Re: AIS:Conventions-Long
- To:
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] AIS:Conventions-Long
- From: A* K*
- Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 11:27:46 -0600
I want to add a hearty "Amen" to the material Walter quoted concerning attendance at an AIS national convention. I have only been able to do that once, in 1990 in Omaha, when I was just new in the society. Various circumstances have kept me from another convention, including having a regular job, but now I'm retired I hope to get to others. It is truly a wonderful iris experience that every enthusiast ought to have. I had a ball because there were so many great flowers, so many great people I met, and so much learning I gained.
It was really great to sit at a table or in a tour bus with people who, until then, had only been names in parentheses in an iris catalog. Here were all the major hybridizers in the flesh, and I could enjoy their company. I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it so much nicer to have a face and personality to go along with a name. "Personality" is the word, too, because many of these iris "names" have that in spades. Sitting at a banquet table with Dr. and Mrs. Currier McEwen was a delightful experience that I remember with special joy, but they were not the only ones who made the convention memorable. All the "biggies" were there, and I got to meet a lot of them. Besides those, of course, were all the others who were were more or less regular people, if I may call them that, who just grew and enjoyed iris. Most were much more experienced and knowledgeable than I was, and I made new friends from all over the country.
And to be new in "irising" and then walk in the midst of all those experts, well, it was a learning experience that couldn't be equalled. I tagged along with big-name hybridizers sometimes and eavesdropped shamelessly as they discussed and debated the merits (or demerits) of one or another plant. It didn't take long to realize that there was a lot more to look for than only flower size or color. Those few convention days on tour in the gardens were an unbeatable class in iris growing and appreciation.
So, go to a national convention? By all means, if you can, do it! I hope to meet you there.
Arnold
Arnold & Carol Koekkoek
38 7th Street, NE
Sioux Center, IA 51250
e-mail koekkoek@mtcnet.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
