Re: Re: AIS: AIS/TBIS:preview of gardens

> >I do not believe that the AIS or most of its' members necessarily
> >regard classes of iris other than TB as "underlings'.
>
> I'll believe that when the AIS starts promoting the other classes and
> types as vigorously as it does TBs.

My whole point being that an organization is largely a reflection of its'
membership. AIS promotes what its' members as a whole reflect their
interest in. If 75 percent of the members prefer TB, then approximately
75 percent of the material you see will focus on TB. If you are speaking
culture wise, all bearded irises benefit from similar treatment and suffer
from similar diseases. So any articles covering these topics ARE covering
medians as well. (Sorry beardless folks, different rules apply :) )

I have seen articles in the Bulletin covering Siberians, species, arilbreds,
and
several other areas if iris interest. Genetics and hybridizing articles
apply to
all the bearded classes pretty much. There are articles on design and
showing
which cover all irises.



> >  I think the real
> >driving force that makes the tall bearded more popular is "growability".
>
> TBs may well be the most widely "growable" class and type of irises
> (though I suspect there are certain species that are currently even more
> growable across an even wider geographic range, ex. pseudacorus), but I
> believe the popularity of TBs is largely the result of the AIS's
> promotional efforts.
>

I agree there are more widely grown species, but they are generally not as
exciting
to the broader iris audience. I grow several pseudos and LA species, but I
know
few who ooohhh and aaahhh over them like they do ANY bearded iris. The thing
that draws most attention to the TB is the size, followed by
floriferuosness. You can
spend three lifetimes working on an SDB, but you can't get it big enough to
have 4
branches and 15 buds, or on that size stalk a 10" flower. Those are the
qualities that
make the general public favor the TB. Every iris show I have ever been to
has a huge
amount of people who say nice things about all the other irises and see the
TB only to
go, "WOW!, look at those!".

>
> I contend that if the AIS were to promote the above classes and types as
> vigorously as they have TBs, consumer interest would rise, more
> hybridizers would work on these other irises, and improvements in
> growability would result just as they have in TBs.

And this begs the question....if AIS is mostly only promoting TB, then why
is there a TBIS again?
By the way, lest I be labeled a TB fanatic, I grow 170 siberians, 40
spurias, and 50 Louisianas
on my 50 x 150 city lot.

John
freezing in SW Ohio.

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