Re: Iris recognition: Viewpoints [etc]

A few years before I was named as a judge I pulled together a "Regional Test
Garden" for Region 11--Montana, Wyoming and Idaho--at my home garden in
Fruitland, ID, at the extreme western side of a very large region with a very
small number of judges.  Only two of the region's active judges lived within
sixty miles of my home but the only route between Salt Lake and Portland
passed within a mile of that garden.  Numerous accredited judges made the trip
toward Salem and the large gardens there on that route.

Over the years the test garden was active there were exactly two visits by
judges to the garden, despite the widely advertised fact of its presence in
the region.  A substantial number of varieties originating in Region 11 had
been collected together and planted there.

One of those visits was from Wilma Vallette who lived five hours from
Fruitland.  Wilma also was the only hybridizer within the region who made a
serious effort to have most of her current introductions and pending
introductions planted there.

After I became a judge I spent a lot of money, tire-rubber and time getting
around to growers in the region, including those in the Caldwell, Boise, Declo
(Wilma Vallete's), Pocatello, Missoula and Coeur d'Alene areas, as well as
going over the Blue Mountain range to Opal Brown's in Milton-Freewater, OR and
to Gordon Plough's Eden Road Iris Garden in Region 13. I also made some effort
to have some of my own things planted in places where they could be seen.

Out of all that over nearly twenty years I gained one EC, one HM, a
substantial drain on my personal resources and had an enormous amount of fun.

Part of my distress arose from the nearly impossible geographical problems a
judge faces in Region 11.

I have more recently discovered Region 4 has its own share of geographical
issues.  This western side of the region has a few judges who are worked to
the bone.  There are zero judges in Asheville, two in the general area of
Hendersonville, a few in Charlotte, and then one is looking to draw someone
from High Point, NC, Knoxville, TN or from South Carolina if area gardens are
to be seen or shows judged.  It simply doesn't happen easily.  I have an idea
the Charlotte area iris judges are as overworked as ours are.

I once thought Regional Test Gardens were the answer to the problem of judges
spread too thinly to be effective.  After experiencing the issue of
maintaining such a garden I changed my mind.  There is a lot of cost, time and
responsibility involved I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I don't have a solution.  I see a lot of judges' names on the roster.  I've
met only two of them in the few years I've been involved in irises here.
Those are the two who live closest, one of whom grows JI's almost exclusively,
the other interested in Siberians and generally unfamiliar with recent bearded
introductions.

My own plantings are the only ones I know of in the entire western end of NC
where recent and new introductions can be seen.  No judges have visited here
yet.

Neil Mogensen    z 7  in mountainous western NC--between Asheville and
Hendersonville.

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