ll flowers are alluring, but there’s something special about the iris. It comes in different sizes, shapes and colors, just like the people who admire it.

And that’s the way it should be. The iris flower draws its name from the Greek word for rainbow.The rainbow is a symbol of peace and tranquillity, and that’s the feeling expressed by iris lovers who forge a strong bond through their devotion to the dazzling perennial.“The iris is different. Its form is upright and there’s nothing like it,” says Andy Rivarola of Valley Glen, California.Rivarola is second vice president of the American Iris Society.He and some 300 other members of that group visited the spectacular display of iris and other plants at Glenara Gardens on Dairy Road in Palmerton in late May.Each member was a judge. Each set of discriminating eyes was intent of selecting just the finest examples of iris to be found.They arrived in coaches provided by DeCamp Bus Lines, Montclair, New Jersey.The first excursion of three buses arrived in the morning, others in the afternoon.The day was earmarked for studying a wide array of delicate iris hybrids and complementary flowering plants nestled among five acres of gently sloping Carbon County hillside.The visitors came from the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia and New Zealand. They said they were delighted to witness iris mastery of George and Carol Boyce, creators of Glenara Gardens.They said the landscape was perfect.“There is a nice slope here,” said Bob Hollingworth of Williamston, Missouri. “You can’t grow iris on a swamp.”Another said each judge has an eye for something different.“Some of these people are hybridizers, owners of large and small gardens,” says Ron Thomas of West Chester, bus captain.The visitors share much in common: their love of iris and their bonds of friendship with one another.“I like the color variations and the ones that have wings,” says judge and AIS treasurer Jill Bonino of Glendale, California.“I do a program for my local club, which is the Southern California Iris Society.”Gary White of Lincoln, Nebraska, spoke of his first show.“Mine was the Pittsburgh Iris and Daffodil Society.”It just so happens, the blooming iris attracts love in a special way, according to AIS President Gary White of Lincoln, Nebraska.“There’s so much diversity,” he says.And there’s much diversity in the AIS members, too, which include young and old, tall and short.“I like this one,” says Judy Nunn of Salem, Oregon, pointing to a variety named Judy, Judy, Judy.She smiled, of course, over the fact that the flower carried her name, something that stimulated conversation among the judges.“Everyone thinks it’s named after Cary Grant,” says Hollingworth, explaining that it’s actually named after the wife of the hybridizer.“Everyone really spotted it in its home garden in Lansing,” says judge Chad Harris of Washougal, Washington.Hollingworth comments that names of the iris varieties are a fascinating study in diversity.“It’s the scariest thing in the world to name an iris,” he says, laughing.The day was most special, perhaps, for hosts George and Carol Boyce.“It’s a labor of love, five years in the making,” admits George, retired from a 40-year career in sports broadcasting in radio and television.“There was just two of us and this was all lawn,” says Carol, wearing delicate Cloisonné earrings of turquoise and yellow in unmistakable iris form.The display at Glenara Gardens celebrates and showcases diversity, judges said.The Boyces moved to Palmerton in 2008 so that Carol could be near her work as superintendent of schools.She now works in the Montrose area, but the vision of Glenara Gardens remains intact at 520 Dairy Road.Glenara didn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of a lifetime of dreaming.But the result is an opportunity to showcase nature at its finest and friendships at their best.It was just another part of a rainbow kind of day, a day filled with camaraderie, beauty and love.