Iris Specialistâs work paying off at Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens
Iris gardens in bloom at Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens By Sarah Stone | May 3, 2021 at 6:52 PM EDT - Updated May 3 at 7:27 PM
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Savannahians are familiar of Azalea season. The colorful blooms pop up everywhere around The Masters and St. Patrickâs Day.
But what about iris season? Itâs happening right now at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Thatâs in large part due to the hard work of Stan Gray, who serves as volunteer and Iris Specialist at the gardens.
He showed Kyle Jordan the different species of irises in bloom at the garden right now and explained why the time you have to see these flowers is running out.
Iris gardens in full bloom at Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens The Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens is one of many sites in our area offering free admission for Super Museum Sunday. (Source: WTOC) By WTOC Staff | April 30, 2021 at 4:00 PM EDT - Updated April 30 at 4:00 PM
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens is one of many sites in our area offering free admission for Super Museum Sunday.
Volunteer and Iris Expert Stan Gray has been hard at work preparing the gardens.
“When people see the colors and they see the saturations of color and just the stature of these plants, it’s going to be an experience unlike anything that they have had before. And so coming out this weekend, they’ll really be able to watch this bloom evolve and explode,” said Gray.
Turning drainage ditches into rivers of blooming irises seemed like a laborious task to say the least, but Stan Gray’s passion paid huge dividends. In April 2016, when thousands of Louisiana irises erupted into blooms, we all had the feeling that we had struck gold.
This indeed looks like the future of the iris world for Savannah and Coastal Georgia, and it still is. But there were some unexpected stars that also started blooming called Iris spuria. There was that little tinge or feeling that maybe had we not only struck gold with the Louisiana iris, but platinum with the spuria irises.