Part II - Kathyguest's Excellent Adventure

From: <Irisborer@aol.com>

PART II

>From Anna Mae Miller’s garden, we piled on the bus to Ensata Gardens - ground
zero for Japanese Irises in the United States.  Ensata, for those who don’t
know, almost exclusively sells JI’s and they have been instrumental (IMHO) in
getting them more recognized as a garden plant.

Anyway - if you EVER have the chance to go to this garden, don’t hesitate for
a nano-second.  It’s a serene and extraordinary place and you’ll see all the
Japanese Iris you’ve got a mind to.  

The setting is also extraordinary - they live in an 1800’s farmhouse - brick -
a full 3 stories.  The house itself is worth seeing - but more about that
later.  Surrounding the house are many other gardens to wander in and get
lost.  Behind the house are Japanese-style areas.... a raked Zen garden, a dry
stream, walls of conifers and one of wood with a roof and funky face on one
end.    I remember the areas from a convention a few years back - but the JI
beds are gone (with the exception of a couple) and it’s been left to a quiet,
meditative area.

In front of the house are some other neat areas..... one lily pond surrounded
by brick with a settee and Indian head sculpture.  There are at least two beds
of mature hostas.... one in a garden setting and one lined out.  Hostas are
everywhere these days and it’s easy to be called by THAT siren song.  They
tend to anchor the more outrageous plants and bring some peace to the garden.

ANYWAY... beyond the hostas are the growing fields.  Talk about Fantasyland.
There are row upon row upon row of named varieties and seedlings.  Bloom was
still peaking and the weather had cooperated for a perfect day (you should
understand that in my mind, 90 degrees and full sun is perfect.... not
everyone agrees).

Because there are SO many irises and because JI’s are my favorite, I took most
of my notes here.  Some named varieties that impressed me were  YAMETOMO, a
3-fall greyed purple with grape standards, RASPBERRY GEM, red/violet with a
blue halo and prominent signal, and ALEX SUMMERS/SEISHONAGUN (which are very
similar)... this was the heart-stopper for me.... a 3 fall pale powder blue
with pink standards.  A TDF iris and one that went home with Kathguest by
happy circumstance.  

I also liked IMPERIAL KIMONO, a blue with light white rays, SUITEN ISSHOKU, a
very dark blue (Japanese Iris do GREAT things with blue), WOODLAND BROOK ...
which I LOVED, a blue/violet 6-fall with dark style arms. and, of course,
ROSEWATER (blooming as well in the Guest garden), a Bauer/Coble intro - 6-fall
rosy violet with a blue halo and dark violet styles.  I got my copy at an
auction the year of introduction and paid way too much - but I’ve never
regretted a penny.  This iris brings tears to your eyes!

I personally love to look at seedlings because it’s like looking in a crystal
ball.  Some that I took notes on were one very dark purple... the buds were
black as night and the flower was not much lighter.  A stunner.  Another was a
short pale blue 6-fall.... as blue as it gets.  I saw one white pinstriped
number with very dark stylearms... and a very refined six-fall pale blue with
wonderful darker blue standards.

But the absolute star of the seedling bed was a flower that didn’t really even
look like a JI.  I will try to describe it... and you need to clear any
prejudices and consider the effect.  This is a multipetaled JI... the main
color the color of a raspberry daiquiri (made with real raspberries)... each
petal is edged with a very wide white band... maybe as much as 3/4 inch.....
and then the petals kind of stand up and are slightly ruffled.  The EFFECT is
that of an English rose, almost....  unique and quite engaging.  I hope they
keep it - and I hope they introduce it - and I hope you also find it as
desirable as I do.  

There was judges training on JI’s going on at Ensata from Jerry and Melody
Wilhoit - but I hated to give up a second of garden time, so I passed it by.
I do wonder what they said about that cool seedling.

After awhile, I wandered back toward the house for a cool drink and a chat
with Bob Bauer.  Bob and John are both great guys and I’m delighted to have
them as friends.  Dorothy Stahly had told me that they had some extraordinary
iris doodads in the dining room so I asked Bob if we could look at them.  This
is a wonderful house, boyz and girlz.  As I said earlier, it’s an ancient
farmhouse.... which has not been restored so much as PRESERVED (big difference
here).  Bob tells me that it was occupied by a very elderly woman who was
promised she could live there till she died.  When she became very ill, Bob
and John had learned of it and asked to be notified if it came up for sale.
It did... and they were notified and were given a price only equal to the
value of the land because the sellers believed that the house (and another
smaller house on the property) would be razed.  INCREDIBLE.... kismet.
Anyway... the dining room where the artifacts were is curved - that is, there
are no corners!  The ceilings are at least 12 feet up there and it’s a
fabulous room.  The wallpaper is a sepia color with an iris pattern in it -
and original.  John and Bob have furnished the house with period antiques and
the effect is like stepping through the looking glass into 1850 or so.
Anyway, there were some vases and boxes and a silver cocktail shaker... all
festooned with iris ensata.  Bob said that folks find these things for them
and, of course, they are collectors.  I took a peek into the parlor and I
could easily believe I was in a different era. 

At this point, Bob was saying how they had restored a bedroom and would I like
to see it - so I got to go upstairs.  The restored room was totally
wallpapered - including the ceiling (no thanks), in patterns fitting with the
age.  The floors are plank which had also been refinished and they will be
stenciled as well with an iris pattern that they designed (both Bob and John
are also stained glass artists - there is examples of their work around the
house and it is museum-quality).  They had found a great bed - but learned
that mattress sizes are now different so they hadn’t been able to furnish the
room so that I can move in.

I also saw an UNfinished room which was delightful.  The furnishings were
painted yellow pine.... all pieces - dresser, end tables, bed - had a similar
scene painted on them.  Bob tells me that it was in the house when they bought
it!  The wallpaper is faded, but lovely and they had gossamer curtains on the
windows waving in the breeze.  I’ll be very happy there.

The tour over, Bob and I wandered downstairs and out onto the porch chatting
when I became aware that it was very quiet..... and I looked around where the
80 people had been and there was NO-ONE!  This is very bad form.  There’s
always someone at a convention that dawdles and holds up the buses and
everyone gets really ticked... and this time it was ME.  At first I thought I
had been left behind (and couldn’t believe my seatmate, Howard, would not
realize I wasn’t there....)  Then we saw that the buses were actually waiting
at the road...... so I had to slink to them, double-time - whereupon Jill
Copeland had everyone give me a big hand when I slithered on. .... 

Back to the hotel for a quick hose-off and then we were on our own to make it
to Copelands.  Jim and Jill have also moved - but onto a huge piece of
property with lots of interesting trees, a pristine and perfect nursery
row/veggie garden and an enclosed cottage garden.  The setting is
extraordinary and the gardens are well thought out.  Jill and Jim collect
redbuds - I saw one with dark red leaves that I liked.  And I also saw a very
cool maple tree with RED seeds on it!

We were at the Copelands for one of Jim’s famous fishfrys......  he actually
catches fish by the truckload - and then personally batters and fries them for
everyone!  They managed to feed over 80 people with the fish (melt in your
mouth), salmon chowder (ditto), salads and HOMEMADE PIES!  They have cherry
trees and they made a kazillion pies!  A wonderful meal.

Following the meal, we had an auction.  It’s always satisfying to be able to
bring something home so an auction is a very good thing.  There were all kinds
of items offered - canned salmon and jelly (very popular items, donated by
Jill and Jim and all homemade), lots of hostas (donated by Hal Stahly) and
irises.  Kathyguest was successful in bringing home a hosta, SPARKLING
BURGUNDY - a green with red petioles, and two irises - LILAC GARDEN... and (to
my unending delight....) SEI SHONAGON!!!!

By the end of the auction.... the sun had set - the fireflies were blinking...
and everyone was tired.  A wonderful regional.... a perfect time was had by
all!   I appreciate all the work that the Region 6 folks put into this - and I
encourage everyone to not only attend their OWN region’s meetngs... but look
to other areas as well.

The next morning, we traveled home through the US since we had plants and
didn’t want to worry about the border crossing.... and since we were in the
area, we stopped at a DAYLILY/HOSTA/CHICKEN hybridizer’s place in Cleveland -
Curt Hanson.  If anyone really hasn’t had enough of my ravings and is
interested - I can be persuaded to (privately) continue.

Thank you for listening.  Hope I brought you there....

Kathyguest - East Aurora, NY - where we are planning for a JI exhibit and
picnic on Sunday, July 5th.

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