Some morning thoughts:
Tom said:
<< I share your opinion that it's a shame that the potential of so many species as garden plants has gone untapped, and think it's a shame that so many gardeners think only of TBs when they think of irises. It's just that I think you have the cause-and-effect of it backwards. Awards can help nudge work in a particular class, but they cannot make any obscure corner of the genus as popular as TBs! Mostly, the awards have to *follow* the production of new cultivars in a class and the interest in growing them. Whenever the production of new cultivars has increased to the point where awards become meaningful, awards have been created.
And this, of course, is exactly correct. You can't give an award to something that does not exist and someone has to do the actual work to produce the plants and if no one is interested in working with species then, arguably, it is not AIS who has failed, it is SIGNA.
I think Christie's thoughts on the challenges of bringing beardless things to perfection and to market are on point. I have had these thoughts but you don't want to say the hybridizers are taking the easy way because it certainly would not be accurate. They are dedicated to a vision of perfection of their own, or a journey they find endlessly fascinating and they are entitled to pursue whatever direction they want, for whatever reason they want, using what ever irises they want, and that is all there is to it. There is a level or levles at which pragmatics and economics must enter the picture, but that is just the old story of reality again.
Also: I think the observation that all the beardless things are approaching the condition of the TBs with ruffling and roundness and such is probably something to think about. I'm been thinking about it for years.
Also: I think the notion that some of the sophisticated species crosses and such that we dream about are likely to turn out to be garden plants is probably overly optimistic. I think they are likely always to be collectors' items, and I think that is okay, too.
Also:
I think this notion of popularity of the TB in the general gardening population may not, in fact, be universal. I've come to understand that this probably varies a lot around the country. Around here, the nurseries invariably favor a limited range of beardless irises, when they have irises at all, and the only ones the staff is interested in, are the natives and a handful of water irises. The fashionable gardeners, by which I do not mean the "garden as decor" crowd, but the ones who, say, know who Avent is, think bearded irises as such are beneath contempt because they are fuddy duddy and in the same category aesthetically as, say, HT roses. Some interest has been seen in the Siberians, especially by the ornamental grass, berm, and mulch fanciers, but the only spurias I have ever seen are stands of orientalis behind a couple of Victorian houses in Charlottesville where they had probably been growing since the early part of the twentieth century. Some few potted bearded irises show up in the nurseries in the spring, and some sell when in bloom, but the rhizomes for sale are those boogery things in bags that come in with the bulbs in the fall. There has been a lot of noise about rebloomers, but if folks don't want the things blooming once in their yards they sure don't want them blooming twice.
The level of ignorance of the professional staffs of the nurseries is testament to the fact that the horticulture schools are giving very short shrift to Iris generally when they teach perennials, and I think this last is a very real problem. I have been concerned about it for years. This impacts whatever sorts of irises are being grown, of whatever age, for whatever purpose. The younger horticulturists are all into obscure woodies and would not be caught dead growing a bearded iris, even a species. The only thing I know less popular is peonies. Hostas and daylilies are waning. The green industry is suffering and the market is flooded with designer cone flowers, outre sweet potatoes, and multicolored tissue-cultured alum roots. Victorian bedding out is back.
Finally:
About the notion that modern bearded irises arise from a few species which have had their day as objects of interest. The simple fact is, with the possible exception of Ii. pallida and variegata, we know very little indeed about most of those progenitors. I believe there is much to be discovered there; indeed, I suspect we don't even know what we think we know about some of them.
AMW
Richmond VA USA
