International News

Clarence Mahan

 

News from the International Median Robin

I have written before about the International Median Robin which has been flying for a great number of years, thanks to conscientious members and a very competent robin director: Hilmary Catton. Hilmary had to give up her large garden when she moved into a retirement community, but she has not given up gardening. Here are some excerpts from the last flight of the robin:

 

Hilmary Catton, New Zealand: "We have had the most trying summer thanks to El Nino: day after day of extreme heat and no rain, the same all down the eastern side of the ranges, while on the western side of the country rain and more rain. The drought conditions in some areas are the worst on record with farmers buying both food and water to keep their stock alive. My garden has been rather neglected as it was too hot to work most days so all I could do was just try and keep things alive with the limited watering time allowed. One thing that gave me a lot of pleasurewas the laevigatas and ensatas that I had in big pots standing in deep saucers of water. They bloomed beautifully for weeks. Having both species and some early and late ones of each gave almost two months of bloom. I would like more but it means having a lot of pots with nothing interesting for some time, though last year I planted some little annuals like violas and lobelia round the edge of the pots when I cut the leaves down on the irises, and they made a nice show."

 

Sally Guye, South Africa: "One tiny piece of information here was that Morea polystachia, which dies down completely, is alive and well and blooming. It is in a sad naked little bed marked by bricks so that we know that it is there. A very delicate little creature akin to a miniature Dutch iris is the best way I can think to describe it."

 

Thelma Naylor, England: "Most of the American irises I bought over the past two years have bloomed now but have not made much growth. In fact, those bought in 1997 seem to have made as much growth as some bought the previous year. I planted all the new plants in 1997 in pots and sank these into the ground. Later this year I will plant them into their final bed. I think the plant from 1996 which has made the most growth and put up most spikes is BALLET LESSON. PINK CRYSTAL and BALLET SLIPPERS, which you [Lucy Burton] gave me earlier on, have all clumped up well and bloomed well. JOYFUL is another SDB which looks good--also, BLUE LINE."

 

Lynette Black, New Zealand: "Unfortunately, I had a disastrous bloom season because of spray damage. I did not spray around the seedling bed. Bloom there was plentiful and very interesting, with many held over for another season. Like Hilmary, I did not get a hint of pink from any CHANTED seedlings. Many were lemon, yellow, gold and tan-brown, like GINGERBREAD MAN, which is in CHANTED's breeding. A lot of the CHANTED seedlings were actually in the intermediate height range with dwarf size blooms."

 

Bennett Jones, Portland, Oregon: "I love the Reticulatas and Junos. I used to grow them but lost them here and there and now I have all I can handle, a matter of putting your time and energy where your heart is, I guess. It is fortunate, too, that almost every kind of iris you can think of grows in one garden or another here, so I can see them all whether I grow them or not. Isn't that nice?"

 

Lucy Burton, South Hamilton, Massachusetts: "Both of John's grandmothers were gardeners, and my great uncle grew ferns and peonies. We had a different view of the "fern bed" though. She would be pleased that the maidenhair fern showed up, not easily done in the Wisconsin climate, and I would "silently" greet the lilies of the valley and the trilliums. The neighbor to the rear had a small backyard full of nothing but irises and he gave some to my mother. All were TBs. When John and I started gardening, he saw a Melrose Gardens ad and spoke the immortal words: 'Oh, they have the little ones.' And we have been at it [ever] since."

 

William John Caparne

Anyone who knows even a little about the history of iris development will quickly recognize the name of William John Caparne. He was a pioneer iris breeder whose work with dwarf irises is recognized by the American Iris Society's Caparne-Welch Medal for miniature dwarf bearded irises. He was also the first iris hybridizer to develop and introduce intermediate bearded irises. Because we iris enthusiasts tend to focus on Caparne's iris activities we may not realize or might forget that Caparne was also a highly accomplished artist. Those of us fortunate enough to have a copy of Sir Michael Foster's Bulbous Irises can see some of his exquisite drawings in that work.

 

Our knowledge of Caparne until now has been fairly well limited to articles in back issues of the British Iris Society Year Book and the AIS Bulletin. There is an Iris Chronicle (No.II) devoted to his iris work and that of Sidney Mitchell, a rather bizarre combination, but that chronicle is not as comprehensive as one would wish. Now we have two wonderful books on Caparne, "his life, works and times," by Robin A. Fenner. The first book is A Genius Undeclared (Tavistock, Devon, 1994) and the second volume is Guernsey, My Heaven on Earth (Tavistock, Devon, 1998). These are simply wonderful books by a very gifted writer and art authority.

 

These two works are filled with reproductions of Caparne's paintings and drawings along with pictures of Caparne, his family, home and friends. And irises! Many are in color, and to say they are lovely is understatement. The story of Caparne's life is fascinating. The most wonderful aspect of these books, however, is that Mr. Fenner has treated Caparne's iris work on par with his art.

 

The two books on Caparne and his work can be obtained by writing Mr. Fenner in care of The Stannary Gallery, Drake Road, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 OAX, England (UK).

 

News from Juri

The Internet has afforded many of us the opportunity to get to know Juri Pirogov and to learn much about irises in Russia. He recently sent me an email message telling me that he had been reading The World of Irises and believes it is "the Bible for all iris lovers."

 

Juri just started growing reblooming irises, and says he was amazed that IMMORTALITY (Zurbrigg 1982) and PURE AS GOLD (Maryott 1993) bloomed in June before the standard dwarf bearded irises. (Remember, the iris season comes late in central Russia.) Those of us who grow a lot of cold climate rebloomers know that this experience is not unusual, but it was interesting to read how surprising this early bloom can be for one who had not had experience growing remontant irises. Juri wrote that the last tall bearded irises to bloom for him this year were MAGHAREE (Blyth 1986/87) and MULLED WINE (Keppel 1982). With irises with such prolific rebloom as IMMORTALITY and PURE AS GOLD, it would not be surprising to learn that Juri gets to see some autumn bloom soon.

 

Juri recently reported that he just visited Stavopol in the North Caucasus where he observed wild spuria irises and collected pumila irises in the botanical garden there. He also reported on the first meeting of the Russian Iris Society which was held on 12-14 June, 1998. Oleg Amekhine, a botanist from Lvov, lectured on the variablity of Iris pumila in the wild in South Ukraine and showed photographs on this subject. Juri Pirogov plans on putting these photographs on his page on the Internet. If you would like to communicate with Juri, his email address is <jukp@aha.ru>.

 

Irises and Iridaceae: Biodiversity and Systematics

The following news was reported by Anne Blanco White in the Newsletter of the Group for Beardless Irises of the British Iris Society:

"This [Irises and Iridaceae: Biodiversity and Systematics] was the title of a small, but very select international conference held under the auspices of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' in conjunction with the Linnean Society, the Systematics Association and the Italian Iris Society at the Botanic Garden in Rome, and organized by Prof. M. A. Colasante. There were about a couple of dozen of us from countries as far flung as Brazil and Israel, Russia and South Africa. It was extremely hard work and great fun. Two days were devoted to illustrated lectures, one to a visit to the International Iris Garden in Florence and Innocenti's iris nursery and one to a field trip to look for I. sabina on its home ground. It isn't really possible to do justice to all the material so soon after the event, but much of the information produced was fascinating and, with luck, the proceedings will be published early next year.

 

"Meantime, the irises have been moved from the Liliales order to the Asparagales. Furthermore, Belemcanda chinensis, Hermodactylus tuberosus, and Pardanthopsis dichotoma have been readmitted to the Genus Iris and there is no real doubt that the Scorpirises are plain irises rather than a genus in their own right. Well, I have always said that our Guide to Species Irises would be out of date as soon as it was sent to the printers. It is also clear that the 28 chromosome sibiricas can be discriminated from the 40 chromosome group. And to add to the fun, molecular work at Kew may lead to a good deal of rearrangement in the current classification since it demonstrates the evolutionary relationships of many of the species by showing the order of development and throwing some light on the reluctance of some species to cross with others. So there is going to be a lot to think about over the next few years." See also: Report on: IRISES AND IRIDACEAE: BIODIVERSITY & SYSTEMATICS

 

French Plan Iris Fete for the Year 2000

The Spring 1998 issue of Iris et Bulbeuses announces that the Société Française des Iris et Plantes Bulbeuses is planning a great celebration of irises which will be called "Franciris 2000." The project is under the direction of Gérard Brière. If you are interested in sending your iris introductions or seedlings to be grown in gardens which will be on tour, or if you wish to receive detailed information about this event when plans are complete, I suggest you contact M. Brière at this address: Le Pommeret, route de Montfort, 35310 BREAL S/S MONTFORT, France.

 

New International News Editors

When I "volunteered" to undertake to resurrect the "International News" column in the Bulletin, I never realized how much I would enjoy doing it. I had many reservations about the undertaking, especially because I knew that longtime members would be apt to compare my lesser competence with that of a woman whose shoes I could never adequately fill: the great Bee Warburton. But I also knew that Bee's high standards would provide a guide and that many people, myself included, missed having the column in the Bulletin. So with a little prodding from Claire Barr, I "volunteered." Now, as I undertake new responsibilities for the Society, it is time to "pass the baton."

 

I am happy to report that this column will continue to appear in the Bulletin, and the editors will be a remarkably talented husband-wife team who are well known in the international iris community. George and Margaret Sutton have held a number of important positions in AIS and Region 14. They have graciously agreed to be joint editors. Send any items you think appropriate for this column to them at this address: 16592 Road 208, Porterville, CA 93257, USA. Their telephone: (209) 784-9011, and their fax: (209) 784-6701. If you would like to send email to George and Margaret, their email address is <SUTTONS@lightspeed.net>.

 

As an interesting aside, I recently learned that the Suttons' hometown of Porterville, California, is instituting an annual iris festival. George tells me that international visitors to the Porterville Iris Festival will most certainly be welcome.

 

A Useful Tool

One of my duties as AIS Convention Liaison Chairman has been to obtain the dates for future conventions so they can be publicized in the Bulletin. I came to realize that one of the reasons convention chairmen delay in setting dates is lack of perpetual calendar that will reveal the dates for future years. I recently found a wonderful resource on the Internet at: http://calendarhome.com/tyc/home.html This site has a 10,000 year calendar that permits you to print out calendars for future years. This should be very useful for many AIS members, e.g. program chairmen for affiliates, Section officers who plan "mini-conventions," those who plan Regional meetings, and anyone who has to plan activities in advance to avoid conflicts with iris meetings. Since this resource is available to everyone around the world, I slip this information into "International News" with a clear conscience.

Haiku

Bee Warburton loved poetry, and when she edited this column she quoted from her favorite poem, Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Pied Beauty" on several occasions. It was because of her quoting from this poem that I first wrote to her, for I am fond of it also. That first letter led to many years of correspondence between Bee and me, and we became great friends even though we never met. Thus, I thought it fitting that I share one iris haiku with you.

Many old haiku concerning irises have been quoted in various iris publications over the years, but there is one poem by the great Japanese haiku master Buson which I have never seen in such works:

 

A purple iris

Spattered with the droppings

of a passing hawk.

 

I think I understand the reason this poem is missing from our "iris" literature, and I suspect it is lingering Victorian prudery. As an example of haiku form it meets all the required poetic conventions. We know it is late spring because the iris is blooming. It concerns beauty because irises are beautiful. On a deeper plane, it captures in a second the transitory nature of the world and the disdain Nature has for its own beauty. The poem is considered exquisite by the Japanese, and I like it very much. Bee and I used to exchange haiku, and I am confident that she would like it too.