Re: AIS: awards, judges (recognition)

(1) In addition to the limitations to photos already mentioned, the only
parts of the plant mentioned in the discussion of photos so far are the
stalk and flower.

The only part of an iris plant I look at when I'm "judging" (I'm not a
judge) whether or not a cultivar is likely to do well for me is the base
of the plant.  Much to the irritation of "real" judges around me <g>.
Most photos of the whole plant or a clump cut off the 'ugly' part of the
plant where the rhizome and diseased foliage usually shows up.

(2)  I've changed my attitude about AIS awards after starting to pollen
daub.  It used to annoy me that some really worthless performers in our
area would win top awards.  Now I appreciate knowing which irises, in
optimal growing conditions, produce spectacular bloom, stalks, &
increase with good bud count.  If I can get viable pollen and a few
surviving seedlings in the occasional bloom season that will let a
marginal grower bloom here, I know that the genes for good stalks, bud
count etc will be there to mix with my tough plants that may lack those
qualities.  So I would go ahead and try using pollen from a stunted
stalk with only 3 blooms on a cultivar that has won AM & HM awards
knowing that it has the potential for great children.

At least I would try that with established color classes and patterns,
not new breaking things that might not be the best yet.

(3) Neil has described the problems with spread out regions with few
judges as well as with a regional trial garden.  I still would like to
see some kind of regional evaluation as well as national ones.

Maybe an 'elimination' award system for all new irises - not seen, died,
ok.  Not exactly a popularity poll <g>  The cultivar with the most "not
dead" votes wins!

Or maybe several trial gardeners in each region, each located close
enough to 3 or 4 judges that they would actually be able to see the
plants.  In our region, maybe one in Memphis, one in middle TN?, one
somewhere in KY?  For TB's, that would be 581 new intros last year (2003
R&I), or less than 200 new cultivars at each location if they divided
them up.  That's almost a manageable number.  Maybe 600 irises to keep
track of if they were grown for 3 yrs.

(4) Length of eligibility - seems to me there could be some kind of
eligibility based on whether or not judges have seen a cultivar.  Maybe
it could remain eligible for at least 10 yrs after introduction if no
more than x% of the judges have ever seen it in a garden.

Wow, talk about a book-keeping nightmare for judges and for whoever got
stuck compiling the information...

Not sure any of these are useful thoughts....

I changed the subject line - when I saw 'recognition', I thought this
was a thread about how to ID unknowns <g>

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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