For most of the year, the 30 planting beds at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens lay dormant at the base of a gentle hill in Upper Montclair. But for about four to six weeks every spring, the irises bloom in an awesome explosion of color.

Seen in: Home & Style, Jersey Living, Outdoors

Erin Colfax, a science teacher at Morristown High School, did not show up for class on September 23. Instead, she was in head-to-toe rain gear giving her students a firsthand lesson on global warming via a live satellite video feed from the Arctic tundra to a classroom computer.

Seen in: Jersey Celebrities, Jersey Living

The New Jersey State Opera returns to the grand stage in September with a weekend of festivities in Ocean Grove. In 2006, the Opera’s founder and artistic director, Alfredo Silipigni, died suddenly, leaving the company anchorless. But the company is back with a new music director, Jason Tramm, who studied under Silipigni.

Seen in: Jersey Shore