Convention report (long)
- Subject: Convention report (long)
- From: A* P*
- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 01:46:27 +1000
From: Ann Pearce <jac@senet.com.au>
Greetings fellow irisarians,
the pile of work I found waiting for me on
return from the Australian iris convention has finally subsided a little, so
I thought I should post a convention report (if a rather belated one!).
This was the first iris convention I have been to - of any sort, but
from what I gather, Australian conventions are very different to those in
the US. For one thing, we don't have the extensive convention plantings,
featuring the latest introductions. What we did see, however, was a
selection of beautiful private gardens in the Sunraysia area, encompassing
several different towns in 3 states!! (By virtue of being on the border.)
The Sunraysia area is very much based around the River Murray (one of the
largest rivers in Australia), and is justifiably famous for its citrus fruit
and vineyards. (Of which we saw many.) There was a great deal of variety
in the type of gardens we saw on tour - some were focused on irises
(naturally), while others were a beautifully blended mix of irises with
other plants - roses were a strong feature, and 2 or 3 of the gardens we
visited had some stunning peony poppies. (Before you ask - no I don't know
the botanical name of these, as it's not a type of poppy I'm familiar with,
but they were certainly beautiful.)
Two other events of interest were the tours to David Ruston's
world-famous rose garden, and the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens. David
Ruston is the President of the World Federation of Rose Societies, and he
has the largest rose garden in Australia - 27 acres of roses, with some
interplantings of irises. He has a magnificent collection of spurias, which
he grows to perfection, and which were in peak bloom during our visit. He
also has many tall bearded varieties, but as Heather Pryor noted in a
previous post...we were sadly only able to find one Louisiana! I had the
pleasure of walking through this amazing garden in Heather's charming company.
David Ruston is renowned for his floral art, and we saw some
magnificent examples of this in a display at the Renmark Institute. There
were many different arrangements using roses - and the best displays of
spurias (with some LAs) that you could hope to see.
The Australian Inland Botanic Gardens is unusual in that it is a
very young Botanic Gardens. Many of the world's Botanic Gardens have been
around for a very long time - our tour guide commented that some of the
European ones are several centuries old. This one on the other hand, is in
its infancy - less than 10 years old. It is very much a community project -
until this year they received no funding from either the state or national
authorities. The rose garden was looking spectacular, and we were given a
tour of the overall gardens in a tractor-drawn train!!
The most remarkable thing about the gardens we saw on tour was the
contrast between the oasis of the gardens and the surrounding landscape.
Those areas not under cultivation with vines or fruit trees looked rather
dry and barren, even on the banks of the river. Very much what I would
think of as a true Australian landscape - the native vegetation is obviously
well adapted to the harsh conditions. To see such beautiful gardens in that
environment is a strong testament to the skill and determination of the
gardeners....many of whom have worked hard for years to improve the soil and
make it "gardenable".
One of the final gardens on tour (and one of the best) was that of
our own Dianne Dalla Santa. Her garden is a superbly balanced mix of irises
and roses, along with many other plants, including magnificent hippeastrums
grown from seed, and some native frangipani trees - all set off by curved
paths of lawn. I have no idea how Dianne managed to have such a
well-maintained garden on show, given the months of work she put in as
convention organizer in order to make the whole convention such a success.
For me, however, probably the most important highlight of the
convention were the talks given by George Sutton and Heather Pryor. Having
been intrigued by Heather's descriptions on-list of her seedlings, it was
great to be able to match photos to descriptions - just as it was to finally
put faces to names.
I was lucky enough to have the honour of spending a lot of time with
George and Margaret Sutton during the convention - two of the most friendly,
helpful and generous people I've ever met! Rebloomers being my particular
obsession, George gave me a lot of hybridizing advice throughout the week,
which culminated with his talk on space-agers and rebloomers, the night
before I left.
I had originally been planning to attend two days only of the convention -
two days which I thought included his talk. When, at lunch on my first day,
I discovered that George's talk was programmed 4 days later than I had
thought, I changed my travel plans so I could stay the extra time. George
began his talk by saying how flattered he was that I had done so. :) His
'X-rated' slide show of new and future introductions has made me even more
determined to ensure that some of these beauties are imported into Australia
in the future. I'm sure they will do well in our mild-winter climate.
All in all, it was a most enjoyable week. I came home with new
friendships formed and a head full of ideas to find many more irises in
bloom than when I left - and plenty of hybridizing to be done. For those of
you feeling envious of the spring bloom here while you move closer to
winter, just remember that it will be our turn to enviously read bloom
reports in a few months time when spring arrives in the northern hemisphere.
Ann Pearce
Adelaide, South Australia
j*@senet.com.au
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