, you want to trim off the top and leave as much foliage at the bottom as you can, um,
00:41:43
Speaker
They at least spot them. I mean, like you can get like soft rot too. Again, that's just like a ah drainage issue. If you have like a wet, if you're living somewhere with a wet summer, I think you have to worry more about rot than we do here because we have pretty dry summers.
00:41:59
Speaker
um So again, it'd just be making sure that you have a well-drained location for them in the garden. and Got it. Okay. So if they get those leaf spots,
00:42:11
Speaker
You don't have to pull those plants. That won't necessarily come back the following year. No, no. it's i Like I said, you can trim off the the foliage if you like. like I mean, it's a little unsightly, but um it's it's just based on the conditions. Like some years we have bad leaf spot um because of you know it's a particularly wet spring. Others we don't.
00:42:36
Speaker
And like i said, in our fields, we really don't get leaf spot because the circulate the air circulating freely. it's really a problem in our garden because, um like Liz was saying, it's surrounded by these large trees that have been here for 60, 70 years. um And so it just doesn't get the air flowing through there.
00:42:56
Speaker
um so it kind of depends on where like what your garden at home looks like. But if you're in a wet climate and you're in a densely packed garden, you probably will have issues with this one.
00:43:07
Speaker
Okay. Thank you for that. That's helpful. It's neat that it's a flower. It seems like so many flowers have so many different pests or not pests, but viruses and diseases that we have to watch out for. And it seems like bearded iris don't really have that many that you have to be concerned about.
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're they're pretty pretty easy in that regard for sure. Let's talk about harvesting them as a cut flower. Do you have any tips for people that want to grow them as a cut flower and use them in arrangements?
00:43:42
Speaker
what do you What do you think, Liz? Well, ah I think if you want to if you want to cut them, um I would say you know cut them in the morning. um in in i think a bud bud form is nice or partial bud.
00:43:59
Speaker
And you know or they need a good, solid, good, heavy-duty vase or a vase with with flowur with um rocks in the bottom, of course.
00:44:09
Speaker
but um i i would say I think a lot of people are afraid to cut them because they're in the garden. And sometimes I don't like to cut things out of the garden because I want the color in the garden.
00:44:22
Speaker
But if you want to grow extra and use them for cut bouquets, they last a good week and they're beautiful inside in this garden. they have such a beautiful scent. um They permeate the, the, your house, of course, with the beautiful fragrance. um There's ones that there's Iris that smell like grapes.
00:44:46
Speaker
There's Iris, there's an Iris that smells like root beer. So, yeah, so I think um harvesting for cut flowers, I mean, if if people want to do that, probably grow them, you know, a little bit outside of a garden, more more like we were saying, a row setting. But um yeah, therere I mean, we ship them, as Ben said before, we ship them overnight. And we're doing that right now. We're we're cutting stems and shipping them overnight to people for their bouquets.
00:45:15
Speaker
And the neat thing with bearded iris is that they have multiple flowers that bloom. So I found that if I snap off the first flowers, it starts to fade. There's going to be another one and then another one.
00:45:27
Speaker
i've I've found that if I don't snap those off, because i have some people, I'm always nervous to use them like in a CSA bouquet or something because people will say, oh, they start to smell terrible but because they let the one go to mush and not know to snap it off. But is that what's recommended is as one starts to die, you snap it off.
00:45:43
Speaker
Yeah, as one starts to fade, you'd you'd pick it off and then the new one comes along. It's it's much like you know if you have a bowl of oranges you know or a little those little clementines in a bowl, if one gets moldy, you're going to throw that one out and refresh the others. So yeah, just just clean them up and so they'll bloom for another, they'll bloom like a week to 10 days if they keep doing that.
00:46:09
Speaker
And when you say a week to 10 days, it's not a single flower that's going to bloom for 10 days. It's the whole stalk that's going to bloom. Like if you got 7 to 12 stems, you know, like you say, like we are hybridizing for for more buds per stalk.
00:46:26
Speaker
So there's a lot more on there. Thank you. That's helpful.
Favorite Iris Varieties & Naming
00:46:31
Speaker
Do you need to put any floral preservative or anything in the water with them, or can you just put them in straight water?
00:46:37
Speaker
um You can. We never do here. um Sometimes at home, what I've done is, you know, maybe I've recut the stem, but I've never really needed to do that, and I've found I've had great results. So...
00:46:54
Speaker
Perfect. Since we're talking about them as cup flowers, do you have any favorite varieties I'd love to know from both of you that you like to cut and bring into the house?
00:47:05
Speaker
Well, go ahead, Ben. Um, I mean, my wife loves the variety Oui Madame. It's a light lavender. So, um,
00:47:16
Speaker
I, and I, every year we bring that one in just cause she likes it. Um, I'm strangely enough, I'm kind of, I don't like cutting them either. Like I like seeing them in, in the garden. It's different for us because we have fields and yeah we can cut from the fields, but I'm definitely someone who enjoys them in the garden more than the field, uh, more than the vase. But, um, but yeah, we, madame, I guess would be one that we, we make sure we get cut every year and brought in.
00:47:44
Speaker
Does it have a scent? Yeah, it has a ah you know ah floral scent. um So yeah, it's nice. most Most irises do have a scent.
00:47:55
Speaker
um And like when you come here and visit, it's pretty strong, especially when you're walking through the the flower show where had all these varieties cut. It's very distinctive, pleasant scent.
00:48:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's wonderful. i love can't i so I love sometimes getting a whole bouquet like ah of just blue or a whole bouquet of just, like you said, the pastel shades, the blush, that the tawny colors, and you mix them all together. And ah it's just beautiful in a bouquet and bring them inside. and And then sometimes it's just fun to bring in a single stem.
00:48:37
Speaker
and put it in a vase and, you know, put it in your bathroom, put it in your, you know, your foyer or just, yeah, it's it's fun. And we're lucky because we can do that. i can I can put them in every room of the house if I want to.
00:48:53
Speaker
Yes. um That is my goal again, to have enough that I can do that. i have I think I have about 10 that I was able to save when we moved. yeah And I'm hoping that I can expand those out and add some more varieties back into the garden.
00:49:08
Speaker
What about ones to grow up in the garden? Do you have any favorites that you like to see bloom?
00:49:15
Speaker
um there's i' mean like There's a called Senior Jinx. It's dark purple slash black with a yellow beard. really like that.
00:49:27
Speaker
I liked that combination. And then also, ah we had a cat named Jinx that was black with yellow eyes. We named it after. um so I always like seeing that one in the field and garden.
00:49:40
Speaker
Um, you know, cause it's the combination of, you know, a name that's meaningful and then, uh, the bloom. Is that one you bred yourself? Yes. It was my, my dad introduced that one, but yeah, it was, it was one of ours.
00:49:54
Speaker
Okay. Awesome. Awesome. some it's ah That's really hard to say. you know It's kind of like someone says, what's your favorite? What one do you want to have in your garden? oh it's it's it's you know You go out and like right now, if I went out there today, i would say, oh, I want that one in my garden. like There's a one last year was on the cover.
00:50:15
Speaker
It was called Cruise Sips. It's sort of a... pinky rose with some markings it's gorgeous it opens up really um a deeper kind of a rose with some blush markings and then it kind of fades i love i love the ones that open really dark and then they kind of fade they're they're they're such a that's sort of a um ah I don't know if it's a new trend, but I love the way that that it's it's almost like you have two flowers.
00:50:47
Speaker
And I think that's so beautiful. Say that name again for me, will you please? Cruise Sips. We had a contest test last year, Cruise Sips, like like cruise, like take a cruise, and then s sips, like you're taking a sip of tea.
00:51:01
Speaker
But we had a contest last year. name We have a name contest every year, a naming contest. And someone submitted that, and although... It wasn't really chosen for that the one Iris. We liked it so much we gave them a prize because it just sort of fit in with our tropical theme. So yeah, it was a great name.
00:51:23
Speaker
We always love the naming contest because people come up with great names. So you do a naming contest. do you ever have an option where people can pay to have a variety named after them or a loved one?
00:51:37
Speaker
We, we've named them after people. um We haven't had them pay per se um We have like Ben can speak to the wholesale world. We've, we've kind of done something, of but for personal, we haven't really done that.
00:51:54
Speaker
No too much. I mean, some people have written us stories that have really been touching. um We named an Irish Jimmy G a while back for,
00:52:06
Speaker
a man who was very involved in the Shakespearean Festival down in Oregon, down in Southern Oregon and Ashland. And so, but they wrote us like four or five letters. It was, we were very impressed and we really wanted to do that for them. So we we don't always name name Iris after people. just sort of depends.
00:52:32
Speaker
I love that. That's great. Thank you for sharing that.
00:52:36
Speaker
We've talked about a lot today. We have 100-year anniversary celebration that's taking place at your farm right now. Can we touch a little bit on
Celebrating 100 Years of Shriners Gardens
00:52:45
Speaker
that? What is what does 100 years look like and mean to both of you?
00:52:51
Speaker
do you think? and It means a lot of work? No. Sure.
00:52:58
Speaker
Yeah. Um, yeah, it's kind of hard to, to kind of wrap your head around, I guess. Um, because, um, like Liz was saying, like neither of us met my great grandfather or her, um,
00:53:15
Speaker
grandfather so like we don't have like the direct connection but you know um but um yeah it's it's i mean it's and it's amazing um feat to have a business um last hundred years especially when it's a family business um but it's also like it kind of reminds you of like your your role your place where you know there's like for me, it was three generations before me that laid the ground for everything that I can do now.
00:53:49
Speaker
and, um, and you know, hopefully there'll be generations after me that can pick up. Um, and so you just kind of keep in mind that like, seems like every generation has improved and left the business in a better spot. And so that's, I think our goal is we want to keep that going. And so that whoever comes after us, um, has a better farm and and business, um, than we had.
00:54:14
Speaker
Yeah. it It just means two, i think, 100 years. it's It means we, as a company and as a farm, we are we care very much about our customers and are we our integrity, our helping our customers, and our tagline growing beauty.
00:54:35
Speaker
trying growing like our tagline is growing beauty for continuing to grow beauty for people so that in their life, no matter how chaotic lives can be, you can grow Iris and have a little piece of beauty, a little piece of heaven right there in your own garden.
00:54:55
Speaker
And i think that's something we've that the generations before us always wanted to do And that's something that we are carrying on. and And that's something that really drives us forward. We love providing beauty for other people and making and providing happiness too in this world that we live in.
00:55:20
Speaker
I love that. Thank you. Ben, as the fourth generation of this family business, what is the legacy you hope to leave with the business? Yeah, um I think it kind of goes back to what I said previously, but I guess, um you know, i want to...
00:55:39
Speaker
um improve the business, improve the farm, um, so that whoever takes over after me, um, has a stronger business, has a, has a better, more efficient, uh, farm that, you know, um, that it's easier for them to, to take it down whatever path they choose to take it down.
00:56:00
Speaker
Um, but I think especially like I said, when you, it's a multi-generational business, gives you perspective of like, there's people before you, um And so there's going to be people after you as well.
00:56:12
Speaker
um So you're just trying to make things better in your time here. um And that's kind of my focus. Thank you. So let's talk about the celebration of 100 years. How are you celebrating this milestone?
00:56:29
Speaker
Yeah. So May 2nd, it's opens until the end of May, May 31st, I believe. Um, anyway, um, so we have lots of things planned. They can go onto our website. We have, uh, some of the new things. We have a golden hour, which is, uh, three Thursdays in a row. We have, you can stay till sunset.
00:56:50
Speaker
Um, we have like a family day. We had and art fair at the end of the month. Um, so yeah like yeah like the golden hours that you know that's new for this year it's um what we're opening usually the garden closes at 7 p.m uh which is kind of a shame because um some of the best light of the day is after that um so yeah for three thursdays this may we were gonna open it up till just after sunset.
00:57:22
Speaker
We'll have live music those nights, food trucks, all that. So, you know, and all those days are, of course, weather dependent. If it's if it's raining, those particular nights, we'll move it to another night.
00:57:35
Speaker
none but um but yeah i mean like uh i think i think that's the main well then we have art the art fair um in may and memorial day weekend as well um so yeah lots of different things um all on the website to view perfect and can you share with us what is your web website and i'll include the link in the show notes today Um, www.shrinersgardens.com. So S C H R E I N e R S and then gardens is plural.com.
00:58:10
Speaker
And one thing, one thing I want to say too, is we, our garden is so beautiful. We, we don't have a lot of, uh, I want to say jumpy houses or we don't have a lot of different things like that. i mean, we have certain events that are more garden related, but we also really love the serenity of the garden.
00:58:34
Speaker
So people can come and walk through with their kids and they the kids can run through the paths that and, and visit and really see the garden in its beauty and not, it I mean, it's, it's not always about it's the events are fun and, and we love them. They're very they fun for us, but it's the garden is really the star of the show.
00:58:59
Speaker
It's a beautiful garden. i definitely recommend anyone listening that's able to get to the Willamette Valley this May to go and visit your gardens. And you also have an online catalog where people can order bearded iris to
Ordering & Visiting Shriners Gardens
00:59:12
Speaker
put in their gardens. Is that correct?
00:59:14
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And what time of year is best to order those? Now. Now is a good time. Yeah, we actually opened our website right in January. So yeah, people have been ordering. so things are some things are sold out already. So now is a good time to order.
00:59:33
Speaker
But they don't ship until starting in July. Is that correct? Right. So July through September. So the rhizomes get planted late summer, early fall to bloom the following year.
00:59:47
Speaker
Correct. Yeah. Perfect. We've talked about a lot today. Is there anything I haven't asked that either of you would like to share with our listeners today? i would just say if they have if they live close by and they haven't been here before,
01:00:04
Speaker
Definitely um make a visit because it's something most people who come here have never been here before will say, wow.
01:00:14
Speaker
Even some people who live close, they I never knew it was like this. and that's you know I'm so happy I got a chance to come by and and and see this beautiful garden. So it's a rare it's a rare thing. and We have people flying from all over the world.
01:00:32
Speaker
But if you live close by, you should stop in. just It's only one month. so The time is fleeting. Yeah. Ben, how about you? What do you... what do you i I echo what you said. I think that's it's great. Yeah, I mean, I would highly encourage people um to to visit. it's It's hard to kind of describe um the the garden.
01:00:57
Speaker
um It's kind of something you have to experience in person because it's it's also not just the sights, it's the smells of the flowers. And um so it's definitely something that I would encourage people to to visit if they can.
01:01:11
Speaker
Perfect. Well, we will include links in today's show notes so people can learn more about Shriners and how to get to you and how to visit and the times. Are tickets required in advance or can people just show up?
01:01:26
Speaker
Tickets are required. People can just show up and and but tickets are required to, there's an entry fee, but um you can purchase ahead of time online or you can purchase at the gate.
01:01:37
Speaker
Mm-hmm. but Perfect. Thank you. Well, it's been such a joy to chat with both of you. I've loved learning about your four-generation flower business. I love that you said that part of the success is because you have chosen to focus on one flower and get really good at growing it. And that's so evident. You have such beautiful flowers.
01:01:58
Speaker
bearded irises. And um this was such a such an honor to get to chat with both of you. So thank you for carving out this hour to chat with us on the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I know it's a busy month and I hope I'll be able to make it down to see you guys this next month.
Conclusion & Call to Action
01:02:14
Speaker
Yeah, we hope so too. Thanks so much, Jennifer. Yeah, thanks thanks for having us. I really appreciate it Absolutely. Thank you both. You have a great day. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. my
01:02:25
Speaker
Thank you, flower friends, for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. i hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today.
01:02:36
Speaker
Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us. If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers,
01:02:52
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends.
01:03:04
Speaker
Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard.