AIS Awards

If anyone is interested the 2008 AIS awards are posted on their website--www.irises.org. Then click on awards. Many people may have seen the Dykes winner: IB 'Starwoman' a good picture demonstrates the plicata pattern.

Very lovely. Where is the best place to see pictures of some of the other winners from 2008 and previous years? I saw the list of names but not pictures. Thank you.

Usually the pictures are not posted. If you wish a certain picture, try different catalog sites.

You can also google each one by typing >>iris "Name of Plant". That almost always works, but if you get a lot of extra stuff type >> iris "Name of Plant" hybridizer or

If you go here http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php and type Iris in the genus field and the cultivar you are wanting to look at in the cultivar field, it will bring you to that PlantFile entry. Using that search, here's Starwoman http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=Iris&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=Starwoman&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Or, you can go here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/advanced.php?sname=Iris and leave everything the same except at the very bottom there's a place to choose the award. Choose that and then you will get a list of all of the plants in PlantFiles that are noted as receiving that award. Here's the Dyke's Memorial Medal Winners that we have in PlantFiles http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/advanced.php?nn%5B71%5D=0&nn%5B1%5D=0&nn%5B2%5D=0&nn%5B3%5D=0&nn%5B4%5D=0&nn%5B5%5D=0&nn%5B6%5D=0&nn%5B112%5D=0&nn%5B8%5D=0&nn%5B9%5D=0&nn%5B23%5D=0&nn%5B10%5D=0&nn%5B12%5D=0&nn%5B113%5D=4&sname=Iris&Search.x=56&Search.y=21

We are just now in the process of adding all of the 2008 awards, so they aren't all finished yet. The major awards are done though. It's all of the 2008 Award of Merit and Honorable Mentions that aren't finished.

Thanks! I've been watching for them, but got busy digging.

JoanJ, that usually works on most older irises. But, although the current (2008) Dykes Medalist has usually been around five to seven years or so, the 2008 HM and even the 2008 AM award winners are relative newbies and pricey plants. There aren't that many in circulation long enough for DG to have any/many photos yet in the files. Unless DG got photos direct from the hybridizers.

This year I'm buying mostly irises introduced since 2005. They are not in here. Yet. Promise I'll help.

Same goes for irises long out of commerce and not sold broadly.

So, everybody, when you photograph your irises, check Plant Files and see if there is are photos of them. It is good to have more than one so we can see how they vary from garden to garden. It has been my goal to photograph as many irises as I can and enter them into plant files. It's fun! I get my photos at the AIS Convention -- and sometimes in my own garden. If we all keep on doing that we will have an even better set of plant files.
I find the comments helpful, too. Like is it a good grower? Does it fail to flourish in one part of the country or another?
I think the Plant Files database is a terrific tool.

The AM & HM award winners are newer plants. Irises are eligible for the HM (Honorable Mention) the second yr. after being introduced into commerce. Intro. 2008 will be on the HM list in 2010. They stay for 3 yrs. After winning that award the "rest" a yr. and then appear on the AW (Award of Merit) for 3 yrs or until AM is won. They "rest" then are transferred to the medal list. If you have patience you can wait until the price drops. The price changes as more stock of the plant is available. This year's Dykes winner in an IB the first time that has happened in the American awards system. It has the "plicata" pattern and like most IBs is an excellent grower. People towards the southern part of the US can give advice on the growth pattern in those areas of the country.

Oh Pajar! I almost forgot. You put in one from the convention of Acky Breaky Heart. Finally found my photo of it here - It's a Suttons 2006 (now you know why I was sure your plant in the photo had the wrong label!)

now - how do I put it in the PlantFiles?

This message was edited Jul 21, 2008 1:27 PM

Thanks for wanting to add your photo!

Go to the PlantFile entry for 'Achy Breaky Heart' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/154725/

Scroll down to the bottom where it says 'Upload an image of this plant' and click on that link

Find the file where you have the photo stored on your computer, and the instructions will guide you through the rest.

The photo will go into a pending photo queue, and they are usually released to the PlantFile entry within a few days.

Thanks Joan! I'll check to see if I have any others labeled that aren't in the Files, too. I have almost 2000 - it took that many for me to figure out how to get the labels on right!!! :~D

ah well, back to digging while the sun shines.

Thanks so much! Even if there is already photos in the entry, you can add yours too, as long as they are correctly identified, clear, and not sideways or upside down. ^_^

Happy Digging!

did she say "happy" digging? oh my ackin back.

^_^ Crank up some music and let the shovel lead.

doing the two step with the shovel - I just might get more dancing in that way!

Sorry about putting in the wrong picture of Achy Breaky Heart. I just put the label on that it had at the Convention. I found out there were quite a few mislabeled ones at the last convention. I hope I didn't put the wrong one in Plant Files! I usually check the iris registry before adding anything to plant files, but it is easy to forget.

no problem - Joan talked me into posting mine

Pajar - I've heard there was an epidemic of mismarkers. I feel so bad for the folks running the show - they put so much effort into it. But I feel worse for the hybridizers. many of them make a living at this and a bad showing at the convention can't be good for them. Not to mention a lot of HM and AM votes come that way.

Don't ya wish we knew what that gorgeous one in your photo is?

IrisMA - any comments on the winners? any do particularly well or not well in your zone/climate/area? I went to school for two years in your state - inquiring minds want to know!


This message was edited Jul 21, 2008 4:15 PM

I do wish I knew what that beauty was and there is another one that I saw at the convention which was called called Fire and Brimstone which apparently was not that at all. I would like to be able to by both of the mislabeled ones.

Dykes winner 'Star Woman' grows very well. TB growers might like it if they just can't wait to see an iris. As gardens begin to be smaller, a shorter type of iris such as the IB is useful. Both Hollywood Nights & Heartstring Strummer on the Wister Medal list do well here. The smaller irises IBs & SDBs like it in our climate. Siberians and JI like our acid soil although we don't grow JI as one has to make choices in the amount of space available.

pajar - in the past you've done pretty good labeling the different gardens. if you remember which garden they were in, is there any chance of contacting the garden host and finding out which irises they had on display? there should have been a list of the ones each garden was given to display. Maybe from there you can figure out which ones were the right colors and research those or contact the hybridiizers for photos.

The convention book has a list of the irises at each garden. Perhaps in the dead of winter I will try to unravel it. Another possibility is to post them on the iris-photos list serve and see if anyone recognizes them. Lots of hybridizers are on that list-serve and might be able to recognize them.
At the convention, in one garden that was particularly mixed up, hybridizers went around and wrote the names of the irises on their leaves as they noticed the errors. I am grateful because that is the only way I discovered Hakuna Matata, a really beautiful arilbred -- at least I think so. Apparently it is one you either love or hate.

Dee was saying something earlier that they were also turning the wrong markers backwards at convention, so folks wouldnt see the wrong names.

One of the problems in the public plantings, people would either mix up the markers or take them. Turning the markers around in mistaken labling is standard procedure.