ILLINOIS IRISARIAN IRISARIAN FALL AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY, REGION 9 Issue Fall Kiddieland (A & D Willott 1985) MDB

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1 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN IRISARIAN FALL 2012 AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY, REGION 9 Issue Fall 2012 Kiddieland (A & D Willott 1985) MDB Visit our website at: Greetings to all Irisarians within the Land of Lincoln

2 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 2 FALL 2012 You Are Invited To Attend The AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY NATIONAL CONVENTION COME TO DALLAS IN 2013 APRIL 15-20, 2013 DALLAS, TEXAS The Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resort Midway Road Addison, Texas Hosted By: The Iris Society of Dallas

3 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 3 FALL 2012 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN TABLE OF CONTENTS/PHOTO CREDITS TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 4 RVP Column Page 5 Region 9 Officers and Affiliate Presidents Page 6 Region 9 Committees Page 7-9-More Intermediates by Dave Niswonger Page Affiliate Calendars Page 13 Historic Iris Preservation Society PHOTO CREDITS Front cover AIS Encyclopedia Page 7 Dave Niswonger Page 8 Dave Niswonger Page 9-Dave Niswonger Page 10 Dave Kelly Page 13-Historic Iris Preservation Society Back Cover Jim Morris Page 14--Region Spring Meeting Page 14-Region 9 Symposium Results Page 15-Judges Training-Prairie Iris Society Page 15-Judges Training-Southern Il Iris Society Send the editor your garden photos I would like to highlight different Illinois Irisarian Gardens each issue of this newsletter. Please consider sending me one or two electronic photos of your garden. I hope to put these on the front and back covers. My contact information is listed on page 6 of this edition. FUTURE AIS CONVENTIONS April 15-20, 2013, Dallas, Texas April 5-10, 2014, Dallas, Texas May 25-30, 2015, Portland, Oregon You can find out more about these upcoming AIS National Conventions by visiting the AIS Website. You can also refer to the latest edition of the AIS Newsletter (Irises). If you can fit them into your schedule, plan to attend a National AIS Convention.

4 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 4 FALL 2012 Greetings from your RVP--Margaret Kelly Greetings Iris Friends, This will be my last presidential message for the year. This has been a very unusual year as far as the weather is concerned. The weather has played havoc with many of our Iris activities. First, we had an early iris bloom season resulting in the cancellation of our local Iris shows. Next thing we know, we are experiencing hot, hot weather and no rain which stressed out some of our plants. Now, fall is settling in and the trees are turning beautiful colors and the prediction of frost already exists. We are scurrying around to get all our garden work done before the colder weather takes over. Time flies when you are having fun! We had the opportunity to attend the National Iris Convention in Ontario, California in April and visited the five convention gardens on the tour. We enjoyed the trip and were able to see a lot of the country coming and returning from the convention gardens. The iris bloom season in California was about two weeks behind schedule, thus they did not have full bloom but still had beautiful flowers and plants. I would like to thank everyone who donated plants for the Public Iris Sale. We had a successful sale and we were able to answer our customer s questions about irises. Each year we have enjoyed visiting with the customers and helping them make their iris selections. I hope you were able to attend one or more of the iris activities over the year. I look forward to the coming year and the many iris activities being planned for you to enjoy. The Spring Region 9 Iris meeting will be held Saturday April 6, 2013, we will have a book signing by Kelly Norris author of A Guide to Bearded Irises. He will also conduct judges training Borderline Crazy, Sorting out Intermediate and Border Bearded Irises. Plan to attend and learn all about these irises and how to care for them! How about coming out to the meetings and enjoy the fellowship, as well as help spread the word about irises and how easy irises are to maintain? Keep a watch on the web site (aisregion9.com) for all the activities taking place in Region 9 and local societies here in Illinois. Margaret

5 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 5 FALL 2012 Region 9, American Iris Society Officers Region 9 RVP: Margaret Kelly Asst RVP: Richard Funk 1708 Holiday Drive 5519 Lincoln Highway Rd Pekin, Illinois Charleston, Illinois Kelly@grics.net rbfunk@consolidated.net Secretary: Debra Miller Treasurer: John Bilski 61 Laconwood 9127 Wedgewood Drive Springfield, Illinois Fairview Heights, Illinois Miller42@aol.com jlbilski@aol.com AFFILIATES AND PRESIDENTS Mid-Illinois Iris Society Northern Illinois Iris Society Prairie Iris Society: Sangamon Valley Iris Society Southern Illinois Iris Society Ernie Henson 6401 Cedar Road Iuka, Illinois erni@midwest.net Diana Anshakov 2928 North 4425 th Road Newark, Illinois phantomfyre@yahoo.com Jerry Wilhoit 2282 N. 350 th Street Kansas, Illinois redbud@cell1net.net Debra Miller 61 Laconwood Springfield, Illinois Miller42@aol.com Gail Devilbiss 1253 Moonglow Road Centralia, Illinois

6 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 6 FALL 2012 COMMITTEES By Laws: Iris Auction and Sale: Judges Training: Membership: Youth: Webmaster: Illinois Irisarian Editor: Nominating: Immediate Past RVP: Steve Poole 775 Kaid Road Eldorado, Illinois gspoole@orchidsofozark.com Chuck Simon 10S122 Lorraine Drive Willowbrook, Illinois Becky Simon 10S122 Lorraine Drive Willowbrook, Illinois Pat Hayden 604 Eller Road Belleville, Illinois plhayden@charter.net Brian and Carol Davis 1405 Mayfair Drive Champaign, Illinois Bdavis3738@aol.com Dave Kelly 1708 Holiday Drive Pekin, Illinois Kelly@grics.net Dave Miller 61 Laconwood Springfield, Illinois Miller42@aol.com Jerry Wilhoit 2282 N. 350 th Street Kansas, Illinois redbud@cell1net.net Nancy Pocklington 901 Eastland Drive #C6 Auburn, Illinois irislady@royell.org

7 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 7 FALL 2012 MORE INTERMEDIATES??? By Dave Niswonger Recently, a friend asked me Why aren t hybridizers creating more intermediates? They are so easy to grow, don t have rot problems, don t have to be staked and they re so floriferous in a landscape. My reply was that it could be that most of them are sterile and the hybridizer wants to move on with his lines ---or perhaps the timing was wrong for him---that is, he needed pollen from Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDBs) to cross on Tall Bearded (TBs) irises or vice versa and unless he stored it in the refrigerator or froze it from the past season, he didn t have the pollen to make the cross. Of course, SDBs and IBs are strictly man made cultivars. Most of this type of breeding started with Paul Cook from Bluffton, IN and Geddes Douglas from Nashville, TN. Paul could mail pollen from I. pumila, a bearded species which was a tetraploid with four groups of eight chromosomes totaling thirty two and Geddes could mail Paul pollen from Tall Bearded cultivars that were tetraploid with four groups of twelve chromosomes, totaling forty eight. Crossing these produced SDBs which turned out to be highly fertile with forty chromosomes. These SDBs could be crossed with each other producing colors not seen in TBs; such as, pure whites with blue beards, as well as bright yellows with blue beards, bicolors, and bitones, and some with spots in the falls. A new race of flowers was created. But, that s not the end of the story. By crossing SDBs onto TBs or vice versa, another race of flowers was made possible. Intermediate Beardeds were born! My experience with IBs began in 1979 when I crossed a seedling out of ( Beau X Celestial Doll ) with Turtledove (Moldovan 1972) which, incidently, is an IB. From this cross I got two IBs that I liked very much but couldn t decide which one I liked the best. In approximately 1981, Region 18 decided to make their spring convention in Wichita, KS a median one instead of a tall bearded convention. (This is the only time I can recall that this happened). At this convention my two IB seedlings were blooming side by side. So, I asked those nearby which one they liked the best. I got no immediate reply. Finally, someone said Why don t you introduce both of them? I had never thought of that. So, I introduced Honey Glazed in 1983 (which won the Sass Medal) and Golden Muffin in Honey Glazed, (Niswonger 1983) Golden Muffin, (Niswonger 1986)

8 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 8 FALL 2012 Recessive whites (pla s) and glaciatas from plicata breeding are an open palette for whatever is crossed on them since they will not contribute to the color and the genes from the other will express themselves in whatever they have. (As an aside, I should mention that most whites are only white because an inhibitor factor inhibits blue from showing up). So, I decided to use Goddess (Keppel 1981), a glaciata with Chubby Cheeks (Black 1985) which had proven to be an outstanding parent. I made the cross and got a large seed pod on Goddess which was planted on the corner of one of my iris beds. I m standing in front of my house looking toward the iris patch when one of the boys from the neighborhood comes walking through the iris patch with a stick in his hand. I m saying to myself, He wouldn t do that and about that time he swung the stick like as professional baseball player and it went Pow and I lost the cross for that year. But, I made the same cross the next year and got a large array of colors. I actually got five introductions from this cross. Prince of Burgundy was introduced in 1993 and received a Sass medal. In 1996, I introduced Goddess of Green, Goddess of Luck, and Goddess of Blue, which I sent to Mt. Diablo Iris Society in California. In the fall, I received a call from them, Hey Dave that Goddess of Blue has rebloomed for us but it s not blue it s yellow. My, My. So, the next spring I replaced it but about half of my stock was yellow so I dug it up and threw it away. The next spring, there was more yellow so I dug it up again and threw it away but when it showed up again the next year I said OK. This one must be a good one. I introduced it as Goddess of Yellow in Goddess of Yellow, (Niswonger 2000)

9 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 9 FALL 2012 Well, with all of this knowledge and experience, I felt I should do as my friend requested and decided to make another IB cross. I selected an early blooming TB from Barry Blyth (knowing that Barry has a lot of cultivars in his crosses) which was Mandarin Morning (Blyth 2002) For the SDB, I selected my Cocoa Pink 1997 knowing that it too had a mixed up parentage. I could just see those seedlings blooming in an explosion of colors. I bloomed a little over thirty and lo and behold, they were all the same color!! I selected the best one with good branching and bud count and introduced it in 2009 as Mandarin Delight. Yes, we do need more intermediates. You all get busy. Mandarin Delight (Niswonger 2009)

10 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 10 FALL 2012 Our July 2012 Region 9 meeting and Iris sale Hampton Inn and Suites and Washington Park Botanical Gardens

11 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 11 FALL 2012 REGION 9 Affiliate Calendar Dates for 2013 Prairie Iris Society (PIS) April 13, 2013 Spring Meeting-location TBA April 13, 2013 Prairie Judges Training-Brian and Carol Davis Garden May 25, 2013 Annual Iris Show-Lincoln Square Village-8:00 AM Noon August 3, 2013 Iris sale-lincoln Square Village 9:00 AM noon September 21, 2013 Fall meeting-location TBA Sangamon Valley Iris Society (SVIS) February 25, 2013 Potluck & Planning for Iris Show March 25, 2013 Siberian Iris-Chuck Simon April 29, 2013 Grooming Iris for Iris Show May 11, 2013 Iris Show-Springfield Botanical Gardens July 27, 2013 Iris Auction for members & Iris Sale for public-springfield Botanical Gardens September 30, 2013 To be determined October 28, 2013 To be determined Northern Illinois Iris Society (NIIS) January 20, 2013 Judges Training, Like a Kid in a Candy Store: How to Select the Best Tall Bearded Irises for Your Garden Westmont Public Library, Westmont, Il, 2:00 PM March 17, 2013 Meeting and Program, Westmont Public Library, 2:00 PM June 1-2, 2013 Annual Iris Show, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Il July 14, 2013 Iris Sale, Elmhurst Garden Walk Faire Boutique, Wilder Park, Elmhurst, Il, 10:00 AM 4:00 PM August 18, 2013 Summer Potluck and Plant Exchange, Ty Warner Park, Westmont, Il, Noon. November 17, 2013 Year end get together, location and time TBA. Please Keep the Illinois Irisarian Editor and the Region 9 Webmaster aware of all your meeting dates/changes and other pertinent information. We are working to ensure everyone is aware of your local affiliate activities.

12 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 12 FALL 2012 REGION 9 Affiliate Calendar Dates for 2013 Southern Illinois Iris Society (SIIS) May 4, 2013 Combined Show with Mid-Illinois Iris Society, location and time TBA April 14, 2013 Spring meeting and potluck, 12:30 PM, U of I Extension, Salem, Il July 27, 2013 Fall meeting and public sale, U of I Extension, Salem, Il Sale 8:00 AM 12:00 noon Potluck noon bring a dish to share Business meeting followed by members auction-1:00 PM Mid-Illinois Iris Society (MIIS) February 25, 2013 Meeting, 7:00 PM, Casey Township Community Center March 25, 2013 Meeting, 7:00 PM, Casey Township Community Center April 22, 2013 Meeting, Preparation for Show, 7:00 PM, Casey Township Community Center May 4, 2013 Iris Show, Time and Place TBA August 3, 2013 Public Sale, 8:00 AM-12:00 noon, after noon Club Auction. September 23, 2013 Meeting and Club Beardless Iris Sale, 7:00 PM, Casey Township Community Center October 28, 2013 Meeting, 7:00 PM, Casey Township Community Center December 7, 2013 Christmas Party, TBA, Casey Township Community Center Region 9, 2013 Meetings Spring 2013 meeting, April 6, 2013, Rochester Community Center, Community Meeting Room Fall 2013 meeting, August 10, 2013, Washington Park Botanical Gardens, Springfield, Illinois

13 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 13 FALL 2012 HISTORIC IRIS Irises introduced over 30 years ago are considered Historic Irises. Those that have survived this time period generally are the toughest of plants of their generation. Many Irisarians collect older Irises. Some look for plants to fill in gardens that match the time period of historic homes and are creating restoration gardens. Others are interested in the evolution of the modern Iris, while others simply prefer a simpler form and look of these antiques. Whatever your reasons you can enjoy the historic Irises even more by joining the Historic Iris Preservation Society (HIPS). You will find their website at One drawback of many irisarians' focus on the "latest and greatest" varieties, is that many older varieties tend to pass out of commerce fairly quickly, sometimes as soon as ten or fifteen years after their introduction. To those interested in the preservation of historic iris, this can create great difficulty later on, when these varieties become officially "historic." Thus, when thinking about preserving historic iris, it is also helpful to consider the preservation of these "not-quite-historic" varieties as well. The beautiful 'Folkwang' was introduced in 1925 and was different from anything that had come before.

14 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 14 FALL 2012 Region 9 Spring Meeting Judges Training, Judges updates, And other Specialized Training Region 9 Spring Membership Meeting Saturday April 6, 2013 Rochester Community Center, Rochester, IL 9:30am Continental Breakfast 10:00am Business Meeting 11:15am to 12:00pm Potluck 12:00 to 12:30pm Plant Auction 12:30-1:30 Kelly Norris book signing 1:30pm Judges Training by Kelly Norris 2 hrs. Credit "Borderline Crazy- Sorting Out Intermediate and Border Bearded Irises. Kelly Norris Websites: Guide to Bearded Iris book Kelly s calendar and who is Kelly REGION 9 SYMPOSIUM RESULTS FOR Dusky Challenger 2. Silverado 3. Stairway to Heaven 4. Conjuration 5. Vanity 6. Immortality 7. Titan s Glory 8. Thornbird 9. Beverly Sills 10. Champaign Elegance 11. Queen s Circle 12. Laced Cotton 13. Celebration Song 14. Gypsy Lord

15 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 15 FALL 2012 Region 9 Special Events Judges Training, Judges updates, And other Specialized Training Region 9 Judges Training: Saturday April 13th, 2013, 1:30-3:30PM Prairie Iris will be sponsoring IN THE GARDEN Judges training In the garden of Brian and Carol Davis 1406 Mayfield, Champaign, IL Training will be conducted by Brian and Carol Davis Two hours of training for 2 hours of education credit Intermediate, Miniature Dwarf, Standard Dwarf and Border Bearded will be featured! Per Becky Simon, if you are not able to attend this training and need garden Judges training, Becky can arrange for you to get garden training. Please contact her directly at Garden Judging-Louisiana Iris Saturday May 18, 2013, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM Steve Poole s Gardens, El Dorado, Illinois Three hours of Garden Judging of Louisiana Irises Lunch will be Provided Garden located at: Steve Poole s 895 Grayson Road El Dorado, Illinois Contact Steve at: Cell: Logan County Master Gardener Garden Education Day March 9, :00 AM 1:00 PM Lincoln College Lincoln, Illinois

16 ILLINOIS IRISARIAN David Miller ILLINOIS IRISARIAN 16 FALL 2012 Editor 61 Laconwood Drive Springfield, Illinois Seapower (Keppel 1999) TB Visit our website at: We hope you had a GREAT YEAR!!!! Kelly Norris will be our Very Special guest at the Spring 2013 meeting. Mark your calendars now You will not want to miss this opportunity!!!!!!