Gardens were as important to the inhabitants of Tinker Swiss Cottage as the inside of the cottage itself.

Robert Tinker, who built the home in southwest Rockford in 1865, not only landscaped the grounds with trees, vines, winding pathways and flower beds. He also built a small conservatory in which he grew tropical plants like those he had enjoyed while growing up in Hawaii.

His first wife, Mary Manny, lived across the creek. Soon, their homes and their hearts were connected by a suspension bridge and elaborate gardens on both sides of the creek. Mary's favorite flowers were peonies.

Tinker's second wife, Jessie, loved irises. She grew them and bred new varieties, often winning awards in iris shows in the early 1900s. She and son, Ted, would take irises into Chicago to sell at markets. In 1915, she held an iris show at the cottage to raise money for the Rockford Children's Home.

The staff at the Tinker museum has worked hard to re-create the kinds of gardens and flower beds the Tinkers had and now, thanks to a local man named Mike Diventi, the Swiss Cottage will feature some of the most elaborate and interesting iris beds in northern Illinois. Diventi has given Tinker his collection of thousands of iris plants, consisting of 123 varieties of historic irises.

Some, said Tinker director Beverly Broyles, go way back. The Florentina has roots in the 1500s; another named Germanicus dates to 1753.

"They are in many different colors," Broyles said. "Oranges with a hint of lavender in the beard, striking bright yellows, beautiful purples, and even some interesting combinations of salmon and deep purple. One, called Blackout, is very nearly black."

Tinker has the irises planted temporarily in some holding beds. This winter, a group of iris experts will meet to plan where and how the irises should be planted to best show them off.

"We want this to be a real tribute to Jessie Tinker and to Mike," Broyles said.

It's an important and wonderful way to add to the authenticity of the Tinker site.

Staff and volunteers have worked hard to restore the grounds around the unique cottage in recent years. A prairie is being planted in an area where the Tinker's cows used to graze. In front of the cottage is a circular rose bed with heritage rose plants, which the Tinkers had in the early 1900s.

And work has been done to re-create the elaborate Railroad Gardens Robert Tinker planted on the creek bank.

The history story to be learned at the cottage has become more than the tale of Robert Tinker, a former mayor, founder of the Park District, landscaper and industrialist. And it's more than the cottage, with its parquet floors, ornate woodwork and two-story octagonal library with a one-of-a-kind winding staircase. The cottage still contains the furnishings and utensils of the Tinkers, showing exactly what their lives were like in the latter part of the 1800s and early part of the 1900s. It's also a look at how people used and enjoyed their gardens for beauty, relaxation and food.

The whole package, Broyles said, is a wonderful way to display history for all ages.

Tinker hopes to do more of that every year, of course. While the museum is struggling, like other nonprofits, through these depressing economic times, it is looking ahead and moving forward.

Hopes are high for a $25,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In a contest called "This Place Matters," the nonprofit getting the most votes will get the grant. As of midweek, Tinker was in second place.

Cast your ballot online. Go to tinkercottage.com, click on "This Place Matters" and register to vote. Once you do that and hit the "submit" button, you have voted.

You can only vote once, but so can anyone else you know with a different e-mail address. Pass the word to friends and neighbors. Let's get this grant to help preserve and showcase one of the things that makes Rockford such a neat city.

The deadline for voting is Sept. 15. Do it today and get someone else to vote, too.

Geri Nikolai writes about home and garden for the Rockford Register Star. She may be contacted at 815-871-6850 or gmnikolai@gmail.com.