The Greater Kansas City Iris Society

Hughes’ Hidden Haven

Traveling down a county road south of the small town of Wellsville Kansas, you may get a hint that there’s a pretty place just over the hill. As you turn east down the lane to the home of Scott and Debbie Hughes, their house comes into view through brightly colored perennial borders and a pond shinning in the distance.


The plantings of guest bearded iris start on the left side of the house and wrap all the way around to a large bed to the right of the house containing over 200 varieties. Take a stroll along the limestone path to the patio at the back of the house and enjoy a panoramic view of the guest irises. A circular bed of historic iris is the focal point of the view from the patio. To the right of the house is a teardrop shaped bed containing the master planting of the beardless guest irises as well as many of the Hughes’ own collection of Siberian, Japanese and Spuria irises.



K-State Research & Extension Center

The 342 acre K-State Research & Extension center is comprised of 150 acres of native woodlands, 75 acres of bottomland and 117 acres of upland-soil grassland with a creek running the length of the property. This unique blend of soil types enables their scientists to conduct research for a variety of horticultural needs from the deep soils common to commercial plant production to the thin, rocky clay-type soils typical of many residential home landscapes.

The Center provides research-based information to County Agents and Master Gardeners who deliver the information at the local level. The K-State Center is the principle location for the Prairie Star annual flower, the Prairie Bloom perennial flower, and All America Selections bedding plant field research trials. Trials of daylilies and iris are currently under way. Our convention plantings are a welcome addition to the trials. Hybridizers are invited to leave their guest plants at the Center to be included in the 5-year trial. The irises are planted in single rows on 3’ centers providing ample room for easy evaluation.



Lanesfield Historic School Site

Built in 1869, the Lanesfield School is the only building that remains on the town site of Lanesfield, Kansas a mail stop on the Santa Fe Trail. The Lanesfield School Historic Site Visitor Center provides a glimpse into the rural one-room school at the turn of the twentieth century. Displays highlight the schoolhouse's role as a learning institution and a place for community gatherings. The lives of teachers and students are featured in sections about boarding, the school day, and graduation. Visitors may also learn about the restoration of the school and see artifacts that survived the 1903 fire.
Visitors are welcome to tour Lanesfield School; which has been restored to its 1904 appearance and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Guests can practice penmanship with pen and ink, sharpen spelling skills with a costumed schoolteacher or cipher math problems. Lanesfield School operated as a one-room school until school district consolidation in 1963.

Adjacent to the site is a 78-acre restored prairie, operated by KCP&L. Visitors can walk the prairie and cross the path of the Santa Fe Trail on their way to Big Bull Creek, the site of a pre-civil war skirmish between pro-slavery Missourians and free state Kansans.

The Johnson County Facilities Grounds Crew prepared a beautifully edged bed that has been planted with irises donated by members of the Historic Iris Preservation Society.  Members of the Olathe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution are donating perennials for additional interest throughout the year and maintenance of the bed as a conservation project. We’ll stop here for lunch and enjoy the historic plants that have found a new home at this lovely site.



Murrain/Waddick Prairie Views

Here's an acre of hill top garden that slopes to the southwest and has a wide view across the landscape. The one-acre garden is a very mixed collection from the purple flowered Robinias in the front yard to a few hundred hellebores along a wooded slope in back. Jim Murrain pushes for woody plants and hellebores, while Jim
Waddick savors Asian plants of all sorts and they both plant any variegated item they can grow. A couple hundred herbaceous and tree peonies will have some bloom during the convention, too. The guest irises are divided between the front long border of bearded iris and a row of beardless guests in the back. Species iris are scattered in mixed areas throughout and do stroll through the bamboo groves.



Overland Park Arboretum

The Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens is located on 300 ecologically diverse acres in southern Johnson County. Eight different ecosystems have been identified on the site, including rare plant species. Hiking trails wind their way through the Arboretum.
About 85 percent of the property is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of natural ecosystems. The remaining portion includes traditional botanical gardens, the Environmental Education Visitors Center utilizing “green technologies” and maintenance facilities.  The Monet garden dedicated in 2003 is a favorite spot for visitors.  The curved conventions beds, home to over 300 guest plants, are situated west of the visitors’ center and overlook “Margaret’s Pond” with the “Monet” Garden in the distance.

Powell Gardens

George E. Powell, Sr. purchased the peaceful 955-acre setting of Powell Gardens east of Kansas City off Highway 50 in 1948. It has served as a dairy farm, Boy Scout camp, an agricultural and natural
resource center, and since 1988, a botanical garden.  Powell Gardens is the site of the convention’s bearded iris master planting and will have over 1000 varieties of iris to view when you include the HIPS iris display and their own Award of Merit collection spanning 20 years. The meandering ribbons of iris wrap the gentle slopes of Iris Hill and will be in full glory by 2009. 

You will have sufficient time to explore the other areas of this premier garden. The trolleys will be running to drop you off at the Visitors Center, the Perennial Garden, and the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel.  Be sure and walk to the beautiful island garden featuring the 3-pool water garden with cascading water falls and the longest "living wall" in the US. The Harvest Garden is scheduled to be newly open by the convention but a long, wet winter has delayed construction. Staff will arrange for a special preview guided tour for AIS members if it is not yet open by the convention. If you feel up to it, the 3.25-mile nature trail takes visitors to the "wild side" of Powell Gardens.