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Greetings and Welcome! Brighton Park Iris first started as a private, non-commercial garden located in the Chicago neighborhood of Brighton Park. Living in the city, it's needless to say that my gardening space is limited. Yet, I still find it amazing how everything is able to fit within the boundaries of my 35' x 125' city lot. As you can probably infer from the title of the website, the main focus of the garden is Iris. I currently grow around 850 varieties or cultivars of Iris. Compared to the number of Iris found in collector's gardens around the world, it's quite a small amount. However, I doubt that anyone else in Chicago has that many irises in one place. If you do, let me know, I'd love to visit your garden. Irises come in many different colors and I try to collect a little of everything. However, being that there are so many combinations and types available, it will be impossible to collect them all. My main focus is in collecting Iris introductions of the Schreiner's, one of the most prestigious Iris growers in the nation. I am currently growing approxmiately 500 of their approxmiately 850 introductions starting in 1934. Many of the Iris I grow are historic, that is, varieties of Iris that were introduced to the general public thirty or more years ago. A few of the varieties I grow were introduced just last year. You can find many rare Iris in my year, as well as some of the most popular ones in the world today. Brighton Park Iris recently became a Display Garden for the Historical Iris Preservation Society (HIPS). In 2006, I moved out of the Brighton Park neighborhood to another area of Chicago. I'm still working on getting my garden the way I want it. It's a long process when you grow close to 850 cultivars of Iris. Despite the move, I kept the name Brighton Park Iris. Mainly because the name of my new neighborhood, Clearing, is not as sophisticated. "Clearing Iris" just gives out the wrong connotation and doesn't sound as nice as "Brighton Park Iris." Please browse through my available photos of some my irises in the section entitled MY IRISES, which can be found on the previous page. It should be noted that many of cultivars are not pictured, due to loss of pictures or poor photo quality. There are also some new varieties that were purchased last year, that will hopefully bloom the coming season. This is mainly a personal website with photography. If you have any questions, comments, or wish to trade in the future, please EMAIL ME. I hope you will have some time to look into my main project with this site in the section entitled TRIBUTE. Happy Gardening and come back soon! Sincerely, THE BANNER ABOVE WILL TAKE YOU TO THE PREVIOUS PAGE |