Clarence Mahan
It is not too late to enter your newer irises and seedlings in the international competition held in Florence, Italy each year. The city of Florence in collaboration with the Italian Iris Society has been conducting this competition each year since 1955. Competition is open in two categories, Tall Bearded and Border Bearded. Hybridizers can send two rhizomes each of up to six varieties in each category. Entries must be made not later than September 15th.
You need to obtain an official entry form to enter this competition. To obtain it, write to Segreteria, Societa' Italiana dell'Iris, Via Bolognese 17, 50139 Firenze, Italy. (If you are not familiar with Italian, "Firenze" is the Italian name for "Florence".)
When you get the entry form you will also receive the rules, which require you to give your entries special numbers, prepare sealed envelopes, etc. The rules may seem a bit complex compared to our competitions in North America, but once you have give them a bit of thought, they are not really difficult to follow. You must comply with the rules, which are designed to prevent irises being judged based on their hybridizers' popularity or countries of origin.
Don't delay! Give it a go! Your iris could end up the winner of the Golden Florin!
The British Iris Society Year Book for 1997 has two articles with interesting and significant information on several iris species native to China. "Irises of North-Western Yunnan" by Phillip Cribb and Brian Mathew reports on the 1996 Friends of Kew trip to south-western China. Nigel Service's article, "A Visit to China," is a description of irises and their habitats seen on a trip to Yunnan with a group from the Alpine Garden Society. Among the excellent color photographs reproduced in the Year Book are pictures taken by Phillip Cribb of Iris ruthenica var. nana; Iris cuniculiformis; and Iris colletii. There is also a splendid photograph taken by Nigel Service of the newly discovered species, Iris barbatula.
The irises discussed in the Cribb and Mathew article include Iris ruthenica var. nana Maxim; Iris bulleyana Dykes, which for a long time was erroneously believed to be but a hybrid originating in George Bulley's garden; the newly described Section Pseudoregelia species Iris cuniculiformis Noltie & K. Y. Guan and Iris dolichosiphon Noltie; Iris collettii Hook; and Iris delavayi Micheli.
Nigel Service's article describes his observations of several of the same irises and, in addition, the newly designated Iris barbatula Noltie & K. Y. Guan. The entire article is very interesting, and particularly fascinating is Nigel's description of Iris collettii with its very small flat rhizome--so small and flat that Nigel writes: "In this subgenus a proper rhizome is absent and foliage and flowers grow from a sort of plate to which swollen roots are attached."
Nigel also provides a commendable service by appending descriptions of Iris cuniculiformis and Iris barbatula to his article. I am reproducing those descriptions here for readers of the Bulletin who are interested in iris species.
Iris cuniculiformis Noltie & K. Y. Guan
Iris barbatula Noltie & K. Y. Guan
The British Iris Society has presented its Pilkington Award to Margaret Criddle, who has been performing so ably the duties of Seed Distribution Officer for the Society. The Pilkington Award is reserved for extraordinary service "above and beyond the call of duty." Congratulations to Margaret, who is also a member of AIS!
At the Royal Horticultural Society Westminster show this year, held on January 20 th and 21st, three rather rare Juno iris species were on display according to Chris Rose's report in the British Iris Society Species Group Bulletin for February, 1998. This was Chris's report:
"The Kew Alpine Unite had three irises up on the awards benches. The Juno I. regis-uzziae on show as a translucent whitish with a yellow crest and was not awarded. I. leptorhiza from the Pamir range in Tadzhikistan received a Certificate of Preliminary Commendation. About 6" tall, it had 'in-line' fans of leaves which over-topped the flowers. The poor lighting may tell against my description, but the colour and patterning were both interesting and attractive. The ground colour looked pale creamish. The crest was whitish, surrounded by a broad yellow zone. There were greyed-purple dark spots/bands on the upper and lower surfaces of the falls (and style arms ? - my notes are a little unclear on this point). There was a more solid bar of said colour on the upper surface of the standards. I failed to note the award to I. stenophylla subspecies allisonii from southern Turkey. This looked like a reticulata but with grooved ('v' cross-sectioned) leaves. The flowers were reticulata-sized and held above short emerging leaves, the whole being no more than 4" tall. Bloom ground colour was mauvish with a narrow yellow band on the fall centre line. White on either side of this [line] was broken by darker mauve vein colouratiion, increasingly dark towards solidly coloured fall tips.
A recently received letter brought news of iris activities in Germany. The writer of the letter, Rainer Zeh, is a life member of AIS and an AIS accredited garden judge. Rainer wants me to tell you that there is a very active iris society in Germany. It is now a "Fachgruppe" (Group) of the Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde (Perennial Plant Society). Among the groups of the Society, the Iris Group is always listed first because it was the nucleus around which the larger society was formed. The German Iris Society was founded in 1950; in 1959 it was enlarged to a society for irises and lilies. Then in 1973, it was further enlarged to the Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde.
Rainer tells me that the Iris Group is very active. It has shows, operates a test garden, has an annual popularity poll, and sells irises and seeds to members. Rainer was kind enough to send me a copy of the December 1997 issue of the publication of Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde, in which he has an article on irises. Unfortunately, the German language is beyond my meager translating abilities. If anyone is interested in subscribing to this publication, I suggest writing the current President of the Society for information: Erhard Wörfel, Meisenweg 1, 65795 Hattersheim, Germany.
Many thanks to Sylvain Ruaud for an interesting article on iris activities in Slovenia and the Czech Republic for the Winter, 1997 issue of Iris et Bulbeuses. In Slovenia, Izador Golob, an agricultural engineer, lives near the Italian border. He has a passion for irises and daylilies, which grow well in the mild climate of his region which is near both the sea and the mountains. He has great interest in Siberian, spuria and tall bearded irises, and has collected cultivars from America, Australia, and Great Britain. He also grows cultivars from France, especially the irises of Anfosso and Cayeux.
Mr. Golob has been hybridizing irises for some time, and registered two cultivars in 1996. VESTALKA, a tall bearded iris, has pink standards and style arms, orchid pink falls, and deep tangerine red beards. It's pedigree is VANITY X (MOJCA X BEVERLY SILLS), and it has a slight sweet fragrance. (The French word for the beard color is mandarine, which is such a lovelier word than the term "tangerine red.") MAJCA is an iris that Mr. Golob introduced in 1978.
The second tall bearded iris registered by Mr. Golob in 1996 is ZLATI ORNAT, which is a yellow bitone with rich brown veins on the falls. It has a pronounced sweet fragrance. This Slovenian hybridizer has many beautiful seedlings, but does not want to register any that are not top quality.
The most celebrated iris breeder in the Czech Republic is Milan Blazek, director of the Prague Botanical Garden. Last year I was honored to meet this most distinguished gentleman at the 75th anniversary convention of the British Iris Society, where he received the Foster Memorial Plaque. Recently I received a communication from Dr. Pavel Sekerta, who is curator at the Prague Botanical Garden. The logo on the stationary of the Prague Botanical Garden will be of interest to our society's members because it consists of a yellow iris on a green background.
At one time AIS carried RHS Color Charts in its sales inventory. Demand was never great, and the cost to maintain the inventory was high. Since AIS discontinued carrying the RHS Color Charts, however, members often inquire as to where they can be obtained. Write to RHS Enterprises Ltd, RHS Garden, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB, England, where you can obtain the current price and make payment arrangements. These color charts are invaluable for use by plant breeders of all types in describing the colors of flowers when registering the plants. There are other color charts available, but for plants the RHS Color Charts are now the standard.
I recently received a letter from Sergey Loktev announcing that the Central Iris Society of Russia is establishing an annual "Moscow International Iris Competition." Iris breeders around the world are invited to send their irises for evaluation at this competition. The rules are quite similar to the annual international competition in Florence. Remember this, however, if you are shipping irises for this competition: You must obtain a Russian import permit number from Sergey before shipping your irises, and this import permit number must be clearly visible on the outside of the package. I suggest you write the import permit number on the top and sides of the package. Obtain the plant import number by writing to Sergey Loktev, P.O. Box 54, MOSCOW, 129226, Russia.
Here are the rules of the competition which were attached to Sergey's letter:
"Moscow Iris Competion is established and carried on by the Central Iris Society of Russia with the purpose of stimulating the domestic iris hybridization. The competition brings out most decorative seedlings and introduced varieties of TB irises stably growing in Moscow region. Basing on the judgment results the competition winners are defined and awarded each year.
"Only registered cultivars not older than 7 years beginning from the year of registration (or beginning from the year of introduction if the latter took place before the registration) are allowed for test planting. They can be proposed to the competition only by their hybridizers or registrants (not more than 5 cultivars a year by each hybridizer/registrant.) The planting material for each cultivar presented for the participation in the competition must contain two rhizomes and is to be sent to the following address: Liudmila Rozanova, Selskohoziaystvennaya ul, 14-1-23, Moscow, 129226, Russia. The materials are annually to be received from 15 of April to 15 of August. Each cultivar is judged on the third year after it is planted.
"The material sent to the competition must be illness-free (from foreign irisarians the phytosanitary certificate is required.) Each plant must have the attached label with the letter-numerical symbol of the cultivar. Together with the plants an envelope is to be sent containing corresponding letter- numerical symbols of the cultivars on it. The note inside the envelope must contain the same symbols together with a name and a full description of each cultivar, hybridizerís name and address and his signature. Each participant who sends his material to the competition receives a corresponding confirmation.
"All the cultivars are planted into the ground under the special compeition numbers which are later also used for making the cultivars in the judging forms. After the compeition the planting material stays in the property [sic] of CIS and is used in accordance with its regulations. Competition plantings can be transferred to another location not earlier than next year (after bloom season) after the year of judging."