Visiting Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Display Gardens

To borrow from the Rose Bowl, Schreiner's Iris Gardens is the "Grandaddy of them all" when it comes to iris gardens. Alright they might not be the oldest but they sure are big, with a couple of hundred acres of production and ten acres of display gardens a trip to Schreiner's located outside of Salem, Oregon is a real treat to any iris lover.

Schreiner's Display Gardens

Being the black sheep of the Gulish family and living in Washington allowed me the distinct advantage of being within driving distance to visit Schreiner's during the last weekend they are open to the public. Like much of the rest of the country the Northwest had a cooler than normal spring which worked to my advantage as Schreiner's gardens were at there peak bloom this late in the season.

Schreiner's Display Gardens

There was a dizzying rainbow collage as the iris blooms were intermixed with peonies, delphinium, lupine and too many other flowers to list. This stunning visual spectacular combined with the intermingling fragrances of the garden delighted the senses. Seeing Schreiner's display gardens is certainly inspirational and makes us want to improve our display gardens at Pittsgrove Farms. We hope that on a smaller scale our display gardens inspire you.

Schreiner's Display Gardens

One area that was very interesting was a set of beds dedicated to winner's of the Dykes Memorial Medal , the highest award of the American Iris Society. They had displays of each Dykes medal winner since it's inception in 1927, some of which were for sale. Schreiner's has been the recipient of the Dykes Medal ten times, most recently in 2003.

Schreiner's Cut Flower Display

There was a wonderful cut flower display with at least a couple hundred varieties of iris. It provided the opportunity to view an array of different iris and see the similarities and nuanced differences in coloring, style and fragrance. It was also much less walking than in the display gardens. Tomorrow I will expand on the trip to Schreiner's and show some of their 2008 introductions.