Iris enthusiast Kathy Chilton gets a kick out of talking about her special standing in the iris world.
She is the namesake of a bearded iris with wine-red and black petals topped by a crown of yellow petals.
"I have gotten calls from people who say, 'You are blooming in my garden and you are just gorgeous,' " says the president of the Tucson Area Iris Society.
Introduced in 2006 by California hybridizer Jeff Kerr, the Kathy Chilton is an award-winner among American Iris Society judges.
The human Chilton has grown irises for 15 years. She judges shows and presents talks worldwide.
She grows 600
varieties of iris on her Three Points ranch. She grew some of the plants that Kerr now uses to introduce new varieties.
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"I'm in gardens everywhere even when I'm not there," she says with a laugh.
Elena Acoba