Aitken’s Salmon Creek Gardens ready for iris bloom season

The two main types of irises are bearded and beardless, and are identified by size and growing season. Some of bearded irises’ petals are cascading, which the beardless do not have. There are six varieties of bearded irises, ranging from the miniature dwarf bearded with a maximum height of eight inches and planted in April, to the tall bearded, reaching a height of more than 27.5 inches and planted in late May.

Beardless varieties include Siberian, planted in late May; Spurias, planted in June; Japanese, planted in late June; and Louisiana, planted in June and July.

“Bearded or unbearded, I like them all,” Aitken said. “The dwarfs are blooming right now, and when they’re done, the intermediates start and they’ll look great, and we’ve got good plants in all categories.”

The Louisiana beardless variety is the only one that Aitken has been unable to hybridize, he said.

“I don’t know why,” he said. “They’re sort of the last to bloom, a swamp iris with a late bloom in June going into July, and when they quit, then the tall re-bloomers come in.”

But the smallest irises are coming in well already, and Aitken expects a great year. The pandemic has not hurt his business, he said, since all his irises, over 2,000 varieties, are shipped by mail and ordered online at https://flowerfantasy.net.

The names of the irises featured on the website are as varied as the plants, from the most expensive, Sunbolt and Angel of the Dawn, both priced at $60 per plant, to the least expensive, Brilliant Bauble, Ever Cool and Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the $6 and $7 range.

Things have changed a lot in the way irises bloom over the years, Aitken recalled in a video last June with the Washington State University Master Gardener Program.

“When we got the garden set up, we were setting it up as a display garden for irises, and we would get visitors coming through the yard,” he said. “At that point, all we had were tall bearded irises, and when they were leaving we’d hear comments like, ‘Too bad they only last for two weeks a year.’

“Well, it was, and I agreed with them, so our job since then has been to have irises in bloom from sometime in April until it freezes in December,” he said. “So we’ve done that. And now we’re trying to increase the quantity of plants that will carry on that long.”

Irises are 95 percent of his business, but Aitken is also an orchid expert and grows them in his greenhouse and sells them at the garden.

“Orchids are a rainy day thing,” he said. “If it’s sunny, the workers are out in the fields.”

The Salmon Creek Gardens, 608 N.W. 119th St., is open for visitors most days from 8:30 a.m. to dusk. Call 360-573-4472 for information.

Aitken and his wife, Barbara, got into raising irises when landscaping around their home in Minneapolis shortly after Terry graduated in architecture in 1968, and incorporated irises from Schreiner’s Gardens near Salem, Ore.

But the couple got tired of the cold climate and moved to Vancouver in 1975 and started their business specializing in hybridizing and sale of irises in 1978. Both are now life members and Emeritus Judges with AIS.

Barbara Aitken, co-owner of the gardens, handles all the computer work and online orders, which is the mainstay of their business, and also helps in the garden.

The Aitkens met in high school in their native Winnipeg, Canada, and have been married for 63 years. “It’s a pretty good partnership,” she said. “It’s been a good life.”

The Aitkens have two sons, both in Seattle, but neither is particularly interested in gardening, said Barbara, though one son does maintain the company website.

Barbara Aitken said she would like to slow down a bit so she would have time for other projects around their home, but Terry, who’s 85, said he has no plans to retire.

“I’m not retiring as long as I’m standing,” he said.