BLOOMING LOVE COUPLE RAISES IRISES.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Pat and Bill Van Gorder have a yard of a different color: many colors, in fact.

In their front yard grow 394 iris plants. Under a shelter in their back yard are another 2,100 plants in containers, property of the High Desert Iris Society.

Laid out in orderly rectangles surrounded by rock pathways, the garden has been known to cause traffic jams when the flowers are blooming.

``One woman stopped in the middle of the street, got out of her car to come over and take a look at them,'' Bill Van Gorder said. ``Another car came up the other way, stopped. Pretty soon no cars could get around them.''

The flower club to which the Van Gorders belong was established in 1978 and now has 50 members who meet once a month to conduct business and swap plants during what they call ``pot parties'': They divide the plants and share them among the club members.

During one party they replanted 4,500 plants.

The society offers plants at public sales three times a year: the Antelope Valley Fairground's Home and Garden Show in March, a plant show at the Chimbole Cultural Center in April and at the Palmdale Water District's Water Awareness Fair, just held two weekends ago.

Pat joined the iris society two years ago after buying some plants at a garden show. She and her mother had both grown them.

Her husband, Bill, joined later after they visited a Porterville establishment called Sutton's Iris Gardens.

``By the time we got out of there he was going, gotta get that one, gotta get that one,'' Pat said.

Bill is now the plant chairman and maintains the club's plants in their back yard. Pat is treasurer.

With names such as haunted house and bewilderbeast, irises offer a great variety in size, shape and color - over 70,000 varieties in the United States and 250,000 worldwide. The newest varieties are called space agers, featuring blossom shapes called flounces, horns or spoons. There are also ``rebloomers,'' which bloom in spring and again in fall.

Pat's favorites are dusky challenger and magic kingdom. Bill prefers orange celebrity.

``Dusky challenger is a very dark, rich purple, big and (has) ruffles and grows about 36 inches tall. When you first see it you just kind of go wow. It's really striking,'' Pat said.

The Van Gorders prefer simply to plant as large a variety as possible in their yard. Some, called Louisiana, grow in water-filled buckets outside their back door.

Irises are perfect for the Antelope Valley because they require little water and love sandy soil and heat. Irises should be planted two feet apart and need four to six hours of sun a day.

``They'll last almost indefinitely, because every two or three years you need to dig them and split them because they get too big,'' Pat said.

Pat digs hers up in August or September with a pitchfork, trims the leaves and breaks apart the rhizomes - the horizontal stem under the soil - for transplanting. She cuts off the remaining roots about three inches long and replants the rhizomes close to the surface.

``I like to say they thrive on abuse,'' Pat said.

``They're really easy to grow, especially up here,'' she added. ``They can tolerate the sun; the more sun the better.''

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) CLASSIC LOOK

(2 -- color) BLAZING SADDLE

(3 -- color) BUTTERSCOTCH TRIM

(4 -- color) Bill Van Gorder boasts 2,100 iris plants in his back yard, property of the High Desert Iris Society.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer