Greater Omaha Iris Society Iris Show – May 20, 2017

Posted on May 16, 2017 by wrmesser

Saturday May 20, 2017 is our Iris Show at St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Single entry iris and arrangements will be accepted from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. Judging at 10:45 AM. Open to the public at Noon. GOIS Board Meeting will be held later the same day.

New! NEW! At the last board meeting we decided to add a people’s choice Photography Exhibit. photographs will be accepted during the entry time (9:00 – 10:30 AM). There are no size restrictions but photos should be matted; framed photographs will also be accepted. All photos must have been taken by the exhibitor. Classes will follow the AIS photo contest rules:

There must be irises in the photo and irises in the photos should be of the Genus Iris. Subject matter should follow the six AIS categories:

1. Irises in a landscaped garden.

2. Irises in a field or home garden.

3. Events, tours, a person or people (at iris location).

4. Close up of an iris or irises.

5. Iris photos- art effects, macro of bloom segments.

6. Photos of pets, wildlife or garden art with the irises.

Winners will be selected by popular vote of the viewing public.

We will need volunteers throughout the day Saturday so please, please come and help. If you’ve already volunteered for a time slot, thank you and if you have not please consider doing so. The show is a favorite event for the public and a great source for new members.

Upcoming GOIS Events

Posted on May 2, 2017 by wrmesser

Linda Wilkie, GOIS President, sent this note which includes events that are of interest to other irisarians as well.

The season has begun and most of you are enjoying the pops of color of the standard dwarf iris in your gardens.

This Saturday we will be working in the Sass Memorial Garden at Mahoney Park to get it ready for the bloom season. Those who can are encouraged to come and help at 9:30 AM Saturday, May 6th. We want the gardens in tip top condition before the AIS convention May 23-27th in Des Moines. We’ve heard from many conventioneers who are planning a side trip out to the garden so your help is needed all through May. If you can take even one morning or afternoon to work out at the garden we would very much appreciate it.

This coming Monday, May 8th we will meet at 6:30 PM in Lincoln for our monthly meeting to tour the Magdalene Pfister Garden on the UNL East Campus. I’ve pasted a picture below for you and here is a link to information about the garden: http://www.unl.edu/bga/tours/east

Don’t forget the other iris events this month as well.

May 12-13 is Spring into Spring at Lauritzen Gardens. Ron Crampton is chairing that event and we are still looking for some volunteers.
The Lincoln Iris Society is holding their show May 13th. We’ll have information regarding times and categories at our Monday meeting.
May 20th is the GOIS Show. Entries are accepted from 9-10:30 AM and open to the public from 12:30-4:00PM. Show schedules will be available on Monday evening. Please contact me if you need one emailed to you instead.

Looking forward to seeing you Saturday and Monday!

PowerPoint Presentations to Gardeners

Posted on April 3, 2017 by wrmesser

A number of Region 21 members speak about irises to various garden interest groups. BJ Jackson spoke earlier this year at the Manitoba Horticultural Association Annual Meeting. Kris Jurik has been speaking to various Iowa Master Gardener groups. And Wayne Messer presented at the Cass County (Iowa) Master Gardener Spring Seminar. Both Gary White and Kelly Norris speak to a variety of gardening groups.

Would having PowerPoint slides from such presentations be useful to you or your club? Maybe for presentations to your club or so you could speak to other groups. As an example, this is a series of slides, mostly dealing with the 2016 Medal Winners, from a presentation by Wayne. The link is to a PDF so you do not require PowerPoint or a similar program to see the slides.

Please let us know what you think. You can leave comments below or email Wayne at wrmesser@gmail.com Thank you.

First Blooms 2017

Posted on March 27, 2017 by wrmesser

Again this year the first blooms in our central Iowa garden belong to Iris reticulata, a bulbous iris. There were 5 blooms open today (March 27th). In 2016 the first bloom we saw was on March 31st.

The last two years we did a series reporting when and where particular irises began blooming because we thought it could be helpful to have information on when irises are blooming in the Region in more or less real time. So that you, your friends and neighbors, and visitors will know when to see the irises. When/where to see the early irises. When is the peak bloom time in your garden this year? When is the best time to see public displays in our Region this year?

We would like to continue it this year for the same reasons and to see if having more years of observations helps to better understand when irises will be blooming. Do you have some bloom observations we can add to the list? You can either leave them as a comment or email the webmaster wrmesser@gmail.com to have them added. Thank you.

Spring Meetings in Neighboring Regions – 2017

Posted on February 12, 2017 by wrmesser

This year Region 21 is hosting the AIS 2017 Convention rather than having a spring meeting. There are spring meetings in neighboring Regions to give you an additional iris fix. You can find all the spring meetings we are aware of on the Iris Encyclopedia here.

The Region 9 Spring Fling Meeting is Saturday April 8th in Pekin, Illinois. Their website has the preliminary details. Contact them to learn more.

The Region 18 Spring Meeting is May 19-20 in Columbia, Missouri. Here are the details and a registration form (PDF) for you.

Enjoy these events and hope to see you in Des Moines for the Convention!

Median Iris Society 2017 Convention

Posted on February 5, 2017 by wrmesser

As you are heading to the AIS 2017 Convention in Des Moines, another opportunity to see irises is the Median Iris Society Convention in Lafayette, Indiana. From May 18-20 is Median Iris Rules Supreme in 2017. Learn more about what is happening in this PDF. And this is the registration form with the early registration deadline extended.

BJ Jackson to Speak at Manitoba Horticultural Association

Posted on January 7, 2017 by wrmesser

Something I learned from reading the Autumn 2016 Newsletter of the Can-West Iris Society; BJ Jackson will be giving a presentation “Medians: The Other Bearded Iris” as part of the 119th Manitoba Horticultural Association’s annual meeting. BJ is a Region 21 member and the president of the Can-West Iris Society. Her presentation will be Friday, January 27, 2017 at 11 a.m. at the Killarney United Church, Killarney, Manitoba. The registration form (PDF) and program (PDF) are online. Preregistration deadline is January 9th. For further information, the email m.h.a@shaw.ca is the contact for the Manitoba Horticultural Association.

A great way to get your January iris fix!

“Rescued” Rebloomer

Posted on December 3, 2016 by wrmesser

With our cold weather coming, two irises each had two stalks up and no blooms open or opening. A stalk from each was cut on November 19th and put inside in water. Finally on November 30th the one opened. ‘Mariposa Autumn’ is TB by Tasco (1999) which is listed as a rebloomer. Ours was planted 4 years ago and as far as I know has not rebloomed before. Does this count as reblooming?

Reblooming Guest Convention Irises

Posted on November 30, 2016 by wrmesser

One of the bonuses to being a host garden is seeing guest irises rebloom. Several different guest irises rebloomed in one or more gardens. You can see a summary including several photos of what was observed in the central Iowa host gardens as they prepare for next year’s AIS Convention “Rhythm of the Prairie” May 23-27, 2017. Check out the other details of the Convention while you are on their website.

Another Reblooming Report from Lincoln, Nebraska

Posted on November 27, 2016 by wrmesser

: ‘Daughter Of Stars’

: ‘Aunt Mary’

Thank you to Eunice Cernohlavek for this November 10, 2016 report and photos from November 4th and 5th. You can click on the photos to see a larger version.

Sightings at Bentfork Gardens by Eunice Cernohlavek

This last week I was taking pictures of reblooming iris at Gary and Linda’s gardens. Here are pictures of two.

Two tall bearded varieties really put on quite a show. Daughter of Stars by Donald Spoon 2000 is a rebloomer and received the Award of Merit in 2005 and Wister medal in 2007. It had 1 stalk with 2 blooms, 2 buds and another stalk with 1 bud. The other TB is Aunt Mary, a 2000 introduction by Tim Stanek. It is not a rebloomer, but indicates it’s a late bloom, but this is really late!! It had 3 open blooms, 3 buds, and 6 spent blooms.

And Rosalie Figge has a bud stalk showing color as of this week also.

Among the other plants blooming in the garden are various clematis, and roses. Do these plants know that winter is coming?

AIS Region 21

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