Denver Early Tour
- Subject: Denver Early Tour
- From: L*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 96 07:51:21 MST
EARLY GARDEN TOUR TO FEATURE IRIS APPRECIATION SEMINAR BY
CATHERINE LONG GATES
Mark the date of Saturday May 18 on your calendars. An outstanding
selection of local gardens will be open to everyone interested in iris on
the EARLY GARDEN TOUR. Outstanding advancements have been made in
recent years in the hybridizing of dwarf, intermediate and arilbred irises.
If we have a typical season, all these classes should all be near their
peak in the Denver area on May 18. This will be a caravan-type tour with
the gardens open sequentially throughout the day and transportation arranged
on your own.
The highlight of the tour will be an iris appreciation seminar
conducted by Catherine Long Gates, proprietor of Long's Gardens.
Long's is heavily visited during the Tall Bearded season, but many of us
have not visited early in the season to see their extensive collection
of dwarfs, intermediates and arilbreds. Catherine will discuss the
qualities that make a good iris and illustrate her ideas with
examples in the gardens. One hour of AIS Judge's Training credit will be
offered for Catherine's session, but it promises to be most enlighting for
both the experienced and the novice iris grower. Catherine's seminar
will be from 10 to 11 A.M. at Long's Gardens on North Broadway, just south
of Iris Avenue, in Boulder. There will then be additional time to explore
the gardens.
The tour will reconvene 1 P.M. at the northern Douglas County garden
of Lowell Baumunk and Barbara Lewis, 10918 Sunshine Drive. To reach Lowell
Barbara's garden drive south on Santa Fe Drive (U.S. 85) 4 miles from where
Santa Fe crosses C-470 to Titan Road (a stoplight). Drive 3 miles west on
Titan to Wildlife Way. Turn right on Wildlife and keep to the right.
Wildlife becomes Sunshine. Look for 10918 on the mailbox. This is a very
large garden and contains many very recent introductions and recent award
winners. They have probably the greatest variety of aril and arilbred
irises in the region, and have a couple hundred varieties of other early
irises. Lowell will also be pleased to show off his early-blooming
seedlings.
At 2:30 the tour will visit the Englewood garden of Englewood High
School head football coach Randy Penn at 4108 S. Sherman St. Randy's yard
is packed with iris. He has a great number of classic varities including
many standard dwarfs. Turn east off Santa Fe onto Quincy drive a little
over a mile to Sherman and turn left one and a half blocks to 4108.
From Randy's house, it's just a short hop to the tour's final,
3:30 P.M., destination, Rob Stetson's garden at 2501 South Cherokee St.
Rob, a member of the Aril Society International, grows many aril and
arilbred irises. He is energetically hybridizing these exotically beautiful
plants and hopes to have some interesting seedlings to show to the tour
participants. Drive north on Broadway to Harvard and go three blocks west
to Cherokee St.
An iris tour is an easy, low-key and highly rewarding way to
become more familiar with our favorite flower and our local gardening
scene. People who haven't yet participated in any Iris Society functions
are especially invited to join the tour. We'll see you on May 18!
