Welcome to the fourteenth regular issue of the AIS News & Notes.  One Special Note for You:  Some links will not work part of August 5th because of AIS website maintenance.  More info on Facebook.

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.

 

Two more meetings you should be aware of in 2017 that are requesting beardless guest irises.

First up, as far as our seeing the irises, is the 2017 Spuria Iris Convention in Los Angeles.  Late April/early May 2017.    They are accepting plants from September 1 to October 15, 2014.  See the details and contacts in the Spring 2014 AIS Bulletin, p 39 or go here.

 

Some updates since last month.  The ballot was corrected (I don't know what changes were made) so it has a new link.  Here is the updated ballot.  The deadline to have your votes (mail or email) in is September 1st.  Except for Overseas Members which are encouraged to have theirs in by September 30th.  See this page for complete directions.

And remember, all AIS members are eligible and encouraged to vote!

Every year, many of the AIS Regions have a Fall Meeting filled with talks by well-known irisarians (many of the talks are called Judges Training; but, we know they are more entertaining and educational than that), opportunities to see old friends and meet new ones, and a chance to acquire more irises (which we all need!)  To help you locate meetings in your Region or nearby ones, here is a list and links to their information.  The first ones are August 8 and 9th.

This year we have the dates and locations in the table.  Please let us know what additional information might be useful to have in the tables either this year or in the future.

The AIS 2016 Convention will be May 23-28 in Newark, New Jersey, hosted by Presby Memorial Iris Gardens and AIS.  So this year is when they need to receive the bearded guest irises.  They will be accepting rhizomes from August 15 through September 15.  Ship to:

    Nancy Skjei-Lawes

    Presby Memorial Iris Gardens

           474 Upper Mountain Avenue

    Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 (mail) or (UPS/FEDEX)

 

Complete details (PDF) are available here or read our earlier News & Notes notice.

 

While we are reminding hybridizers to send their bearded irises for the 2016 Convention, you might be interested to know more about our destination.  Probably the easiest way to start is at their website: Presby Memorial Iris Gardens where you can check the garden information - which means how many irises they have and what collection is in which bed.  Note that the lower left-hand corner of the pages are where you can sign up for their newsletter.

They have several other ways to follow what they are doing.  These are their blog, hidden under About Us, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest (think iris pictures), Flickr (think more pictures), and YouTube (moving pictures).

And finally, there is a webcam view of part of the gardens.  Right now there is not much to see, traffic and light rain; but, it may be good to check when the irises are in bloom next Spring.

Interested is what the AIS Board has been doing lately?

At the AIS Board meeting in the Spring, during the national convention, and at the Fall meeting, the discussions of the issues that come before the Board are open to the public. In between the meetings issues arise that require Board attention. These issues are discussed using an email list called AISDiscuss. AIS Board members, Committee Chairpersons, RVPs, and AIS Section and Cooperating Society presidents are members of this list and can post comments to the list.

In order for the AIS membership to be able to follow these discussions, all the messages posted to AISDiscuss are archived at a website that is accessible by anyone with a computer. The website is:

 http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisdiscuss/

The messages may be viewed by Author, Date, or Subject. Anyone interested in following the discussions is encouraged to read the posts in the archives. While only members subscribed to AISDiscuss can post to the list, if anyone would like to make a comment about an issue being discussed, they can contact any subscribed member (e.g., their RVP) or the AIS Electronic Services Chair, AISElectronicsvcs@irises.org, and ask that their comment be posted to the list.

Also during the time between Board meetings, there are occasions when a vote on an issue must be conducted. The voting is done on a separate list, AISVote. The voting by individuals, and the result of a vote may be read at the archives for AISVote. Anyone may access those messages at:

 http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisvote/

We have recently been reviewing a report from a meeting of the Coalition of American Plant Societies (CAPS) about societies' declining memberships. This  discussion has very real relevance for AIS and for our membership moving forward. I would encourage you to review the posts on this subject on the AISDiscuss archives.

Also, minutes of Board meetings can be found on the AIS website here.  The draft minutes from the Spring Meeting have been recently added.  And you are invited to the Fall Board Meeting, which will be November 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

One of the groups that the American Iris Society participates in is CAPS - the Coalition of American Plant Societies.  This group is sharing ideas and experiences to address our common challenges.  We have a webpage with links to the websites of the dozen plant societies involved in the last meeting.  Many are devoted to plants you may already be using with your irises.

One of the reasons I enjoy following these links is the ideas they may provide.  Just in going to the American Orchid Society website, I found a Newsletter Resources page that could be a good model for us.  It is full of tips and sources such as pictures and clip-art to include in your newsletter.  Even a template for the editor to fill in!

I've already shared this link on the IrisEditors Yahoo Chat Group.  Which, for you new editors, and maybe webmasters, is another resource to be aware of.  It is a private group that you can join by mailing
iriseditors-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to request being added.  Hope to see you there!

Two more pages for you to check and contribute to on the Iris Wiki are CAPS Resources (about our participation and hopefully discussion of the issues) and Newsletter Resources (just getting started - will contain suggestions and links for newsletter, and website, editors - could very much use your help!).

 

I could not believe how soon I heard from our readers adding to the list of Facebook AIS groups!  Thank you for all your comments.    You can see the updated list here.

It also has our first example of other social media by a Club.  The Ontario Iris Society  uses Pinterest to show the Irises in their Auction.  Do you know of Clubs, Regions, Sections, or Cooperating Societies that have a presence on other social media?  Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, as well as any other Facebook AIS groups.  Let us know or add them to the page.  You can send them to wrmesser@gmail.com and I'll add them.

 

I realized there were not as many pictures of beautiful irises (I guess beautiful is redundant when speaking of irises) in this edition as some times.  Fortunately we can always count on World of Irises to come to the rescue. 

This time we can start with Historic Irises, all the Dykes Medal winners that are now Historic.  It is a two-part posting by Dawn Mumford.  Here are those from 1927 through 1957 and 1958 through 1984.  A great selection of pictures.  And one thing I just noticed on the World of Irises pictures, when you hover over a picture, it now allows you to easily share the picture on Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

Another one from the last month is Iris Bloom Season in Northwest Louisiana by Ron Killingsworth.  Despite what I expected, it is not only Louisiana Irises.  And this is Part 1; looking forward to the next part.

Last month's jigsaws did not have a clear preference.  Some preferred the standard version, others the harder version, and some enjoyed both.  So we will continue with both and throw in a third choice.

This month's jigsaw is the SDB 'Misty Mirage' with the same photo for all three.  The first one is our "Standard" jigsaw.  The second one is the "Harder" jigsaw with twice as many pieces as the "Standard".  And the third one, which I am calling "Rotated" has the same number of pieces as "Standard"; but, is more difficult because pieces may have been rotated.  Check their instructions under help on how to rotate pieces with your computer.  (Help is under Tools - the gear symbol - in the lower left hand corner.)

Please let me know which jigsaw puzzle(s) you would like to see continued.  Please send your suggestions and comments to wrmesser@gmail.com .  Thank you for your help.