Re: Convention Report

Thanks, Carol, for the report.  I have been furiously trying to get everything down on paper so that I can edit my report for Ellen leisurely.

I am just about to start the section on the seedlings and have been dithering on how to describe Bob's seedling.  It really was a sight to behold.  And it was looking good in at least one other garden.

Carol's garden was truly magnificent and the siberians were at their peak.  Everyone should find some time to visit.  I wish that we had had more time and less rain.  I was on the bus that got stuck in the mud and then got lost but it meant that I had time to hang my soaking T-shirt on Bruce Hornstein's wood stove to dry.  I had spent way too much time in the rain at Carol's garden.

I have to admit that I was disappointed in a few gardens.  The first day, the pickings were few.  Almost everything was significantly shorter than registered height.  But I did note some good clumps of Somebody Loves Me and Salamander Crossing.  But in two gardens, the clumps of Salamander Crossing had stalks of significantly different heights -- lots and lots of stalks though.  I thought Zarky One was interesting but it was
really short everywhere that I saw it.  But I am going to have to find some space for Tom Schaefer.  This one is really YELLOW.  The pictures don't do it justice.

Really nice non-guests in gardens other than Carol's were Pansy Purple and Temper Tantrum.

I'd really like to report on Carol's seedlings but I wasn't able to take decent notes as my book was damp by that time.  I should have taken notes at other gardens but I decided to wait until we got to Carol's garden so that I'd have all the notes together.  Carol, would you be so kind as to tell everyone about your  seedlings.  I have only one discernible note that there's one with blue flash at the signal.  I also made a
note at one of the gardens to keep an eye out for #13.

Maureen
Ottawa, zone 4


Carol Warner wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> There have been very few reports on the siberians seen at the AIS Convention so I thought as a garden owner I would make a few comments.  I was only able to see one garden but I saw a lot of that over a long period of time!
>
> We had nine buses over three days and thankfully only one that I know of got stuck and the same one got lost.  All the others seemed to navigate quite nicely.
>
> In my garden I had 32 days straight with absolutely no rain and then 5.2 inches of rain during the week of the convention.  Thankfully, most of that was early in the week or the Saturday night after the conclusion of the convention.
>
> My favorite guest iris was Bob Hollingworth's seedling number 97B6B8.  It is a ruffled deep wine flower with a huge white signal surrounded by a blue halo and veins and set off by a bright white wire rim around the falls.  The style arms are wide and fancy and have a touch of turquoise in them.  After the rain, the tallest flower stalk was 35 inches in height.  This is probably the most striking siberian I have ever seen.
>
> Bob's other guest seedlings that were very nice included 97B1B25, a very ruffled blue violet bitone again with wide ruffled styles.  This stalk was only 18 inches tall on a second year plant.  Maybe it would grow taller another year.  97A5B3 is very different and is a velvety deep purple with a big gold sunburst signal and aqua styles.  The stalks on this one were 21 inches in height.
>
> Other favorites were SHIPS ARE SAILING by Shafer/Sacks.  The guest plant was only 34 inches in height but my own plant beside the fence is 45 inches tall.  The bitone blue flowers are large, ruffled and very "showy".  DIRIGO BLACK VELVET by John White was early and has continued to stay in bloom for a long time.  It is very dark velvety purple with a gold signal.
>
> Marty and Jan's yellows were show stoppers.  SUMMER REVELS (slightly ruffled bright yellow, 23 inches), IN FULL SAIL (a bit lighter yellow but wider and more ruffled, 22 inches), TOM SCHAEFER (deep yellow, 27 inches) and SUNNY SPELLS (branched slightly lighter yellow, 28 inches) certainly drew a lot of attention from note-takers and photographers.
>
> For those of you who attended the Siberian section meeting and heard Dr. Epperson's talk, I can see why Marty and Jan use Tom Schaefer in their breeding program.  You should see the seed pods on it.  It will be a shame to take the stalks off when it finishes.
>
> SOMEBODY LOVES ME did receive one of the runner up awards to the best out of region irises seen at the convention.  My clump was not too impressive this year because it bloomed more than twice last year.  I kept telling it to save its energy for the convention but it would not listen.
>
> I have one question for the hybridizers out there.  Do you measure the height of the bloom stalk before or after the monsoon season?  These heights were measured after all the rain last week and this week.
>
> I hope several of you will add some of your favorites to this list.
>
> Recovering somewhat from the convention,
>
> Carol Warner
> Draycott Gardens
> Maryland, zone 6/7
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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