El Centro Gardens
El Sobrante
Showcase feature: Take advantage of this rare opportunity to admire—and purchase!—thousands of elegant Pacific Coast native iris hybrids. This amazing collection of award-winning irises, hybridized by enthusiastic, passionate, and knowledgeable owners Ryan Grisso and Anna Pascuzzi, is a rainbow of colors that begins with yellow and ranges through golds, oranges, purples, pinks, reds, and a sea of blues. If you like the look of an English cottage garden, irises can help you achieve it. As a bonus, they are deer-resistant!
Other garden attractions:
- Native irises are spectacular, healthy, long-lived perennials that grow in either sun or shade, and, once established, typically don't require summer water. They thrive under oaks.
- The irises' unique flower is orchid-like in appearance. Early bloomers, they will add sparkle to your garden in the spring.
- Irises are the plants that keep on giving—they can be divided in the fall and given to your friends.
- Provide your irises with good drainage by planting on a slope, or in a raised bed. While spring is not the best time to plant natives, Ryan suggests planting your irises immediately after purchasing, mulch them well, and water once a week throughout their first summer.
Garden Talks: 12:00 "Pacific Coast Native Iris Hybrids" by Ryan Grisso
Plants sold or given away: Some named varieties will be available for sale.