Introduction
- To: i*@egroups.com
- Subject: Introduction
- From: N* M*
- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 12:48:27 -0000
The welcome message to Iris Talk suggests a newcomer introduce
oneself. I fell in love with iris in the 1940's, and slowly over the
next thirty years I built up a collection that was more historical
than contemporary and raised tons of seedlings. The compost pile
waxed fat therefrom. I introduced a quarter Aril-bred in 1960, then
over the next several years registered a number of seedlings that
should have stayed in the kennel. A few exceptions went to Utah to
be introduced by Tell Muhlestein. I served a number of years as a
Garden Judge, then briefly as RVP for Region 11, then vanished.
A number of interruptions due to school, moves, marriage etc. became
increasingly frustrating, and then my involvement in irises finally
got thoroughly trounced by demands of career and graduate school. I
left Idaho in 1982 headed for seminary and then for a mid-life
ordination in the Episcopal Church. During my active years in church
work I had no space, time or opportunity to grow irises, and to
soften the pain of that had just dropped out. Now I'm retired
and have a chance to get back at it.
Thanks mostly to Keith Keppel, an old friend from the sixties and
seventies, I have some excellent breeding stock. My interest is
narrow and intentionally focused as I have limited space but
boundless ambition. Purple colors, ranging from lilac to wine and
rose, have always been a fascination. Even though the market has
quite a number of varieties in these tones, who knows what the future
may bring? My first crosses from the new hopefuls will begin to
bloom this spring.
Neil Mogensen
Arden (Asheville) North Carolina USDA Zone 7a
