FW: Quick convention report (but long post)

I wrote this for iris-talk but Ellen asked me to copy it to the sibrob.  If
I have time, I will write a longer one on the siberians next week.
_____________

> This convention was a different experience for me as Emily, our 11-year
> old daughter, was attending for the first time.  So Sandy went off to the
> board meetings on Monday and Tuesday while I tried to keep Emily
> entertained while the pool and hot tub at the hotel were closed.
> Apparently, we could have been driven to another facility, but I didn't
> feel like being chauffeured somewhere else just for a dip in the pool or a
> soak in the hot tub.  I tried taking her to a few of the section meetings,
> but she found those boring too.  And I must say, the programs weren't as
> exciting as previous ones that I've attended -- am I getting jaded?  And
> Emily usually attends meetings of the local horticultural and rock garden
> clubs and isn't bored.  I hope that someone else will report on the
> section meetings as I didn't attend very many and left a few of them
> early.
> 
> The garden tours are always an adventure.  They are never perfect.  The
> convention planners always have some challenges.  In Dearborn, it was the
> unseasonably cool spring so that there were no TBs in bloom.  In Denver,
> there was snow.  In Oklahoma, the tornadoes.  In Dallas, there was scorch.
> And in York, there was drought but the first rain appeared during the
> convention and it thunderstormed Friday night.
> 
> We were on the yellow bus with the iris Oh So Pretty and were fortunate to
> have as companions in the front of the bus, George and Margaret Sutton,
> Roger Duncan and Rick Tasco (Superstition Gardens), Clarence Mahan (who
> was also Emily's buddy), our own John Jones and Joanna and the indomitable
> Rosalie Figge.
> 
> Day 1 was the northern tour -- Marquart, Innerst and Jerrard gardens.  The
> first thing that caught me eye at the Marquart garden was an Innerst
> seedling 3763-5.  It was an unlisted guest seedling.  It was a marvelous
> red bearded white.  Queen's Circle (Kerr 2000) was looking great in this
> and other gardens.  It is a lovely white with a wide purple band on the
> falls.  Violet Shimmer (Moores 1998) was looking its usual fabulous self
> with three bloom stalks, 10 increases and 9 buds.
> 
> In Sterling's garden, Krill (Copeland 2000) was a large clump of light
> yellow pseudacorus.  And there was Zarky One a siberian seedling by
> Michael Zarky.  And wouldn't you know it, it's not registered and I didn't
> write down what caught my eye.  Anyone want to chime in here?  Snow Job
> (Black 1998) is a red bearded white that looked good in a few gardens.
> 
> The Jerrard Garden is Sterling Innerst's old property.  There was a
> wonderful clump of Heartbreak Hotel (Sutton 1997).  The blooms were HUGE.
> 
> Day 2 was the western tour -- Roberts, Golembieski and Griffie gardens.
> At the end of day 2, there were far too many irises that I liked.  I loved
> the colours (grey and yellow) on Suspicion (Keppel 1999) and it made great
> stalks.  Christiana Baker (Kerr 1999) was looking great (on day one I
> noted that it was short and bunchy).  I really liked the colours on this
> one and it was looking good on day 3 too.  The falls have a precise narrow
> rim of dark blue.  There were lots of nice siberians and medians too.
> Delirium (Smith, 2001) is an IB with new colours.
> 
> Day 3 was the southern tour -- Warner, Hornstein, Bury and Leader gardens.
> This was the day it really rained.  I got soaked trying to take notes in
> Carol's garden for the Siberian bulletin, but Carol had lovely hot
> cinnamon buns for us.  Then our bus got stuck in the mud after it dropped
> us off at the Hornstein garden.  Then we heard that our bus got unstuck,
> only to hear 10 minutes later that the bus had disappeared (and Clarence
> had disappeared too).  Some of us speculated that Clarence may have
> hijacked the bus.  By this time, it was really pouring outside, so we
> settled down by the wood stove.  There were piles of shoes, socks etc
> drying by the stove.  The bus returns with a cracked windshield and a
> broken mirror.
> 
> But that was okay because now we're headed over to lunch.  NOT.  We get
> lost trying to find the right interchange.  Then we get lost trying to
> find the restaurant.  So we arrive at the restaurant at the time that we
> were supposed to be leaving.  The enormous platters more than made up for
> the later lunch.  The chicken platters were a full half chicken.  If you
> asked for ham, you got a platter with a pile several inches high.  And the
> peanut butter pie was so rich...
> 
> The rest of the day was overcast and great for taking pictures.  Carol's
> garden was in peak bloom for siberians and I made copious notes on lots of
> neat stuff -- the new Schaefer Sachs diploids, new polytepals from
> Bauer/Coble, great tetraploids from Hollingsworth and some new
> hybridizers.  You'll have to read my write-up for the Siberian bulletin.
> 
> At the end of the day, voting was difficult.  There were so many great
> things.  Of the top winners, the only one that didn't make it to my top 15
> list was Grobswitcher.  And that was only because I saw the two huge
> clumps with copious bloom stalks after the thunderstorm.  I really wished
> that I could have seen it on previous days.  And I forgot to mention,
> Sterling's Anvil of Darkness was all over the place.  If you like black
> ones, this is one you might want to consider.  It is black -- not purple,
> not blue -- black.
> 
> Emily enjoyed the garden tours and has been talking about going to
> Memphis.  She even enjoyed the judge's training.  It will certainly help
> her as she looks at the flowers and decides on which crosses she will make
> this season.
> 
> So another convention come and gone.  Thanks to all the organizers for a
> wonderful time.  It's always a great time to get together with old friends
> and to meet new ones with a common passion.  So, what will Memphis have to
> face in planning their convention?
> 
> Maureen Mark
> Ottawa (zone 4) where there's chance of frost in low lying areas
> 
> 
> 

 

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