Enter the Virual Iris Show!
It's that time of year in the Northern Hemisphere - when irisarians' thoughts turn to their gardens and upcoming iris shows. And this year there is an additional option for you to participate in an iris show. The AIS has begun a Virtual Iris Show!
You can learn about it and how to enter beginning here. It is open for entries from now to June 15th. So you don't have to have the weather and the iris show align perfectly for your irises to look their best in your garden. Get the required and optional photos when each iris is at it's prime! Be sure to check out all the different categories you can enter. In addition to those based on the usual types of iris, there are Historic Irises, Novelty Irises, and, for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere , Reblooming Irises. Each table will also have sections for Seedlings and for Youth Horticulture. Finally there are the Special Educational Exhibits and the Artistic Division - Floral Arrangements.
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Welcome to the eigth issue of the AIS News & Notes. Please let us know what you would like to see here. And if you have notes you would like to add, or you would like to become a reporter, please let us know! You can contact either Bob Pries or Wayne Messer with your comments or interest. |
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| Dallas and New Orleans Conventions and Deadlines
This April you can attend two Iris Conventions. First the Society for Louisiana Irises has their 2014 National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana April 3-5. And then The AIS 2014 National Convention is in Dallas, Texas from April 5-10. I won't describe all the great features of each convention (see some links below); but, will warn you about impending deadlines! Your Dallas registration needs to be postmarked before February 1st for the discount! (Hopefully you are reading this January 30-31.) Registration form (PDF) is here. Discounted full adult registration is $299 versus $349 the next day and $399 after March 15th. Other types of registrations have similar discounts. The registration for New Orleans needs to arrive by March 15th. Their Registration Form (PDF) can be found here. Further information about the Dallas Convention can be found on this AIS page and on this Iris Society of Dallas page. For further information about the New Orleans Convention, start here. |
| Seed Exchanges - Updates
Since our item last month, the SIGNA Seed Exchange has begun. This year they have added a new category - SIGNA Select Seeds! For only $2 a packet with at least 5 seeds. Most of these are already gone, so hurry over to the Seed List to order. There are still lots of their regular seeds - $1 per packet - and all of them would qualify as unusual seeds! The Society for Pacific Coast Native Irises Seed Exchange is almost over. The deadline for ordering is January 31! So go here to order online. You can join/renew membership at the same time - only members can participate. Thank you to all the volunteers that make these seed exchanges possible! Those who collect and donate seeds and those who organize and packet the seeds and organize the seed exchanges and others I may have missed. And this year, a special thank you to retiring SIGNA Seed Exchange co-chairs Jim Murrain and James Waddick for their many years of service!
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Registering Iris Shows - Corrections and Updates
First, my apologies for including the wrong email address for Lois Rose. It should be as shown below. And see the updates on when you need to have your shows registered and supplies ordered.
Approval
Don't forget to send your show schedules for approval to Lois Rose (lowy222@aol.com) at least two months prior to your show date. Lois does accept schedules via e-mail. In fact, she prefers to receive them that way, as it speeds up the process, saves everyone a little in postage, and provides her with an e-mail address to which she can send the approval/evaluation form, Show Supplies Order Form, and Show Report Form in electronic format. Schedules in Word (any version) or PDF work best. Lois cannot handle Microsoft Publisher documents, so those need to be converted to PDF. However, if you do submit your show schedule via e-mail, please include a cover note with your snail-mail address as Lois still sends the official approval and show certificates back to you via U.S. Postal Service.
Lois will be traveling February 16 through March 4, so no shows will be approved during that time. On her return home, she will deal with the inevitable backlog of schedules in the order in which they were sent (for e-mail) or postmarked (for snail-mail), so submit your schedule in plenty of time, especially if you have an April show. Timing will be especially critical for shows held before April 15, since supplies need to be ordered by March 20th. (See note regarding Susan's travel plans under "Supplies" below.)
Supplies
Shipping and handling for show supplies will increase to $13.00 in 2014.
Please note that Susan will be traveling from March 24 through April 12. If you need supplies for your iris show to be held before April 15, please make sure that she receives your order before March 20 at the latest.
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| Proposed 2014 AIS Awards Ballot Available
Every year the American Iris Society prepares an official awards ballot for the AIS Judges to use in judging irises in the garden. Part of this is releasing the Proposed AIS Awards Ballot for comments from judges and hybridizers. It has recently been added to the AIS website, so you can see the Proposed Ballot and names of all the irises eligible for HM, AM, and Medals!You can see the proposed 2014 ballot (PDF) here. And play along even if you are not a judge. Just glancing at the lists, I was surprised to see some I've seen in bloom - in my garden! |
| Irises Bulletin for Jan/Feb Now Available
The latest issue of the Irises Bulletin is now online for Emembers and on its way to the mailbox of regular members. Among the highlights are the 2013 Tall-Bearded Symposium, Small is Beautiful (I'm guessing this is bloom size or height), and AIS Display Gardens.
Emembers can see the issue, as well as all the other items available to them, by signing in from the links on this page.
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| Iris Jigsaw of the Month
First a couple of updates from last month's jigsaw puzzle. My apologies to Kentucky for listing the wrong State Flower. Theirs is Goldenrod. Tennessee has the Iris as their State Cultivated Flower. And thank you to everyone for their suggestions identifying the iris in the puzzle. Favorites were 'Wabash' (the 1940 Dykes Medal Winner), 'Melody', and 'Helen Collingwood'. Looking at the Iris Encyclopedia photos and the HIPS article on 'Helen Collingwood', the latter seems to be most likely. And for this month's jigsaw puzzle, a Noid from my garden. Play it here and please send your suggestions for what it might be to wrmesser@gmail.com. |
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Become an Emember
 If you are already a member, you might consider adding an American Iris Society Emembership. This is a way for you to show additional support for AIS. For just $15 a year, in addition to your regular membership charge, you have online access to Irises, including all the back issues of it and the AIS Bulletin, the Registration & Introductions database, and you help to support our online initiatives! Find out more here. And you will qualify for the AIS Voucher Program described in earlier issues.
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The American Iris Society 
