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

Laurie,
     We're out here hearing...  I've enjoyed your discussion tremendously.
      You're so right about the full AIS membership restricted to only
voting for TB favorites.   No reason why it couldn't be a ballot in expanded
sections, so that members could also vote for other types of iris.  I don't
belong to every other Section or Supporting Society, for example, I don't
belong to the Median Iris Society, and yet, the number of medians I grow has
increased faster than any other group.   I could easily name off ten
outstanding Medians in my garden, but for now I'll never have that
opportunity to vote them on a popularity ballot unless I join that Section.
    In my local club, when we talk about the Symposium, to remind members to
vote, we always say it's a good list from which to buy iris.   And there's
not a single Siberian or Median or Spuria iris, etc. on that list!   So even
our local members aren't reminded that there are some other iris that grow
well.  It really does not help to publicize or encourage the local member to
look for something more.  So the concept of  'drink Pepsi' is true here.
Kitty

>
> And how, exactly, is the membership supposed to express its interest in
> any other type of iris when the only time the membership is asked to vote
> for its favorites, the ballot is restricted solely to TB candidates?  How
> does the membership get excited about other types of irises in a garden
> setting when all national conventions are set to showcase TB peak bloom
> to the exclusion of any other type or class that doesn't happen to be
> peaking at the same time?
>
> I am not suggesting that other types of irises might be capable of
> displacing TBs as the most popular iris type overall (though we'll never
> know if we don't promote the others equally), but I feel strongly that a
> great disservice is being done to gardeners, hybridizers, and to the AIS
> itself by not actively promoting all iris types and classes.  As was
> pointed out earlier, not all irises grow in all environments ... not even
> TBs.  How can it be to AIS's advantage to promote only "the most popular"
> type?
>
> This is where promotion comes in, and I'm not talking about articles in
> the Bulletin.  The Bulletin is a fine, educational and promotional tool
> for existing AIS members, but those folks represent only the tiniest
> fraction of iris gardeners and potential iris gardeners worldwide.  If
> the AIS's goal is to promote irises beyond its own current membership
> (which I assume it is), then promotion must move well beyond Bulletin
> articles.
>
> An easy place to start is on the AIS website to which the worldwide
> internet community has access - AIS members and not.  When an iris newbie
> is looking for iris info, they're likely to stumble across the AIS
> website.  On that website, newbie finds a link to "100 Most Popular
> Iris".  WOW!  Newbie now has a list of the 100 most popular irises on the
> planet!  Of course, newbie has no idea what a tall bearded is or that
> there are, indeed, many other types of irises not represented in the list
> (because newbie was so excited by the title of the link that (s)he never
> bothered to access the link titled "Iris Classification"), so newbie uses
> the list to shop from.  Unfortunately, newbie lives on the southern coast
> of FL, and all of those most popular irises quickly die.  Newbie has now
> wasted money, time, garden resources, and dreams of beautiful blooms and
> now hates irises and resents AIS for promoting such garden failures.  But
> it didn't have to happen.
>
> AIS could easily reprint ALL of the section symposium results on the AIS
> website preceded by brief descriptive paragraphs of the irises
> represented by each set of symposium results.  Now, newbie has several
> lists of favorites from which to choose irises for their specific growing
> conditions.  Newbie has been educated.  Newbie has been inspired to find
> out more about the different types of irises (you mean there ARE
> different types of irises???).  Newbie might even click on that "Iris
> Classification" link now.  Newbie grows and loves irises.  Newbie joins
> AIS and the sections of interest.  Newbie starts to hybridize ...
>
> It's not enough to have links to the other section websites available
> from the AIS site.  As anyone who has ever designed, or indeed used, a
> website knows, the more clicks it takes to get to the desired
> information, the less likely the information will be accessed at all.
> The AIS website is the first stop and the parent organization.  The
> primary promotional material needs to be there.
>
> >And this begs the question....if AIS is mostly only promoting TB, then
why
> >is there a TBIS again?
>
> I don't think this is the question as much as it is the answer to why the
> two organizations can't seem to get along with one another.  They are
> both trying to promote TBs, and they are apparently stepping all over
> each other's toes in so doing.  If the AIS would broaden its promotional
> efforts to include all irises in a more equitable manner, it wouldn't be
> in such direct conflict with the narrow promotional goals of TBIS.
>
> Air's getting a little thin way up here on all these soapboxes.  Believe
> I'll climb down for a bit and take a little breather.
>
> Laurie
>
>
> -----------------
> laurief@paulbunyan.net
> http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
> http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisintro.html
> USDA zone 3b, AHS zone 4 - northern MN
> acidic clay soil
>
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