British Columbia Iris Society News
Our publication, “The Rainbow Goddess”, is released on the website https://www.bcirissociety.com/
BCIS will be hosting the R13 Spring Convention on June 14-15. 2025. More information will be provided in the R13 Fall Newsletter.
Columbia Basin Iris Society News (by Phyllis Barnett)
In 2023, we continued to hold our meetings at Gay’s, our club president’s home. May Smith, our oldest member who now resides in Leavenworth, was able to attend many of the meetings, thanks to her daughters Sharon and Merry who both live in Grant County. Our big club event each year has been our sale/show at Wenatchee’s Farmer’s Market where we display about 100 iris bloom stalks. We always enjoy the chance to answer questions and talk iris with so many people, especially the kids. The “People’s Choice” - the iris with the most votes at our event was Bruce Filardi’s 2015 introduction, Blueberry Boat. It’s a very attractive, easy to grow bitone with undulating petals and a lighter edged fall.
In 2024, our meetings will continue to be in the afternoons, the last Monday of the month. We tried to accommodate our working members with daytime meetings on the weekend but found no one wants to give up that time with family or catching up with home projects. Nighttime meetings were out of the question because of the long distance several members must travel and other members not driving at night. At our March meeting, Elm Jensen will give an educational presentation on his favorite types of little iris. The next month, Phyllis will challenge attendees to get more familiar with some of the terms describing iris.
Several of our members are downsizing their gardens. Read how Elm downsizes in his article in the R13 Spring newsletter. My sister started by removing a couple of the rows of iris that filled her entire front yard. Only a few varieties were discarded. The others were placed in “found spaces”. (Downsizing calls for a lot of hard decisions.!) One the other side of the coin – not downsizing, I planted a start of most of the different varieties from her yard and added about eighty tall bearded and several medians that I purchased. That made me “have to” add new garden area at the edge of one side of my patio. Later, Elm gave me about twenty dwarf iris that fit nicely in the front of that bed. This year I’ll “need” to add another iris bed the other side of the walkway to balance it out. Don’t you agree?
Greater Portland Iris Society Retrospect (by Chad Harris)
Things seem to be getting back to normal after COVID this past year. Plant sales, shows, and meetings were held without persons required to wear masks. Kevin Vaughn was our February Judge’s Training instructor on Medians. Later in the year, he gave an informative evening program on Miniature Tall Bearded irises. Other evening programs focused on Japanese iris given by me. A very informative program by Mike Starhill on
Historic iris. Program regarding building the gardens around our meeting hall by Bud Bowen. An outside guest speaker, Theo Margelony, opened a window of information regarding hardy fuchsias. Our three shows were well-attended by members of the iris society and the public. Again, the early show was held in conjunction with a floral display by the Ikebana Schools of Portland. The Mid-season show found us at a new location. Thank you, John, for finding Clackamas Community Center. The Japanese Garden of Portland hosted us in one of their beautiful classrooms for the late show. This year, in June, we look forward to hosting the American Iris Society’s National Convention in conjunction with the Society for Japanese Irises.
King Country Iris Society News (by Patrick Spence)
2023 was a great year for The King County Iris Society. We had Andi Rivarola up from California to give an in-garden judges training on Spurias. We had a lot of really great programs during our monthly meetings including a stellar look at the hybridizing program of Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks. 2024 is on track to be just as eventful. On April 1st, John Coble from Michigan will be giving us a program titled ‘The History of Ensata Gardens From Bauer-Coble Studios to Present’. Prior to growing irises Bob & John operated Bauer-Coble Studios, where they made Tiffany style stained glass and lamps. They even cast their own bronze lamp stands! This program has been picked up by the AIS and will be broadcast as a Zoom Webinar. Join us on April Fools Day for fun and some beautiful photos!
On May 19th we will host Dell Perry from Texas who will be giving an in-garden judges training on Aril and Arilbred irises. This is a rare opportunity so please plan to join us.
We also just got Terry Aitken to present A History of Aitken’s Salmon Creek Nursery in October. Details to follow, but this should be another epic adventure. I sure hope he talks about his orchids too!
Oregon Trail Iris Society News (by Lynda Miller)
No report
Pierce Country Iris Society 2023 in Review (by Maiya Heath) We had a busy spring season in 2023. Early spring brought informational meetings and bingo iris games. We joined the Master Gardners for their Spring Sale at the end of April, it was a big success for us, as we sold out of potted iris on the first day of the sale.
In May we hosted our annual Iris Show at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma WA. We had a very nice variety of Horticulture, Artistic Design, Photography, and Educational Displays for the public to enjoy.
In June we participated in the Parks “Garden Festival” weekend and hosted a booth at our public display garden in Point Defiance Park. We also had a garden tour at a private “eclectic” garden in Tacoma. The couple who “repurpose” items and decorate their garden beds with said items. The creativity was fascinating. July brought our annual club picnic and iris auction.
We wrapped up the iris growing season with our club Iris Sale graciously hosted at Portland Ave Nursery in August and a generous re-planting of our Tall Bearded Iris bed out at the display garden at the park.
At one of our fall club meetings we had our own members show and share how they track and label their irises in their own gardens. It was a great way to see everyone’s gardens in bloom and to see the different ways people track what they grow.
We wrapped up the year with our 2023 officers, rolling over into 2024, and had a nice Christmas party with food, fun, and good friends.
I’m looking forward to another full year with my flower friends, I hope you can join us for some of our events. Happy Gardening Everyone!
Our publication, “The Rainbow Goddess”, is released on the website https://www.bcirissociety.com/
BCIS will be hosting the R13 Spring Convention on June 14-15. 2025. More information will be provided in the R13 Fall Newsletter.
Columbia Basin Iris Society News (by Phyllis Barnett)
In 2023, we continued to hold our meetings at Gay’s, our club president’s home. May Smith, our oldest member who now resides in Leavenworth, was able to attend many of the meetings, thanks to her daughters Sharon and Merry who both live in Grant County. Our big club event each year has been our sale/show at Wenatchee’s Farmer’s Market where we display about 100 iris bloom stalks. We always enjoy the chance to answer questions and talk iris with so many people, especially the kids. The “People’s Choice” - the iris with the most votes at our event was Bruce Filardi’s 2015 introduction, Blueberry Boat. It’s a very attractive, easy to grow bitone with undulating petals and a lighter edged fall.
In 2024, our meetings will continue to be in the afternoons, the last Monday of the month. We tried to accommodate our working members with daytime meetings on the weekend but found no one wants to give up that time with family or catching up with home projects. Nighttime meetings were out of the question because of the long distance several members must travel and other members not driving at night. At our March meeting, Elm Jensen will give an educational presentation on his favorite types of little iris. The next month, Phyllis will challenge attendees to get more familiar with some of the terms describing iris.
Several of our members are downsizing their gardens. Read how Elm downsizes in his article in the R13 Spring newsletter. My sister started by removing a couple of the rows of iris that filled her entire front yard. Only a few varieties were discarded. The others were placed in “found spaces”. (Downsizing calls for a lot of hard decisions.!) One the other side of the coin – not downsizing, I planted a start of most of the different varieties from her yard and added about eighty tall bearded and several medians that I purchased. That made me “have to” add new garden area at the edge of one side of my patio. Later, Elm gave me about twenty dwarf iris that fit nicely in the front of that bed. This year I’ll “need” to add another iris bed the other side of the walkway to balance it out. Don’t you agree?
Greater Portland Iris Society Retrospect (by Chad Harris)
Things seem to be getting back to normal after COVID this past year. Plant sales, shows, and meetings were held without persons required to wear masks. Kevin Vaughn was our February Judge’s Training instructor on Medians. Later in the year, he gave an informative evening program on Miniature Tall Bearded irises. Other evening programs focused on Japanese iris given by me. A very informative program by Mike Starhill on
Historic iris. Program regarding building the gardens around our meeting hall by Bud Bowen. An outside guest speaker, Theo Margelony, opened a window of information regarding hardy fuchsias. Our three shows were well-attended by members of the iris society and the public. Again, the early show was held in conjunction with a floral display by the Ikebana Schools of Portland. The Mid-season show found us at a new location. Thank you, John, for finding Clackamas Community Center. The Japanese Garden of Portland hosted us in one of their beautiful classrooms for the late show. This year, in June, we look forward to hosting the American Iris Society’s National Convention in conjunction with the Society for Japanese Irises.
King Country Iris Society News (by Patrick Spence)
2023 was a great year for The King County Iris Society. We had Andi Rivarola up from California to give an in-garden judges training on Spurias. We had a lot of really great programs during our monthly meetings including a stellar look at the hybridizing program of Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks. 2024 is on track to be just as eventful. On April 1st, John Coble from Michigan will be giving us a program titled ‘The History of Ensata Gardens From Bauer-Coble Studios to Present’. Prior to growing irises Bob & John operated Bauer-Coble Studios, where they made Tiffany style stained glass and lamps. They even cast their own bronze lamp stands! This program has been picked up by the AIS and will be broadcast as a Zoom Webinar. Join us on April Fools Day for fun and some beautiful photos!
On May 19th we will host Dell Perry from Texas who will be giving an in-garden judges training on Aril and Arilbred irises. This is a rare opportunity so please plan to join us.
We also just got Terry Aitken to present A History of Aitken’s Salmon Creek Nursery in October. Details to follow, but this should be another epic adventure. I sure hope he talks about his orchids too!
Oregon Trail Iris Society News (by Lynda Miller)
No report
Pierce Country Iris Society 2023 in Review (by Maiya Heath) We had a busy spring season in 2023. Early spring brought informational meetings and bingo iris games. We joined the Master Gardners for their Spring Sale at the end of April, it was a big success for us, as we sold out of potted iris on the first day of the sale.
In May we hosted our annual Iris Show at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma WA. We had a very nice variety of Horticulture, Artistic Design, Photography, and Educational Displays for the public to enjoy.
In June we participated in the Parks “Garden Festival” weekend and hosted a booth at our public display garden in Point Defiance Park. We also had a garden tour at a private “eclectic” garden in Tacoma. The couple who “repurpose” items and decorate their garden beds with said items. The creativity was fascinating. July brought our annual club picnic and iris auction.
We wrapped up the iris growing season with our club Iris Sale graciously hosted at Portland Ave Nursery in August and a generous re-planting of our Tall Bearded Iris bed out at the display garden at the park.
At one of our fall club meetings we had our own members show and share how they track and label their irises in their own gardens. It was a great way to see everyone’s gardens in bloom and to see the different ways people track what they grow.
We wrapped up the year with our 2023 officers, rolling over into 2024, and had a nice Christmas party with food, fun, and good friends.
I’m looking forward to another full year with my flower friends, I hope you can join us for some of our events. Happy Gardening Everyone!