AIS: OKC part 1 -- section meetings

From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>

At my first convention (Dearborn), I had decided to skip the section
meetings thinking that they were just boring annual general meetings -- NOT.
I strongly encourage all conventioneers to plan to attend a few section
meetings as a large portion of the meeting time is allocated to guest
speakers.  Unfortunately I couldn't attend all meetings as they are held
concurrently (more than Kathy as these meetings were concurrent with the
board meeting so she didn't get to any).  So here's my summary of the guest
speakers that I heard.

MEDIAN IRIS SOCIETY -- George Sutton

As many of you know George specializes in TB space-agers and rebloomers.
But he has embarked on a median program and I have heard him contemplating
JIs.  He claims to have been born in 1913 -- where does he get his energy?

His median hybridizing program is to get warm weather SDBs that are not
white, yellow or blue.  He spoke at length about IB X IB crosses and the
scope of the results -- MDBs, SDBs, IBs, TBs and pumila spots on TBs.  In
addition, these have a full range of space agers, rebloomers and oncers.

One cross of DITTO X HOT produced an MDB that rebloomed for 6 months and had
the fragrance of HOT.  It is a yellow with a darker spot, with closed
standards and round form.  I think he said that it would be introduced in
two years.

George showed many slides of seedlings and spoke about crosses with Jesse's
Song, Rare Edition, Chanted and Sigh.  He also reported on the performance
of some his newest cultivars.  MINICHAMPAGNE had a second year spring bloom
with 15 stalks and fall bloom with 3-4 stalks.  AGATHA CHRISTIE had 125
blooms in its second year (This couldn't have been one clump -- I should
have asked.)

For those of us in colder climates, George sends his seedlings way up in the
mountains to test for hardiness.

JAPANESE IRIS SOCIETY -- Terry Aitken

Lots of slides at this meeting and not enough note-taking on my part.  The
highlight of this meeting was Terry Aitken reporting that three hybridizers
are now working on reblooming JIs and good quality rebloomers have been
easier to achieve than with TBs.  Terry reported 3-4 branches, double
sockets, high bud counts and modern form for rebloomers.  Terry has rebloom
in late August with last bloom mid-December.  He is working on a reblooming
line with RIVULETS OF WINE and reports that there are reblooming genes in
SOUTHERN SUN (McEwen) and TAFFETA VELVET (Harris).

REBLOOMING IRIS SOCIETY -- Bill Shear

Bill spoke on iris selection for year round bloom.  This covered the full
range from the various species to hybrids and from bulbous to rhizomatous.
All beautifully illustrated with slides.  There was also a discussion on pH
requirements.  I think we concluded that iris are highly adaptability and
have a wide pH range.  However, irises originating from an area accustomed
to a very different pH will take two years to acclimatize.

SPURIA IRIS SOCIETY -- Bobby Shepard and Lee Walker

Bobby and Lee put on a great slide show.  Bobby illustrated the color range
and shapes of spurias.  Colors range from pastels to hot colours and sharp
contrasts.  It went so fast that I have marked LUCKY DEVIL and STELLA IRENE
with stars but no notes, so I don't remember why I really liked them.

Lee showed slides of his hybridizing program.  He has been hybridizing for 8
years and is looking for pink and true orange (not copper).  He is producing
a number of seedlings with three colors in the falls.

SIBERIAN IRIS SOCIETY -- Bob Hollingworth

Bob spoke about recent breakthroughs in siberians and his current
hybridizing program.

Yellows count as a recent breakthrough.  When Bob embarked on the search for
a yellow, he got Butter & Sugar on his first round.  It has taken him 13
years to get to his second -- HELLO YELLOW introduced this year.  The goal
for yellow has been non-fading color.  It seems that this year there are a
number of introductions that may have achieved this goal.

Also, new color combinations are emerging.  These are evident in
Shaefer/Sachs new intros this year e.g., SALAMANDER CROSSING.

Bob reported on two newish hybridizing programs -- the pixie class (18-20")
and the six-fall class.

In the six-fall class, Bob reported on a number of new Shigara cultivars
(collected mutant crosses) that he has been using -- SHUKUHAN, MANJU.  He is
finding this program particularly challenging as he is finding results do
not give consistently symmetrical six falls.  He reports that Ensata Gardens
is also working on six-fall siberians.

That's it for me.  I did hear that the SIGNA session was exceptional and
that it was repeated.  Can someone fill in with highlights this and other
sessions that I missed?

Maureen Mark
m*@ottawa.com
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4)

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