About Us

My wife Marcy and I moved to Wilton over thirty-one years ago to find a more peaceful environment for the family and so I would have plenty of room for gardening.  It worked!  I could hardly get rid of all the vegetables I grew.  One day my mother gave me some irises that she had after splitting hers and I was off and running.

As luck would have it, noted hybridizer Jim McWhirter moved in next door, started planting his irises and we became fast friends.  Jim introduced me to the “real” iris world by taking me to various local, regional and national iris events.  We even went to Japan on an iris tour in 1985.

He also introduced me to many other hybridizers in Region 14.  Among them were Ben Hager and Sid Dubose who were outstanding mentors, and I learned so much from them.  Jim and I became partners in Cottage Gardens from 1986 until 1997 when Marcy and I started Lauer’s Flowers.

I made my first cross in 1985, introduced my first flower, LEMON POP an IB, in 1990 which eventually won the Sass Medal in 1996 and my first TB, OPENING ACT in 1991.  The year 2000 was an especially good year for me as I won the Wister Medal for STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (which won the Dykes the following year), the Franklin Cook Memorial Cup at the Dallas Convention for PENNY LANE and the Dr. Loomis Award at the trial gardens in Colorado for SANDY BEACH.  I was awarded the Hybridizer’s Medal at this year’s National AIS Convention and ORANGE POP was awarded the Knowlton Medal for border beardeds.

I remain active in my local society and region plus attend most national conventions. I have been a garden judge since 1989.  I really enjoy hybridizing and mixing it up with other irisairians.