Re: AIS: AIS/TBIS

I have such an aversion to contention  that for the most part I had skipped
reading the posts about the AIS/TBIS issue until yesterday and this morning.
I received a pleasant surprise in what all has been said.  The conversation
has been remarkably balanced, sympathetic and has made a number of significant
statements (with awesome redundancy on a few).

I fell in love with irises when I was five years old with my first real
exposure to TB's and IB's of the old 44-chromosome sterile type.  Years later
I began to grow some other types, loving the arils and arilbreds especially.
For a number of years I maintained memberships in the Aril Society and the
Median society in addition to my membership in AIS and grew a selection of
beardless types that tolerated high desert, nearly snowless, alkaline Idaho
conditions.  As a judge I tried to be as balanced in my attention to non-TBs
as I could and made an effort to visit as many gardens as time, work and
budget allowed.

During the years I was deeply involved in the life of the Episcopal church and
working as an ordained person my memberships in all the societies lapsed and I
grew no iris due to frequent moves, lack of space and commitments that would
have conflicted with any attempt to see, grow or breed irises.  It has been
only since my retirement and my settling in western NC that once again I have
been able to grow iris.  Thanks to Keith Keppel for the most part I have a
fair selection of new TBs and a number of medians.

Our only judges in western NC are two persons, one of whom is deeply involved
in JI's, the other growing primarily Siberians.  We have two local shows, one
with TB's, arilbreds, Siberians and a number of other beardless types.  The
Queen of the Show has been a non-TB as often if not more often than a TB,
showing the diverse range of interests in the area and among the judges.  The
other show is timed for the JI's and exposes the public to the striking beauty
of this type.

Thanks to some local generous folks I have a small but significant number of
MTB's, Siberians and JI's.  Still, my primary interest remains with the TB's.
My hybridizing efforts are entirely TB and have made my first registration of
a seedling this year for the first time in twenty-some years.

At the present I have memberships only in AIS, SIGNA and TBIS and read the
publications of each with great interest., so I have an investment in the
activities of these organizations.  I've also spent a fair amount of time on
the HIPS website.  Since I grew and loved an awful lot of "historics" when
they were the current and best, I belong among the folks of that organization
but have yet to join--something I hope to change soon.

I "visit" the online gardens with avid interest.  I keep up with Iris-talk,
Iris-photos and visit the Garden web "Iris Forum" from time to time.  I
probably won't be seen at any gardens or conventions for some time to come due
to a long, slow recovery from serious medical issues, so the on-line contact I
have with other irisarians has particular importance for me.

In the AIS/TBIS sequence I have found the contributors' comments graceful,
thoughtful and intentionally helpful.  I was particularly impressed with the
contributions by Laurie F. in northern MN.  At this point, however, I would
like to plead with the Iris-talk folks in general to let this thread or series
of threads rest.  There are a lot of things we can be talking about besides
this issue.  May we move on?  Please?

Neil Mogensen           z 7 in western NC near Asheville and Hendersonville

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