Yucaipa Iris Festival Garden Tour delights and surprises tour visitors

Stewart has converted most of his back yard into 1600 feet of miniature train track. The track is elevated about three feet above the ground and covers about 860 square feet.

The detail is amazing. The train slowly chugs along, winding through countryside past farms and fields, trees and streams. It travels past a barnyard scene where chickens cackle and cows moo. It passes under a rock outcropping with a waterfall cascading over the side. With a mournful whistle, the train rumbles over an old trestle bridge.

On most days you can find Stewart tinkering with his creation. "I'm always testing or building new engines or installing new trains," Mike Stewart said. "We've got the ground covered with miniature plants and shrubs that don't' grow very high."

For Don Kramer, the train and the scenery took him back in time.

"When I was a kid in Pennsylvania on my grandfather's farm they had the same kind of scenes he has," Kramer said. "I remember hearing the long, mournful sound of the train whistle when it went by the farm. This brings back a simpler time, a happier time."

Mary Mook doesn't claim to be a designer or landscape architect. But the visitors touring her flower gardens, water fountains, citrus grove with 55 naval orange trees, and covered gazebo encircled by red, white, and yellow roses would beg to differ.

"The romantic style of her home and garden is so beautiful," said Garden Tour visitor, Judy Wheeler. "The gazebo is like a meditation area where you could relax, sip lemonade, and read a book."

Mook, a master gardener, said she loves being a gardener. "It centers me," she said. "I call this our English Country Garden because of all the variety of plants we have."

Mary's husband, Walter, said that his wife sees designs in her mind and then creates them. "What you see here is what she sees; it's her creativity," Walter said. "Her whole concept is serenity, to have quiet places. This removes us from urban life. We're kind of like little dirt farmers."

None of the homes and gardens on the Garden Tour were alike. Some were spacious, as the Mook's 1 1/4 acre setting. Others, such as Darla and Yves Ostor, had very little room to garden with.

The Ostor's back yard is about 30 feet deep and 80 feet wide. But yet what they created - a courtyard that rises about 10 feet above and overlooking their patio - brought praise from tour visitors. Wide, wooden steps lead to the courtyard where Cherry, Apricot, and Orange trees grow, their trunks surrounded by Spanish tile interwoven with Mexican pavers, and brick.

"We wanted something real relaxing," said Darla Ostor. "We have created many different areas we can go to and enjoy that are quiet and peaceful."