The Fresno Iris Society and Fresno State Horticulture Nursery will host its annual rhizome plant fundraiser from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 12, at the campus Horticulture Nursery (3150 E. Barstow Ave.). The Fresno Iris Society’s largest fundraiser of the year will feature hundreds of varieties of plants, including reblooming iris and other unique varieties. Rhizomes will be available for a donation of $3 each and grab bags with a collection of colors and sizes are $5. Iris Society members will host dividing, planting and growing workshops and answer plant and gardening questions. The sale benefits the non-profit organization’s efforts to promote area interest in irises. Attendees can also join the club that meets monthly for an annual cost of $10 for individuals, $15 for families and $5 for youth 15 and under. Fresno State horticulture staff and students will also sell an array of house and landscape plants and fruit trees. Also on display will be the John Weiler Memorial Garden that has a growing collection of drought-tolerant perennials and hybrid plants. The garden honors the memory of Weiler, a Fresno State botany and plant science professor from 1962 to 1989 and founder of the Fresno Iris Society in 1967. He later became president of the Reblooming Iris Society. He began hybridizing reblooming iris in 1970 and developed more than 90 varieties of new colors and vigors before he died in 2011. INFO: Calliope Correia at 559.278.2952 or ccorreia@csufresno.edu, or visit www.fresnoirissociety.org.
