AIS: Quick convention report (but long post)
- Subject: AIS: Quick convention report (but long post)
- From: M* M*
- Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 15:42:27 -0400
This will be shorter than my reports in previous years so that I can get it
out in a more timely fashion than last year. I won't comment on judge's
training because others have already done so.
This convention was a different experience for me as Emily, our 11-year old
daughter, was attending for the first time. So Sandy went off to the board
meetings on Monday and Tuesday while I tried to keep Emily entertained while
the pool and hot tub at the hotel were closed. Apparently, we could have
been driven to another facility, but I didn't feel like being chauffeured
somewhere else just for a dip in the pool or a soak in the hot tub. I tried
taking her to a few of the section meetings, but she found those boring too.
And I must say, the programs weren't as exciting as previous ones that I've
attended -- am I getting jaded? And Emily usually attends meetings of the
local horticultural and rock garden clubs and isn't bored. I hope that
someone else will report on the section meetings as I didn't attend very
many and left a few of them early.
The garden tours are always an adventure. They are never perfect. The
convention planners always have some challenges. In Dearborn, it was the
unseasonably cool spring so that there were no TBs in bloom. In Denver,
there was snow. In Oklahoma, the tornadoes. In Dallas, there was scorch.
And in York, there was drought but the first rain appeared during the
convention and it thunderstormed Friday night.
We were on the yellow bus with the iris Oh So Pretty and were fortunate to
have as companions in the front of the bus, George and Margaret Sutton,
Roger Duncan and Rick Tasco (Superstition Gardens), Clarence Mahan (who was
also Emily's buddy), our own John Jones and Joanna and the indomitable
Rosalie Figge.
Day 1 was the northern tour -- Marquart, Innerst and Jerrard gardens. The
first thing that caught me eye at the Marquart garden was an Innerst
seedling 3763-5. It was an unlisted guest seedling. It was a marvelous red
bearded white. Queen's Circle (Kerr 2000) was looking great in this and
other gardens. It is a lovely white with a wide purple band on the falls.
Violet Shimmer (Moores 1998) was looking its usual fabulous self with three
bloom stalks, 10 increases and 9 buds.
In Sterling's garden, Krill (Copeland 2000) was a large clump of light
yellow pseudacorus. And there was Zarky One a siberian seedling by Michael
Zarky. And wouldn't you know it, it's not registered and I didn't write
down what caught my eye. Anyone want to chime in here? Snow Job (Black
1998) is a red bearded white that looked good in a few gardens.
The Jerrard Garden is Sterling Innerst's old property. There was a
wonderful clump of Heartbreak Hotel (Sutton 1997). The blooms were HUGE.
Day 2 was the western tour -- Roberts, Golembieski and Griffie gardens. At
the end of day 2, there were far too many irises that I liked. I loved the
colours (grey and yellow) on Suspicion (Keppel 1999) and it made great
stalks. Christiana Baker (Kerr 1999) was looking great (on day one I noted
that it was short and bunchy). I really liked the colours on this one and
it was looking good on day 3 too. The falls have a precise narrow rim of
dark blue. There were lots of nice siberians and medians too. Delirium
(Smith, 2001) is an IB with new colours.
Day 3 was the southern tour -- Warner, Hornstein, Bury and Leader gardens.
This was the day it really rained. I got soaked trying to take notes in
Carol's garden for the Siberian bulletin, but Carol had lovely hot cinnamon
buns for us. Then our bus got stuck in the mud after it dropped us off at
the Hornstein garden. Then we heard that our bus got unstuck, only to hear
10 minutes later that the bus had disappeared (and Clarence had disappeared
too). Some of us speculated that Clarence may have hijacked the bus. By
this time, it was really pouring outside, so we settled down by the wood
stove. There were piles of shoes, socks etc drying by the stove. The bus
returns with a cracked windshield and a broken mirror.
But that was okay because now we're headed over to lunch. NOT. We get lost
trying to find the right interchange. Then we get lost trying to find the
restaurant. So we arrive at the restaurant at the time that we were
supposed to be leaving. The enormous platters more than made up for the
later lunch. The chicken platters were a full half chicken. If you asked
for ham, you got a platter with a pile several inches high. And the peanut
butter pie was so rich...
The rest of the day was overcast and great for taking pictures. Carol's
garden was in peak bloom for siberians and I made copious notes on lots of
neat stuff -- the new Schaefer Sachs diploids, new polytepals from
Bauer/Coble, great tetraploids from Hollingsworth and some new hybridizers.
You'll have to read my write-up for the Siberian bulletin.
At the end of the day, voting was difficult. There were so many great
things. Of the top winners, the only one that didn't make it to my top 15
list was Grobswitcher. And that was only because I saw the two huge clumps
with copious bloom stalks after the thunderstorm. I really wished that I
could have seen it on previous days. And I forgot to mention, Sterling's
Anvil of Darkness was all over the place. If you like black ones, this is
one you might want to consider. It is black -- not purple, not blue --
black.
Emily enjoyed the garden tours and has been talking about going to Memphis.
She even enjoyed the judge's training. It will certainly help her as she
looks at the flowers and decides on which crosses she will make this season.
So another convention come and gone. Thanks to all the organizers for a
wonderful time. It's always a great time to get together with old friends
and to meet new ones with a common passion. So, what will Memphis have to
face in planning their convention?
Maureen Mark
Ottawa (zone 4) where there's chance of frost in low lying areas
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