Back in the spring of 2015, as we geared up for the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Schreiner’s Iris Gardens, and to welcome the Annual AIS Convention-goers, we received a message from Cathy Egerer of the Historic Iris Preservation Society. She proposed we plant an historic Schreiner Iris bed in our Display Gardens to commemorate our golden anniversary. While our 10-acre display garden contains beds filled with hundreds of Iris cultivars, seedling tests, guest Iris, Dyke’s Medal winners and more, surprisingly we had not yet dedicated a single bed to our own legacy of 90 years of Iris breeding.
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- “Golden Treasure” (yellow) Schreiner 1936; “Danube Wave” (blue) Schreiner 1947
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- “Danube Wave” Schreiner 1947
We agreed that this would be a tremendous addition to the garden. Ms. Egerer then enlisted the help of dedicated Iris enthusiasts across the country. These generous individuals donated and shipped the historic Iris rhizomes from their own gardens to us here in Oregon. We received several dozen specimens of older Schreiner hybrids, dating back to 1936. Once cataloged and arranged, Ben Schreiner (4th generation owner) planted the “newcomers” and tended to them throughout that first winter.
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- “Confetti” Schreiner 1945
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- “Chatterbox” Schreiner 1978
Thus, our official Historic Schreiner Iris bed was conceived of and built. We would like to very sincerely thank Cathy and all of the folks who donated Iris and time and postage to this project (please forgive us if we have forgotten to list anyone by name): Carlos Ayento, Nancy McDonald, Linda Baumgartner, Judy Schneider, Arlyn Madsen, Lani Shooks, Patty Del Negro, Wanda Rezac, Charles Pickett. We are grateful to you all for helping to restore these historic Iris to their roots.
Do you grow historic Schreiner Iris in your garden? We would love to know.
For the Love of Iris 
October 19, 2017 at 6:13 am
Yes, I grow some historic Schreiner’s Iris in my garden, in France and I love them.
I hope too, that Schreiner will make their historic irises for sale, so that we, European collectors, may at last acquire some rarities, like ‘Danube Waves’ !…. which is impossible for most of us !!
Thank you in advance !
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October 19, 2017 at 10:50 am
Thank you, Sophie, for your response. I would encourage you to contact the Historic Iris Preservation Society regarding current sources of historic cultivars. Here is the link to their website: http://www.historiciris.org/ Kind regards! Happy Gardening!
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October 12, 2017 at 8:20 am
I hope that Schreiner will make their historic irises for sale so that your dedicated customers can enjoy them in their own gardens.
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October 12, 2017 at 9:30 am
Thank you for the comment. While we mull over that idea, I encourage you to contact HIPS, the Historic Iris Preservation Society. They sometimes offer sales of historic Iris rhizomes as fundraisers, or members might be interested in plant trades. They’re a great group of folks. Visit their website: http://www.historiciris.org/
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October 7, 2017 at 1:46 pm
I just bought several hundred dollars worth of Iris from you but I don’t know if any of them are your Historic varieties. They were not labeled as far as I know.
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October 9, 2017 at 1:04 pm
Thank you for your order, Harold! While our labels include a photo of the blossom, the name, class and height, we do not indicate the variety as “historical”. The varieties referred to in this blog post are largely from the 1970’s and before. A variety that was introduced 30 or more years ago is considered historical. You can find the year of introduction on our website for each of the varieties in your order. Let us know if we can be of further assistance, and thank you again for choosing Schreiner’s Iris Gardens.
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