ABOUT US Every October and November iris lovers fall under the spell cast by 2.5 hectares of flat land surrounding a 130-year old cottage at Motukarara, just out of Christchurch. After tentative beginnings nearly five years ago with just 12 varieties of tall bearded irises, The Iris Garden is now a gently nodding congregation of five hundred local and imported varieties, from the tiny purple 'Titchie' to the suave and inky tall bearded 'Black Tie Affair'. Named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow the iris offers colours that range from palest pink to dark orange, velevety purple to the iciest blue. White ruffles compliment tangerine beards, salmon standards (the three upper petals of the flower) lord it over ruby falls (the three lower petals). "People get blown away by it. They say they've never seen anything like it. It's like going in to the Christmas shop at Ballentynes - you're just overwhelmed" says owner and relatively new convert to irises Julie May. Six years ago she and partner Colin Arps bought the house and property from the grandson of the original owners and began clearing the land and preparing the soil for it's new inhabitants. "My family thought I was mad" says Julie. "There was so much work to do - the land was covered in clover, cocksfoot and boxthorn - and the cottage needed a lot of work". It all began when the disillusioned Christchurch real estate agent went on a course. "When the bottom fell out of the real estate market I did a small business course. I was hoping to work on the land, maybe start up a nursery. We were told that you had to find a niche market - that rang bells for me". The small clump of old irises in Julies Christchurch garden nudged her away from the well beaten track of more popular plants. "I realised that the iris was a really neglected plant. There weren't many places where you could go and see them displayed." With the support of the New Zealand Iris Society Julie set to work to establish a garden dedicated to the sale and display of a plant found from Europe to Siberia, the Americas to New Zealand. Now a simple sign on the road to Akaroa and a resurgence of interest in the ever-increasing range of hybrids sees a constant stream of visitors admiring the irises and exploring Julie and Colins private garden. Old tyres used as raised beds provide the necessary drainage and a low nitrogen mixtrue of sieved garden soil, mushroom compost and sand provides the required nutrients. The long hot summers and the cold winters of Banks Peninsula do the rest While visitors and mail order customers can buy tall bearded irises other species are also on display throughout the propery. Clumps of Libertia grandiflora, the New Zealand iris, appear alongside lavender, flaxes and hebes. Blue Louisianas share beds with catnip and scabiosa, evensias raise their heads in the shady fern garden and smaller japanese and siberian irises dabble their roots on the edge of a large pond. As much a drawcard as the irises Julie and Colins private garden is a series of rooms developed around ancient fruit trees and a shelter belt of macrocarpas. Borders of lavender, box ans old fencing timber demarcate beds of blue, white and burgundy, native plants and a working vegetable garden. Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' is repeated again and again, providing and blood red canoy for hostas, roses and perennials. At the entrance to the garden and ancient barn, once home to draft horses, is hung with old tools in a memorial to the generations of farmers who worked the property in times gone by. Local macrocarpa destined for its gaping walls has been used instead to build a separate office in keeping with the historic nature of The Iris Garden. The addition of a veranda and french doors overlooking the garden has restored the charm of the historic cottage. In the planning stages are the kitchen and the bedroom. But the demands of the iris industry leave Julie little time for interiors. Hundreds of mail orders wait to be filled and plans for a range of antique irises are under way.