British Columbia Iris Society News
Our publication, “The Rainbow Goddess”, is released on the website https://www.bcirissociety.com/ This year has been a rough one, our beloved member Bill Dumont, editor and communication director, passed away in January. Richard Hebda is working to fill his shoes, recover data and release the Winter 2023 edition. It is a beautiful publication with a lot of information in it, please check it out. We offer our sincerest condolences to Bill’s family and friends.
Columbia Basin Iris Society News (by Phyllis Barnett)
Last year we were able to have a successful iris show and sale event in mid May where we talked to visitors from all over the Northwest about the super AIS Membership promotion. Unfortunately, we garnered only one new member for AIS and our society. During the following months we were flexible with our meetings to fit our new member’s work schedule.
After serving two 2-year terms (plus COVID years), CBIS President Phyllis Barnett was replaced by Gay Auckland.
In 2022 we lost another member to cancer, May Smith’s husband, Cal Maxwell. He was dear man, and a big help to our iris group for about 10 years. Later in the year, May moved to a senior home in Leavenworth.
Greater Portland Iris Society Retrospect (by Chad Harris)
2022 met us with covid winding down and the indoor arenas starting to reopen we were able to fly Carol Warner for Judge’s Training on Siberian irises in February. The winter meetings also were able to be held, with Paul Black starting off with his hybridizing program “New Directions in Iris Breeding”. Bud Bowen took us across the “pond” to England with his “Seasons of Kew”. During the spring and summer, the public were able to enjoy three well attended plant sales and three shows. Special note the late show we were able to be hosted by the Japanese Garden of Portland. It had been many years of not being there with the garden closed for updating of buildings. The new building and grounds that were added to the garden are a must see and we are pleased to be hosted again this year. The three fall meetings were all on personal hybridizing programs with some of our well-known iris breeders in our area Terry Aitken, Thomas Johnson, and Robin Shadlow.
King Country Iris Society News (by Patrick Spence)
What a year 2022 was! It was cool and rainy, we hosted the R13/Siberian Iris Convention, it stopped raining and was above normal temperatures until mid-October when it started raining and freezing way too early! That is what it seemed like. The cool spring had us really worried that the Siberian Iris weren’t going to be in bloom for the convention the last weekend of May, but luckily we had 10 days of warmth prior to and many of them were open to enjoy during the convention. After the convention, they were all gorgeous.
We hosted our booth at the Northwest Flower and Garden show in February and they allowed us to sell plants for the first time. Talking to people about Iris is our favorite hobby and we look forward to it. We sold 2 species iris, but they didn’t like the indoor lighting, so some looked a little sick by the 4th day. Lesson learned, don’t bring in all the iris on the first day, it was still fun to sell the iris and talk about them. We had some interesting programs via ZOOM – Pacific Coast Iris by Gary Knipe; Spuria Iris by Andi Rivarola; Growing and Hybridizing TB Iris in Denver, CO, Bob Van Liere, Iris4U Garden; we appreciated that Patrick Spence and Terry Aitken were able to give us in person presentations. Our ZOOM skills are really improving thanks to John Vacchiery.
In August and September, we held our regular bearded and beardless iris sales at Well Medina Nursery. The smokey air didn’t stop people from purchasing iris.
Oregon Trail Iris Society News (by Lynda Miller)
We had our normal meeting in the winter and spring starting with hybridizer show and tell in January. Patrick Spence gave a great program on beardless iris in February and March was our redistribution drawing. One month Lynda showed pictures of the national convention including lots of pictures of hybridizers. August we had both our club auction and our public sale at Sebright Gardens, both were very successful and lead us to a new member. We ended our year in November with our annual potluck and holiday exchange.
Pierce Country Iris Society News (by Maiya Heath)
Our 2022 year had us continuing to host our club meetings, as a hybrid of zoom and in person gatherings. Our monthly club newsletter “The Bloomn’ News” keeps everyone informed of the clubs upcoming events and meeting places. We hosted our annual Iris Show in May and had a nice variety of Horticulture, Artistic Designs, Educational exhibits and Photography for public display. Our summer Iris sale was held at Portland Ave Nursery, and again did well for our club. In October, we hosted a successful Region 13 Fall Conference in Puyallup.
Happy Irising and hope to see you all sometime soon!
Walla Walla Iris Society Society: No report
Yakima Valley Iris Society: No report
Our publication, “The Rainbow Goddess”, is released on the website https://www.bcirissociety.com/ This year has been a rough one, our beloved member Bill Dumont, editor and communication director, passed away in January. Richard Hebda is working to fill his shoes, recover data and release the Winter 2023 edition. It is a beautiful publication with a lot of information in it, please check it out. We offer our sincerest condolences to Bill’s family and friends.
Columbia Basin Iris Society News (by Phyllis Barnett)
Last year we were able to have a successful iris show and sale event in mid May where we talked to visitors from all over the Northwest about the super AIS Membership promotion. Unfortunately, we garnered only one new member for AIS and our society. During the following months we were flexible with our meetings to fit our new member’s work schedule.
After serving two 2-year terms (plus COVID years), CBIS President Phyllis Barnett was replaced by Gay Auckland.
In 2022 we lost another member to cancer, May Smith’s husband, Cal Maxwell. He was dear man, and a big help to our iris group for about 10 years. Later in the year, May moved to a senior home in Leavenworth.
Greater Portland Iris Society Retrospect (by Chad Harris)
2022 met us with covid winding down and the indoor arenas starting to reopen we were able to fly Carol Warner for Judge’s Training on Siberian irises in February. The winter meetings also were able to be held, with Paul Black starting off with his hybridizing program “New Directions in Iris Breeding”. Bud Bowen took us across the “pond” to England with his “Seasons of Kew”. During the spring and summer, the public were able to enjoy three well attended plant sales and three shows. Special note the late show we were able to be hosted by the Japanese Garden of Portland. It had been many years of not being there with the garden closed for updating of buildings. The new building and grounds that were added to the garden are a must see and we are pleased to be hosted again this year. The three fall meetings were all on personal hybridizing programs with some of our well-known iris breeders in our area Terry Aitken, Thomas Johnson, and Robin Shadlow.
King Country Iris Society News (by Patrick Spence)
What a year 2022 was! It was cool and rainy, we hosted the R13/Siberian Iris Convention, it stopped raining and was above normal temperatures until mid-October when it started raining and freezing way too early! That is what it seemed like. The cool spring had us really worried that the Siberian Iris weren’t going to be in bloom for the convention the last weekend of May, but luckily we had 10 days of warmth prior to and many of them were open to enjoy during the convention. After the convention, they were all gorgeous.
We hosted our booth at the Northwest Flower and Garden show in February and they allowed us to sell plants for the first time. Talking to people about Iris is our favorite hobby and we look forward to it. We sold 2 species iris, but they didn’t like the indoor lighting, so some looked a little sick by the 4th day. Lesson learned, don’t bring in all the iris on the first day, it was still fun to sell the iris and talk about them. We had some interesting programs via ZOOM – Pacific Coast Iris by Gary Knipe; Spuria Iris by Andi Rivarola; Growing and Hybridizing TB Iris in Denver, CO, Bob Van Liere, Iris4U Garden; we appreciated that Patrick Spence and Terry Aitken were able to give us in person presentations. Our ZOOM skills are really improving thanks to John Vacchiery.
In August and September, we held our regular bearded and beardless iris sales at Well Medina Nursery. The smokey air didn’t stop people from purchasing iris.
Oregon Trail Iris Society News (by Lynda Miller)
We had our normal meeting in the winter and spring starting with hybridizer show and tell in January. Patrick Spence gave a great program on beardless iris in February and March was our redistribution drawing. One month Lynda showed pictures of the national convention including lots of pictures of hybridizers. August we had both our club auction and our public sale at Sebright Gardens, both were very successful and lead us to a new member. We ended our year in November with our annual potluck and holiday exchange.
Pierce Country Iris Society News (by Maiya Heath)
Our 2022 year had us continuing to host our club meetings, as a hybrid of zoom and in person gatherings. Our monthly club newsletter “The Bloomn’ News” keeps everyone informed of the clubs upcoming events and meeting places. We hosted our annual Iris Show in May and had a nice variety of Horticulture, Artistic Designs, Educational exhibits and Photography for public display. Our summer Iris sale was held at Portland Ave Nursery, and again did well for our club. In October, we hosted a successful Region 13 Fall Conference in Puyallup.
Happy Irising and hope to see you all sometime soon!
Walla Walla Iris Society Society: No report
Yakima Valley Iris Society: No report