Dedicated Gardener

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared March 22, 1984 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

Russell Snyder's iris garden is living proof that flowers can flourish on a former baseball field.

And flourish they do. His garden in Landenberg, Pa., has 850 irises and is a spring showplace which attracts flower lovers from near and far.

The energetic Snyder, an 80-year-old widower, has been growing irises for 40 years since moving from Philadelphia to his present home.

Six different iris varieties, or cultivars, had been planted on the property by the former landowner. The six Snyder children were using the growing area as a baseball diamond.

"I didn't want to lose the irises," said Snyder, a retired Winterthur Museum carpenter.

"We relocated the baseball field to the back of the property, but the outfielders had to play across the street in the church yard." St. Francis Catholic Church formerly occuped the structure directly opposite Snyder's house, but the building has since been converted to a private residence.

From the original six cultivars, Snyder began "trading, growing and swapping" irises. His collection increased significantly when a friend purchased 106 irises and turned them over to him for growing.

Today, the irises are arranged by size in neat symmetrical beds separated by walking paths. Each iris bears a label.

"An iris that doesn't have a marker is a weed," Snyder noted.

In 1977, the Delaware Vally Iris Society began using Snyder's talents and his land to grow new varieties. Each year, the club gives him 50 irises worth a total of $500. All of them will mutiply, some up to 20 new plants.

For his efforts, Snyder keeps one of each variety. The remainder is sold to club members at a nominal price.

A lot of work is involved in maintaining the beds. The clumps must be dug up and separated regularly as well as fertilized and weeded.

Snyder travels to American Iris Society conventions and selected gardens throughout the country. "I've got a bunch of friends in the club," he said.

Last spring, delegates from the society toured his place.

"All the people said my irises were the best they ever saw. And I believe they were the best that I have ever grown."

He has no favorites among the 850 irises. "I like them all. I can see something pretty in all of them," he said.

Snyder's love of irises also extends to the reproduction furniture he has built, including a set of plank-bottom chairs that he hand-painted with yellow irises.

He also spent 11 years repairing antiques and crafting reproductions at Winterthur. Before that, he built houses in the Alapocas and Woodbrook areas and worked as a shopfitter at the Port of WIlmington. He still works at occasional carpentry jobs in a workshop on his property.

Snyder credits his mother with his early interest in flowers.

"My mother raised dahlias. She always won prizes in farm shows."

It was not dahlias, however, but roses that he first grew. The thorns proved to be too much for him, and he turned to irises.