British Columbia Iris Society Review of 2021
(info obtained from “The Rainbow Goddess” by Caroline Zebroski)
BCIS released the first issue of “The Rainbow Goddess”, the BC Iris Society’s electronic newsletter in Summer 2019. It is an impressive beautiful publication! Check it out on the website www.bcirissociety.com
President’s message by Richard Hebda: Another busy iris garden year passed. Many folks reported a strong show of bearded irises in their gardens. I had a few visitors, and they were impressed by the colour especially of my scattered tall bearded rises. One newly established bed really performed well and I finally had success with Queen’s Circle after several years of trying. Lots of new members joined the BC Iris Society, and it seems that folks like using our website credit and debit membership dues payment option. It also really reduces our administration to consider a three year membership.
Our two main display gardens in Summerland and Saanich fared well despite limitations placed on their care by COVID restrictions. We expect colourful displays in the coming spring. In the Okanagan, despite evacuation alerts, heatwaves and fires Penny Santosham reports the blooms were exceptional with strong fall rebloom. In Saanich, I report that the modifications to adapt to extreme moisture appear to have been successful. Irises really seem to be the garden flowers well adapted or adaptable to our changing climate.
Okanagan members Penny Santosham and Lesia Lalonde embraced a little-grown group of irises in Canada called Arils and Arilbreds. In Penny’s article, you can read about the particular terminology used for this group and about the considerable success they had with the varieties in their gardens. The online availability of our Rainbow Goddess resulted in a remarkable connection. Myrtle Neel the granddaughter of E.W Neel who bred irises (Shah Jehan being best known) in Duncan on Vancouver Island e-mailed us. Our late and much-missed Director Ian Efford had written an article about Neel a couple of years ago in the Rainbow Goddess Winter 2019 issue. Myrtle generously donated memorabilia of her grandfather’s iris accomplishments. Among other topics covered in this issue of the Rainbow Goddess, there is an interesting article about the very unusual Snakes Head or widow iris, Iris tuberosa. Take a look at our website and enjoy the iris photos as an antidote to the dark days of winter. It won’t be long before the sparkling dwarf bulbous irises will be in bloom to usher in another year of iris rainbows in our gardens. Finally, we congratulate our Secretary-Treasurer and Rainbow Goddess editor Bill Dumont on his election as a Director of the American Iris Society.
The British Columbia Iris Society will host the AIS Region 13 Spring Convention and Garden Tour from June 6 to 8, 2025 on southern Vancouver Island. We are requesting guest plants of Siberian irises, mid-season Species, mid-season Interspecies, and other mid-season beardless irises to be planted for display and judging at the convention. These may be either rhizomes of recent (2017 to present) introductions or seedlings under consideration for introduction. More important info is contained in The Rainbow Goddess Winter 2022.
Columbia Basin Iris Society Summary of 2021 (by Phyllis Barnett)
A majority of our club met once before we held our late May “Iris Show and Sale”. We planned on helping May Smith and Cal Maxwell transplant their tall bearded iris garden of approximately 110 plantings by using their iris collection for our show and sale. Many hours were put in to identify and diagram the location of each variety. In the six years since the iris were transplanted to that location, the garden schematic had disappeared, and most of the name tags had been destroyed or lost. Time and elements takes their toll on all! You’d think we’d struck it rich when we found some buried tags when we dug the iris clumps later. (“Lost name tags”, sound familiar around your place?)
About three dozen varieties were put in the show and sale. Due to COVID, we were put in the “Event Center” at Pybus Market which is a bit tucked away. Therefore, we didn’t get as many “lookers” but, had more serious buyers than in previous years
Between some extra help from May’s family and our club volunteers, we had a great crew when it came time to dig their garden in late July. We had to have several digging and labeling work dates at May and Cal’s. Some may call them work parties, but not here. It was rough going with the thick and healthy clumps! And to avoid the high temperatures and to limit exhaustion, we quit before noon, we’re old you know!
The club potluck was held, as usual, at May and Cal’s in August. This is when we share iris from our gardens, guest iris from previous years and other personal favorite iris. We closed our year with a meal at Olive Garden in November.
On a more personal note, as some of you know, (And I thank you for the sympathy and care expressed in your cards.) on October 5, I lost my husband of almost 56 years to mesothelioma with little warning – 2 months. Besides being the love of my life, he was my (and Elm’s) go to out-of-town iris meeting and convention driver and my main iris digger. I plan to keep and attend as many iris activities as possible but feel it would be best if I resign as Secretary of Region 13, effective immediately. I am honored to have been elected and to have served an earlier term before COVID came along.
Greater Portland Iris Society 2021 in Retrospect (by John Ludi)
It has been a very strange year for iris happenings this past Spring and Summer. Due to the COVID virus, all shows and Spring meetings were cancelled. We did have two meetings via Zoom. Chad Harris provided a session on History and Culture of Iris Ensata in Japan and Bruce Filardi presented a preview of new 2021 introductions of local hybridizers. Finally in early August we were able to have our annual picnic/auction under the tall trees in Timber Park, Estacada, OR. It was great to see our members in person and enjoy the friendly bidding of new introductions. Late August was our bearded iris two-day plant sale at the Portland Nursery on Stark Street. Despite the heat waves and drought, the plants available for purchase look extremely good. Just wish someone else would pay the water bill. Late September we were back to Portland Nursery for our beardless iris plant sale.
King Country Iris Society 2021 in a Nutshell (by Dwayne and Ann Booth)
We had limited in-person opportunities to meet as our monthly meetings were via ZOOM. That worked out well because we had programs that we probably wouldn’t have had in person, anyway. For example, we had Richard Hebda from Vancouver Island presenting “Creating Climate Change Gardens featuring Iris”, Robert Hollingworth from Michigan doing a program on Siberian Iris, Jeanette Graham over in Idaho giving us a Photography program, Will Plotner on Species Iris and Howie Dash to promote the 2022 AIS convention. It was a great opportunity to invite other club members and the public to join the meetings to enjoy these educational presentations. We did have a 2 hour in-person Judges Training at Cascadia Iris Garden in May; Patrick Spence as the trainer. We had an Iris Exhibition in May and both the bearded iris and beardless iris sales at Wells Medina Nursery in Medina, WA. Both sales were successful and we appreciate working with the fine folks at Wells Medina. We also appreciate the sizable gift of Tall Bearded iris rhizomes to our sale by Jim Geditz of Selah, WA. With our mostly small yards in King and Snohomish Counties, our members don’t grow a lot of TBs so Jim’s contribution gave our customers more to choose from than in previous years. Once the Siberian/Species/Region 13 Convention had to be postponed, we got to work on preparing for 2022. We have a hotel lined up (the Hilton Garden Inn in Lynnwood) and buses, so now we need have people throughout the Region (and beyond) to plan to attend the Convention.
Oregon Trail Iris Society Happenings in 2021 (by Lynda Miller)
Since the meeting place we normally have our meetings was closed the first half of the year, we held two events at Mid-America Gardens in Brooks, OR. April 22 we had one hour of judges training on SDBs in the garden. On May 20 we had a mock iris seedling show where everyone voted for their favorite in three different divisions. Kevin Vaughn won best beardless with Z-Vers-pink-1, Thomas Johnson won with best single flower with TL7422, Lynda Miller won best tall bearded stock with 6915D which is a 2022 introduction named Space Force (it is a space ager).
In August we had our annual potluck and auction at Sebright (aka Mid-America Gardens), a week later the club joined with the Cascade Nursery Trail for the Jewel box sale at Sebright. This is our annual sale to the public.
In October we hosted the fall regional meeting and In November we had to change our annual potluck and holiday exchange to a Tuesday night since we can no longer use the meeting facility on Saturdays.
Pierce Country Iris Society Memories of 2021 (by Maiya Heath)
Pierce County Iris Society’s 2021 year dealt with changes and restrictions for our club events and activities, but through it all we were able to grow our membership, host a show, and have a successful sale at the end of a season. Our monthly meetings became a hybrid of in-person/zoom meetings. We met at different members’ homes, throughout the year and enjoyed some new speakers and programs we might not have had the opportunity to hear previously. So zoom worked well in that regard. May was a busy month for our club. We were able to put together a garden tour early in the month and got to visit a couple of gardens down in Olympia. Rod Mendenhall and Mike Unser graciously opened their gardens for our group to tour. Rod’s garden was in full bloom! Beautiful Tall Bearded Iris put on a colorful display and made for some great photos. Mike’s garden hosted many Historic Iris and his backyard garden held interesting plantings, pathways and stone boarders that were a joy to view. Both gardens were inspiring and aa pleasure to visit. At the end of May we were able to host our annual Iris Show at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Following a few Covid related changes at the park, we were able to have a successful show and share the beauty of iris with visitors who came to the park. We had 67 entries in Horticulture, 13 entries in Artistic Design, 3 entries in Educational, and 8 entries in Photography. A well-rounded show for everyone to enjoy. In August we held our club picnic and auction out at the park. We also had our annual Iris sale in mid-August. Portland Ave Nursery graciously hosted us and we were able to have a very successful club sale. The most exciting success we had at our sale was the growth of our membership! We had 8 new members sign up at our sale! Handing out membership information sheets with the sale of rhizomes encouraged more people to sign up. :) We finished out our year with a small Christmas party. We are hoping for less restrictions and more activities to enjoy this next year. Good health and Happy gardening to you all!
(info obtained from “The Rainbow Goddess” by Caroline Zebroski)
BCIS released the first issue of “The Rainbow Goddess”, the BC Iris Society’s electronic newsletter in Summer 2019. It is an impressive beautiful publication! Check it out on the website www.bcirissociety.com
President’s message by Richard Hebda: Another busy iris garden year passed. Many folks reported a strong show of bearded irises in their gardens. I had a few visitors, and they were impressed by the colour especially of my scattered tall bearded rises. One newly established bed really performed well and I finally had success with Queen’s Circle after several years of trying. Lots of new members joined the BC Iris Society, and it seems that folks like using our website credit and debit membership dues payment option. It also really reduces our administration to consider a three year membership.
Our two main display gardens in Summerland and Saanich fared well despite limitations placed on their care by COVID restrictions. We expect colourful displays in the coming spring. In the Okanagan, despite evacuation alerts, heatwaves and fires Penny Santosham reports the blooms were exceptional with strong fall rebloom. In Saanich, I report that the modifications to adapt to extreme moisture appear to have been successful. Irises really seem to be the garden flowers well adapted or adaptable to our changing climate.
Okanagan members Penny Santosham and Lesia Lalonde embraced a little-grown group of irises in Canada called Arils and Arilbreds. In Penny’s article, you can read about the particular terminology used for this group and about the considerable success they had with the varieties in their gardens. The online availability of our Rainbow Goddess resulted in a remarkable connection. Myrtle Neel the granddaughter of E.W Neel who bred irises (Shah Jehan being best known) in Duncan on Vancouver Island e-mailed us. Our late and much-missed Director Ian Efford had written an article about Neel a couple of years ago in the Rainbow Goddess Winter 2019 issue. Myrtle generously donated memorabilia of her grandfather’s iris accomplishments. Among other topics covered in this issue of the Rainbow Goddess, there is an interesting article about the very unusual Snakes Head or widow iris, Iris tuberosa. Take a look at our website and enjoy the iris photos as an antidote to the dark days of winter. It won’t be long before the sparkling dwarf bulbous irises will be in bloom to usher in another year of iris rainbows in our gardens. Finally, we congratulate our Secretary-Treasurer and Rainbow Goddess editor Bill Dumont on his election as a Director of the American Iris Society.
The British Columbia Iris Society will host the AIS Region 13 Spring Convention and Garden Tour from June 6 to 8, 2025 on southern Vancouver Island. We are requesting guest plants of Siberian irises, mid-season Species, mid-season Interspecies, and other mid-season beardless irises to be planted for display and judging at the convention. These may be either rhizomes of recent (2017 to present) introductions or seedlings under consideration for introduction. More important info is contained in The Rainbow Goddess Winter 2022.
Columbia Basin Iris Society Summary of 2021 (by Phyllis Barnett)
A majority of our club met once before we held our late May “Iris Show and Sale”. We planned on helping May Smith and Cal Maxwell transplant their tall bearded iris garden of approximately 110 plantings by using their iris collection for our show and sale. Many hours were put in to identify and diagram the location of each variety. In the six years since the iris were transplanted to that location, the garden schematic had disappeared, and most of the name tags had been destroyed or lost. Time and elements takes their toll on all! You’d think we’d struck it rich when we found some buried tags when we dug the iris clumps later. (“Lost name tags”, sound familiar around your place?)
About three dozen varieties were put in the show and sale. Due to COVID, we were put in the “Event Center” at Pybus Market which is a bit tucked away. Therefore, we didn’t get as many “lookers” but, had more serious buyers than in previous years
Between some extra help from May’s family and our club volunteers, we had a great crew when it came time to dig their garden in late July. We had to have several digging and labeling work dates at May and Cal’s. Some may call them work parties, but not here. It was rough going with the thick and healthy clumps! And to avoid the high temperatures and to limit exhaustion, we quit before noon, we’re old you know!
The club potluck was held, as usual, at May and Cal’s in August. This is when we share iris from our gardens, guest iris from previous years and other personal favorite iris. We closed our year with a meal at Olive Garden in November.
On a more personal note, as some of you know, (And I thank you for the sympathy and care expressed in your cards.) on October 5, I lost my husband of almost 56 years to mesothelioma with little warning – 2 months. Besides being the love of my life, he was my (and Elm’s) go to out-of-town iris meeting and convention driver and my main iris digger. I plan to keep and attend as many iris activities as possible but feel it would be best if I resign as Secretary of Region 13, effective immediately. I am honored to have been elected and to have served an earlier term before COVID came along.
Greater Portland Iris Society 2021 in Retrospect (by John Ludi)
It has been a very strange year for iris happenings this past Spring and Summer. Due to the COVID virus, all shows and Spring meetings were cancelled. We did have two meetings via Zoom. Chad Harris provided a session on History and Culture of Iris Ensata in Japan and Bruce Filardi presented a preview of new 2021 introductions of local hybridizers. Finally in early August we were able to have our annual picnic/auction under the tall trees in Timber Park, Estacada, OR. It was great to see our members in person and enjoy the friendly bidding of new introductions. Late August was our bearded iris two-day plant sale at the Portland Nursery on Stark Street. Despite the heat waves and drought, the plants available for purchase look extremely good. Just wish someone else would pay the water bill. Late September we were back to Portland Nursery for our beardless iris plant sale.
King Country Iris Society 2021 in a Nutshell (by Dwayne and Ann Booth)
We had limited in-person opportunities to meet as our monthly meetings were via ZOOM. That worked out well because we had programs that we probably wouldn’t have had in person, anyway. For example, we had Richard Hebda from Vancouver Island presenting “Creating Climate Change Gardens featuring Iris”, Robert Hollingworth from Michigan doing a program on Siberian Iris, Jeanette Graham over in Idaho giving us a Photography program, Will Plotner on Species Iris and Howie Dash to promote the 2022 AIS convention. It was a great opportunity to invite other club members and the public to join the meetings to enjoy these educational presentations. We did have a 2 hour in-person Judges Training at Cascadia Iris Garden in May; Patrick Spence as the trainer. We had an Iris Exhibition in May and both the bearded iris and beardless iris sales at Wells Medina Nursery in Medina, WA. Both sales were successful and we appreciate working with the fine folks at Wells Medina. We also appreciate the sizable gift of Tall Bearded iris rhizomes to our sale by Jim Geditz of Selah, WA. With our mostly small yards in King and Snohomish Counties, our members don’t grow a lot of TBs so Jim’s contribution gave our customers more to choose from than in previous years. Once the Siberian/Species/Region 13 Convention had to be postponed, we got to work on preparing for 2022. We have a hotel lined up (the Hilton Garden Inn in Lynnwood) and buses, so now we need have people throughout the Region (and beyond) to plan to attend the Convention.
Oregon Trail Iris Society Happenings in 2021 (by Lynda Miller)
Since the meeting place we normally have our meetings was closed the first half of the year, we held two events at Mid-America Gardens in Brooks, OR. April 22 we had one hour of judges training on SDBs in the garden. On May 20 we had a mock iris seedling show where everyone voted for their favorite in three different divisions. Kevin Vaughn won best beardless with Z-Vers-pink-1, Thomas Johnson won with best single flower with TL7422, Lynda Miller won best tall bearded stock with 6915D which is a 2022 introduction named Space Force (it is a space ager).
In August we had our annual potluck and auction at Sebright (aka Mid-America Gardens), a week later the club joined with the Cascade Nursery Trail for the Jewel box sale at Sebright. This is our annual sale to the public.
In October we hosted the fall regional meeting and In November we had to change our annual potluck and holiday exchange to a Tuesday night since we can no longer use the meeting facility on Saturdays.
Pierce Country Iris Society Memories of 2021 (by Maiya Heath)
Pierce County Iris Society’s 2021 year dealt with changes and restrictions for our club events and activities, but through it all we were able to grow our membership, host a show, and have a successful sale at the end of a season. Our monthly meetings became a hybrid of in-person/zoom meetings. We met at different members’ homes, throughout the year and enjoyed some new speakers and programs we might not have had the opportunity to hear previously. So zoom worked well in that regard. May was a busy month for our club. We were able to put together a garden tour early in the month and got to visit a couple of gardens down in Olympia. Rod Mendenhall and Mike Unser graciously opened their gardens for our group to tour. Rod’s garden was in full bloom! Beautiful Tall Bearded Iris put on a colorful display and made for some great photos. Mike’s garden hosted many Historic Iris and his backyard garden held interesting plantings, pathways and stone boarders that were a joy to view. Both gardens were inspiring and aa pleasure to visit. At the end of May we were able to host our annual Iris Show at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Following a few Covid related changes at the park, we were able to have a successful show and share the beauty of iris with visitors who came to the park. We had 67 entries in Horticulture, 13 entries in Artistic Design, 3 entries in Educational, and 8 entries in Photography. A well-rounded show for everyone to enjoy. In August we held our club picnic and auction out at the park. We also had our annual Iris sale in mid-August. Portland Ave Nursery graciously hosted us and we were able to have a very successful club sale. The most exciting success we had at our sale was the growth of our membership! We had 8 new members sign up at our sale! Handing out membership information sheets with the sale of rhizomes encouraged more people to sign up. :) We finished out our year with a small Christmas party. We are hoping for less restrictions and more activities to enjoy this next year. Good health and Happy gardening to you all!