flower image : Iris blossoms bursting into colorful blooms
Many of the 8,000 irises flourishing in the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens are blooming, with more popping open on its sloping hillside lawn as you read this newspaper.

Visitors by the hundreds traipse through pathways that wend past 36 iris beds, many of them 100 feet long and abounding in blossoms.

As if bees drawn to honey, thousands of flower fanciers and iris connoisseurs will journey to Presby during the next two weeks to delight in the pleasures of the world’s largest iris garden.

There are painters capturing the visage of the feathery flowers that have been equated to fairies’ wings.

There are parents and grandparents accompanying children who are astonished by the myriad and oft-times sur-real monikers labeling the iris varieties.

Couples stroll hand in hand on the wide grassy paths, along with solitary strollers deep in pensive reflection.

Photographers hunker down to capture close-ups of multicolored images.

“We work all year for this moment,” said Interim Garden Superintendent Linda Sercus.

“It’s a beautiful display. The more historic irises are the ones that bloom first, and they’re in bloom right now,” Sercus said.

“In a traditional year, Memorial Day weekend would be the peak of the bloom season. We’re running five to seven days late. The cool weather for the month of May has slowed the blooms.”

The pride of the gardens this year is three hybridized irises that commemorate the people slain in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Two of the 9/11 iris rebloomers are flowering now, and they are expected to again bloom in September.

Presby staffers and volunteers have spent months preparing for these weeks when the irises exuberantly blossom. The magic contained in the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens extends beyond the iris beds.

Tonight, Thursday, May 25, there’s “Art for Presby,” featuring a photography exhibit and reception at Alex, 620 Valley Road. Photographer Jeanne Campbell of Montclair will display her work, with proceeds from the sale of her prints being donated to the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens.

The annual Presby Garden Party occurs this Saturday, May 27. Traffic will be detoured off this portion of Upper Mountain Avenue, and with the gardens in radiant bloom, iris artwork created by Montclair students will be displayed on the lawn, with prizes awarded to winning artists in a ceremony at 2 p.m. The party begins at 10 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. Around 1 p.m., Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck will perform an unplugged set of music. There will be food available, and Presby’s expanded gift shop will offer enticements.

Founded 79 years ago, the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens was established by a consortium of the Montclair municipal government, a citizens committee and the Garden Club of Montclair. There’s a Board of Trustees with new members and a collective vision to elevate the stature of the gardens.

“It’s still a joint effort 79 years later,” Sercus said. “It shows the tremendous commitment and respect of all parties.”

Board President Lori Beitler noted that in 1966, the American Iris Society held its annual national meeting at Presby, with the adjacent Walther House serving as the meeting place.

“Our goal in the next five years it to have the American Iris Society hold its annual meeting again at Presby,” Beitler said.

The gardens now have about 8,000 irises, Sercus said, but have the capacity for 10,000.

“We have many irises that don’t exist anywhere any more except at Presby,” Sercus said.

“Our ultimate goal is to restore the gardens to their former glory,” Beitler said.

The Presby staff, volunteers and trustees are battling back against mishaps and an act of malice that during the past year, afflicted the iris gardens.

On the night of Aug. 2, 2005, a person or people vandalized three historic iris beds. The evildoers uprooted 157 irises growing in the most historic beds, flinging around rhizomes, or bulbs, that literally dated back several centu-ries. The identities of these esteemed irises were lost — a disaster for iris fanciers. Despite a $1,000 reward, nobody has ever identified the vandals.

During this past winter, a protocol sustained by sledders and snowboarders for decades on the Mountainside Park slope adjacent to Presby was violated. People enjoying the snow rode their sleds and snowboards directly over the iris beds, damaging the gardens.

And, for perhaps the first time since Presby was created in 1927, deer have transgressed into the gardens, destroying irises and other flora.

Staffers have responded to these blights. The vandalized iris rhizomes were meticulously replanted. “We put them in an ‘iris intensive care bed’ in the rear of the Walther House,” Sercus said. “There is tremendous good news. Three have already bloomed” with another 50 irises appearing to be healthy. The Presby staff has identified the three iris hybrids that have blossomed.

Presby has received a $102,025 grant from Essex County to restore the vandalized iris beds and improve the gardens. “Part of our grant is to get more irises and put them into the beds,” Beitler said.

Beitler and board member Cathy Fink noted that the county awarded Presby a matching grant, which requires the board to raise an additional $102,025.

“I’m so impressed with how Montclair rallies around a cause,” Sercus said. “I have no doubt that Montclair is going to rally around the gardens again.”

Fink said the board intends to restore the Walther House, an ornate Victorian abode that boasts its own garden and a potting structure off Upper Mountain Avenue. “There’s a lot of potential in the Walther House, and we want to make it accessible to the community,” Fink said. “We’re really trying to strengthen the ties between the gardens and the town.”

While rummaging through boxes stored in a back room of the Walther House, “the staff uncovered some historic documents” written by the late Barbara Walther, Sercus noted. Soon after Presby was established in 1927, Walther created raised beds for the irises to improve drainage, and Walther recorded her observations and advice in the recently discovered papers.

“This year, we will be using her techniques for three beds,” Sercus said. “There’s lots to be learned from history, which is probably apropos because irises probably go back to the dawn of man.”

Sercus, Beitler and Fink urged residents to visit the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, and while there, contribute money to the organization and consider volunteering to preserve and improve the irises.

“Every donation they put in the jar will help bring Presby back to its peak,” Sercus said.

“This is a particularly good year. Their health is good and their growth is vigorous,” Sercus said of the irises. “We want everyone to come and revel in their beauty.”

Copyright © 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.