Garden Information

Located at the base of the 7 1/2 acre Mountainside Park, the iris gardens contain over 14,000 irises of approximately 3,000 varieties and produce over 100,000 blooms over the course of the season. Visitors can see by the arching slope of the garden beds why Presby is often referred to as the “rainbow on the hill”.

We have 26 beds containing bearded irises. Nine beds running along the creekbed contain our collection of non-bearded Siberian, Japanese and Louisiana irises. The median collection, also known as the “minis”, are located in beds along the fence by Upper Mountain Avenue.

Below you will find a listing of the various beds and their irises:

Bearded Irises
Bed 5 Heirloom Irises 1500s-early 1900s
Bed 9 History of Hybridizing
Bed 10 Hall of Fame Irises 1970s-1980s
Bed 11a Hall of Fame Irises 1960s
Bed 11b  Hall of Fame Irises 2000s
Bed 12 Antique Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1940s-1950s
Bed 13 Display Bed
Bed 14a&b Dykes Medal Winners 1927-Present
Bed 15a  Hall of Fame Irises 2000’s
Bed 15b  Hall of Fame Irises 1990’s
Bed 16 Classic Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1960s-1970s
Bed 17 Classic Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1960s-1970s
Bed 18 Hall of Fame 2000-Present
Bed 19 Hall of Fame Irises 1940s-1960s
Bed 20 Remontant (reblooming) Bearded Irises
Bed 22 Heirloom Tall Bearded Irises 1900s-1920s
Bed 23 Heirloom Tall Bearded Irises 1900s-1930s
Bed 25 Antique Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1920s-1930s
Bed 26 Heirloom Tall Bearded Irises 1500s-early 1900s
Bed 28 Antique Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1930s-1940s
Bed 29 Antique Historic Tall Bearded Irises 1940s-1950s

The Creek Bed
Bed 21 Japanese Irises
Bed 24 Japanese Irises
Bed 27 Historic Siberian Irises
Bed 31 Siberian Irises
Bed 32 McEwen Siberian Irises
Bed 33 Japanese Irises
Bed 35a&b Japanese Irises
Bed 36 Siberian Irises
In Creek Bed  Louisiana Irises

Fence Bed
Beds 1-4 Miniature, Dwarf, Intermediate and Border Bearded Spuria Irises

Click Here for the Presby Garden Map

Over the past four years, the gardens have been undergoing a complete restoration including utilizing Barbara Walther’s archival recipe for building organic beds for the irises’ best care. We have eliminated the chemical industry recommendations for control of pests and disease with strictly green methods of control for issues that arise in a monoculture iris garden. The irises are now growing and thriving with these approaches to cultivation due to these efforts. Equally important has been the replacement of lost cultivars of educational and historic value through collaboration with both private collectors and the Historic Iris Preservation Society. This dedicated group of iris lovers has also been instrumental in aiding our quest to insure that every single iris in the collection has its correct name with this information keyed into our database for accurate tracking of the cultivar.

We have also embarked in a collaboration with local beekeeper Joseph Lelinho, who has created a more suitable home for the honeybees that took up residence inside the Walther House chimney. Presby honey and other bee related products are to be marketed in the future.