new lurker

Hello, I'm Carol Blais, iris lover from (western) Mass., where zone 5
sometimes gets down to -20 deg. for a week at a time. Ground is frozen solid
today, and although some years we can plant forgotten rhizomes into Dec.,
NOT THIS YEAR! Maybe Staten Island can. It's always better to get it into
the ground than lose it, which may happen anyway.
Have been active in AIS for 3 years, just became an apprentice judge. My
husband joins me enthusiastically in this hobby, but lets me do the talking.
I've taken on the presidency of the Western New England Iris Society - a
small group with only about a dozen workers, but over 100 members. Hardest
job here is getting new members to come to meetings. Our club has a display
garden at the Univ. of Mass. in Amherst, where we meet. It provides us with
rhizomes for our sale, besides some for the working members. Incidentally,
Janet Sacks gave us a great program on iris species last year - is someone
asking about that?
Currently our own garden has over 400 cultivars, from 15 in 1993! We found
it a wonderful surprise that iris people are willing to share their
knowledge and their plants! Of course, we've purchased many ourselves, but a
good portion are from the new friends we've made in the past 3 years. Yes,
we do have a group of potted rhizomes intended to be shared with others, so
it's contagious.
Happy mulching!
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