As someone already mentioned, the first British Dykes medal in 1927
was awarded to a cal-sib. Yet cal-sibs weren't even *eligible* for an
AIS Dykes until 2003 when the SPEC-X class was created. Seventy-six
years is a heck of a long time for AIS to have waited to even begin
fixing its awards system.
Could someone who's actually seen 'Dolce' explain which species-like
traits it shows that fall outside what's allowed in the TB class? If
it fits the rules of the category, but simply won't win because of
current judging preference, the implication of winning the SPEC-X is
"it's not good enough to be a TB, but it's still better than all those
wacky beardless hybrids."
As to the idea that advanced bearded hybrids are popular with the
general public because they're the most garden-worthy, adaptable
irises - um, they have to be divided regularly, rot if planted or
mulched improperly and suffer from things like iris borer and leaf
spot. My beardless (including ones with existing AIS classes) have
been ensconced for years and are never diseased.
As to AIS classes existing because of popularity nation-wide, I've
never seen anyone growing Louisianas, PCs, or Japanese around here
besides myself. I know one other person growing Spurias, and he's a
botany professor specializing in Iris who has a single clump of
graminea. Yet practically every house around here, even those without
a garden proper, has reticulatas. Reticulata and xiphium hybrids are
in every general gardening catalog. Blue flags and pseudacorus are
available in every corner pond supply store, but even our most
wide-ranging native species were excluded from receiving AIS medals
until 2003.
As a disclaimer, I'd like to point out that I like bearded irises. I'd
like to grow more bearded species, they're just hard to obtain. I
probably have more modern hybrid TBs than any other single iris type,
though I'm trying to cut back to only the weird and unusual. I just
think that, given the current situation with AIS, bearded hybridizers
should voluntarily leave the SPEC-X category alone, since it's the
*only* option available to hybridizers of most iris species. Allowing
a plant like 'Dolce' to compete is gaming the system, biased as it is
towards TBs.
Sean Z
Michigan
