Welcome to Long’s Gardens! We are a third generation, family owned and operated iris farm in the middle of Boulder, Colorado. We were founded in 1905 by J.D. Long. Today the business is carried on by Catherine Long Gates, grand-daughter of J.D., and her husband, Dennis Gates.
For more on our history, see About Us. We specialize in bearded iris, which we sell online, as dig it yourself, and by mail order. Operating an agricultural enterprise in the middle of a city makes for some interesting challenges, but also provides an opportunity for people to slow down, take a break, and relax (take a virtual tour in our Gallery). Come see and smell the iris and enjoy a bit of historical Boulder. We’re open to the public when the iris are in bloom, late April through early June. Please check back often for updates.
Long’s Shorts
We are open for the Spring bloom season and hoping that many of you will be able to come enjoy it with us. Besides just enjoying the iris blooms and the peacefulness of the farm you might want to take advantage of our Spring U-dig to add some new iris to your garden. We replanted some of our U-Dig fields (pictured below) and they are open for digging every day from 9 to 5, through June 16th. We’ll also be opening our on-line store in the next day or two. We still have just a bit of checking and inventorying to do. The snow has melted and new blooms are opening on the miniature and standard dwarfs (Billy Boy, a standard dwarf pictured below). The merchandise portion of our online store is open all year. Click Here to browse the store.
Billy Boy, a dwarf variety, sporting an extra petal
In the market for more than plants? – you may satisfy some of your iris desires with our iris t-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags. They also make great gifts. Not sure what to get your gardening friend? How about a gift card? Gift cards may be used for merchandise or to purchase iris plants.
Orders are filled in July and August. Each plant is hand dug. The leaves are trimmed and they get a thorough washing. After that the plants spend some time drying before being carefully packed and sent via Priority Mail to your home.
Over the years many of you have had the pleasure of being greeted and assisted by one of our key staff members, Andy Hanscom. Sadly, Andy died very unexpectedly on April 28, 2021. It was Andy’s 14th season working here.
We are mourning a good life ended much too soon.
Kind hearted, generous, and friendly Andy had a hard time throwing an iris on the compost pile so he became the iris equivalent of Johnny Appleseed, distributing iris plants to countless folks, especially his mountain neighbors.
Updated on April 22, 2024
