Re: Reg 2 Symposium
Bill Shear wrote:
>
> It's astounding that one could say of Schreiners' that "in most cases they
> are not the hybridizers" of the irises they list. For decades, Schreiners
> have dominated the AIS awards lists like no other hybridizers! On the
> other hand, Cooleys hybridize no iris as far as I can detect, relying
> instead on a "stable" of other breeders across the country.
>
Chris writes:
This whole conversation needs some clarification of the (mis)information
that is coming out of it.
Schreiners hybridizes mainly Tall Bearded iris which they introduce in
their catalogue. They also obviously will list these in the catalogue
besides many TB iris from other hybridizers that they consider to be
quality iris. Yes, they have dominated the awards list in the Tall
bearded category. This, however, is not the only category of iris awards
but arguably the one with the highest profile.
Cooleys catalogue also contains mainly TB iris considered by them to be
of quality. These iris are also from many various hybridizers which
include a certain Richard Ernst of Cooleys. In theory, his iris could be
considered "Cooley" iris if they decided to register them as such. His
association with Cooleys is that he is son of Miriam Ernst (nee Cooley)
and the grandson of Pauline Cooley. He is the main business manager of
Cooleys as well as hybridizing TB iris. Richard Ernst has hybridized for
"only" about 20 years but produced some award winning iris in that time.
Cooleys also "introduces" iris for a selected few hybridizers.
Schreiners iris are always registered under the family name (and have
been for many years) which helps them to achieve a certain level of
brand recognition in the marketplace.
This is not an endorsement of either business and I would consider them
to be more alike than different. The main difference possibly being that
"Schreiners" is recognized as having won many more TB iris awards than
"Cooleys."
Just wanting to be sure that all the correct facts are out there.
Now, just to add a little fuel to the fire I would consider distribution
right up there next to quality to be one the key factors in the number
of awards won and symposiums positioning. Not to say that the iris
themselves aren't excellent, but in reality I consider this partly to be
due to whom distributes the most iris of a particular variety.
Done talking Tall Bearded, lets talk Siberians instead!
--
Christopher Hollinshead
Mississauga, Ontario Canada zone6b
AIS Region 16
Director, Canadian Iris Society
Newsletter Editor, Canadian Iris Society
e-mail: cris@netcom.ca
