He Keeps His Eyes On The Prize Iris

Sat., June 10, 2000

By Stacy Schwandt stacys@spokesman.com

For Darrell Daniel, a passion for flowers runs in the family.

“I was a farm boy,” said Daniel. “Most farmers don’t have time to do anything but work, but my father gardened. So I inherited it.”

But unlike his father, who grew dahlias, Daniel’s love is irises.

He received his first plant from his aunt in the 1950s. Now, Daniel has more than 600 irises in three gardens behind his Opportunity home.

Somewhere in the garden there is an iris named after Debbie Reynolds. Elsewhere is one that won him first prize in the Valley’s annual iris show three years ago.

This year’s show, sponsored by the Inland Empire and Town and Country iris societies, will take place at the Spokane Valley Mall on Saturday and Sunday. The show, entitled “Iris All Time Favorites,” is expected to attract entries from 20 to 25 gardeners.

The peach, plum, burgundy, and blue blooms Daniel will carry to the show are known as “bearded” irises for the bright tuft of tiny hairs on their four lower petals.

They have names like Sienna Waltz, Pillow Fight, Fancy Woman, and English Charm. All new irises are named by the hybridizer who grew them and then registered with the American Iris Society. No two irises have the same name.

Daniel painstakingly labeled all of his plants with small plexiglass signs.

“The iris’s name is all you need to know to enter the show,” he said, “but you can’t fake it because the judges are too good.”

While bearded irises will predominate in the show, gardeners could bring as many as six other types including the Siberian iris, which is a bright purple or blue flower with thinner petals.

Judging begins on Saturday promptly at 9:30 a.m. in two categories, the horticultural division, where judges look at the beauty of the actual flower, and the artistic division, where the judges look at the flower arrangements.

Anyone who knows the names of their irises is welcome to enter, by simply arriving at the mall at 9 a.m. on Saturday and registering their blooms.

This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING

The Inland Empire and Town and Country iris societies’ annual iris show takes place this weekend at the Spokane Valley Mall’s center court. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

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