Category Archives: Events

Region 21 Fall 2025 Meeting Invitation

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2025 Fall Regional AIS region 21

Hosted by the Sioux Empire Iris Society, Sioux Falls, SD

Friday August 8th and Saturday August 9th

  • The 2025 Fall Regional will be held in Sioux Falls at the Springdale Lutheran Church on the Southeast edge of Sioux Falls.  26946 480th Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57108.
  • Guest Speaker will be Hugh Stout of Stout Gardens at Dancing Tree Nursery Oklahoma City
  • The auction will include a selection of newer iris from both Mid-America and Shreiner’s.  We are gathering items for a silent auction as well.
  • HOTELS:  These are the 2 closest hotels.   They both have it all..ice machines, color televisions, indoor bathrooms, free parking(outside) and even free breakfast.  We were not able to get a rate specific to our group.  They do offer discounts for AARP, AAA and  military as well as their own rewards programs.

The closest hotel is GLo by Best Western.  The AAA/AARP rate is $199 plus tax per night.

The 2nd closest hotel is Super 8 by Wyndham.   The AARP/AAA rate is 108.90 plus tax per night.  They are at the I229 exchange on a divided road so one would have to do a u-turn at an intersection both coming and going.

GLo by Best Western
1211 S. Darryl Place
Sioux Falls SD 57110
(605) 275 4000
833 320 6810

Super 8 by Wyndham
2616 E 10th St
Sioux Falls SD 57103
(605) 338 8881
888 807 7155

Meeting Registration Form (shown below) is available as a pdf to print.

Meeting Registration includes check-in with munchies on Friday 5-8pm and both lunch and dinner on Saturday.

 Members: $45    Youth Members: Free    Non-Members: $60 

Registration Form – Region 21 Fall Meeting August 8th and 9th 2025

Registration deadline is July 31st to meet caterers deadlines

Name: ____________________________________________ Addition Names Can Be Listed Below

 Email: _____________________@__________ 

Phone: _______________________________________ 

____Member ($45.00) ____ Youth Member (Free) ____Non-Member ($60 which includes a 1year membership in AIS.)

Judges training  ______YES      ______YES but not for credit      ______NO

Mail this form with payment to:

Dorothy VerHey / Region 21
47115 277th St
Lennox, SD  57039

Saturday lunch will be a selection of subs, chips and salads.

As of now, the Saturday dinner menu is beef in gravy, glazed carrots, potatoes and fruit salad depending on the caterer’s availability.  

Please list any dietary restrictions here  and we will try to accommodate them

Siberian/Species Iris and AIS Region 21 Convention

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Aim for Ames for Irises

May 23 & 24, 2025

Ames, Iowa

We are pleased to host the 2025 Siberian and Species Iris Convention in conjunction with the spring meeting of AIS Region 21. The convention will begin Friday afternoon, May 23, and conclude Saturday evening, May 24. It will include tours of three gardens, two with guest Siberian and species irises, in-garden judges’ training, and silent and live auctions.

The host hotel is the Gateway Hotel & Conference Center, 2100 Green Hills Drive in Ames, www.gatewayames.com. Twenty guest rooms have been reserved on Friday and Saturday nights for convention attendees at the rate of $132/night (U.S. funds) plus 12% tax for two queen or one king bed. Guest rooms have recently been renovated. Please contact the hotel directly at 515-292-8600 and mention the Region 21 Iris Convention to receive this pricing. Pricing is good until May 2, 2025 but we encourage making your reservation as soon as possible so that we can request additional rooms if needed.

Convention Registration is $120 U.S. funds if postmarked by April 1, 2025 or $140 U.S. funds if received between April 2 and April 20, 2025. No refunds can be given for cancellations made after April 20, 2025. Convention registration includes a welcome dinner and garden tour at the Jurik garden on Friday evening, continental breakfast on Saturday morning at the Girton garden, Saturday lunch and tours at the Iowa Arboretum and Gardens, judges’ training at the Jurik garden, and an evening banquet, speaker, and auction at the Gateway Hotel Saturday evening.

A charter bus for 40 passengers has been reserved for transportation on Saturday. We will rely on ride-sharing on Friday evening for the across town trip from the hotel to the Jurik garden with sign up available at the registration table Friday afternoon.

The closest airport is the Des Moines International Airport (40 miles south of Ames). You may elect to rent a car there or to contact Kris Jurik, k.jurik@yahoo.com, to arrange for pick up by a volunteer.

Details, tentative schedule, and registrations form: https://siberianirises.org/convention2025.pdf

Thank you to Region 21 and the Lincoln Iris Society for providing logistical and financial support.

Co-Chairs: Lois Girton and Kris Jurik

Iris Show – Greater Omaha Iris Society May 13, 2023

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Saturday, May 13th is your opportunity to see, and to participate in, this year’s Omaha Iris Show: “In My Mother’s Garden”.

Show location: St Andrews Episcopal Church
925 South 84th Street
Omaha, NE

Entries accepted from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. and the show is open to the public at no charge from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m.

See the complete show details (pdf). Also, some tips on preparing your iris for a show.

Learn more about the Greater Omaha Iris Society at their website: https://www.greateromahairissociety.org/

Region 21 Virtual Fall 2021 Meeting

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Reminder – This year’s Region 21 Fall Meeting is virtual! Please join us Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Central Time (9:00 a.m. Mountain Time) on Zoom for Judges Training by Bonnie Nichols on Novelty Irises. Bonnie is the AIS Judges Chair as well as president of the Novelty Iris Society. Note: This is a new Judges Training available for credit even if you have already participated in the JT Bonnie presented as two AIS Webinars last year.


Registration (free!) is required. Please send your name and email to Wayne Messer wrmesser@gmail.com so we can get a count and send you the details for attending.  


There will also be a Region 21 Board meeting at 9:00 a.m. Central Time (8:00 a.m. Mountain Time) and a Region 21 Business meeting following Bonnie’s presentation. Everyone is invited to attend and participate in both meetings. This year the business meeting includes the election of a first-year director. Please consider volunteering for this position.

Allan Ensminger Iris Photos Needed

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‘Batik’

Allan Ensminger of Lincoln, Nebraska, a Region 21 hybridizer, was known for his work on variegated, broken color irises. Among these was the 1992 Knowlton Medal winner ‘Batik’ and the IB ‘Hubbub’. In 2007 he won the Bennett C. Jones Award for Outstanding Median Hybridizing from the Median Iris Society. Other awards include the AIS Distinguished Service Medal in 1983 and the AIS Hybridizer Award in 1994.

You can see photos of his irises in the Iris Encyclopedia starting with this page. That is of many of them; there are a considerable number that do not have photos. To help remedy that, this is a page listing his irises that need photos.

Can you help provide photos? You can either add them to the appropriate page in the Iris Encyclopedia or contact me and I will be glad to add them. Wayne Messer wrmesser@gmail.com .

Thank you!

Region 21 Covid-19 Related Announcements

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The pandemic has caused many cancellations and changes in Region 21 and the American Iris Society:

  • The Region 21 Fall Meeting has been cancelled.  Thank you to everyone in the Sioux Empire Iris Society who has been working to prepare for this meeting.
  • Region 21 Fall Board Meeting – Plans are being made to meet via video conferencing this fall.
  • The Region 21 newsletter has been temporarily suspended.  Updates for Region 21 will be posted to the Region 21 website.
  • All Region 21 clubs have cancelled their iris shows.  Anyone wishing to can send pictures of their garden for inclusion in a Region 21 virtual garden tour to be posted on our website.
  • Because judges training opportunities are extremely limited, judges needing hours in 2020 have had their eligibility extended for one year.  Those that have satisfied requirements will be advanced. Judges will receive credit for any judges training already completed.
  • Kelly Norris has stepped down as Region 21 Judges Training Chair.  Until a new chair is named, all records and questions should be sent to me.
  • The AIS 2020 Convention, three mini-conventions, and all Regional Spring Meetings have been cancelled.
  • The Garden Awards voting for 2020 has also been cancelled due to limited opportunities to view the eligible irises in gardens.

Other AIS changes will be posted, as they occur, on the Cancellations page, the AIS website News & Events page, and in the AIS electronic newsletter, News & Notes.

Check the Region 21 website for ongoing announcements and updates.

Wayne Messer
AIS Region 21 RVP
wrmesser@gmail.com

Greater Omaha Iris Society March 14, 2020 Meeting -Cancelled

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UPDATE -In an abundance of caution and at the advice of our public health officials we will be cancelling the March meeting scheduled for tomorrow March 14th due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will post updates to other scheduled activities on our website and Facebook pages as information becomes available.  You may reach out to an officer by phone or email if you have questions or concerns.
If you have concerns regarding the pandemic a reliable source of information can be found at: https://www.nebraskamed.com/patients/covid19.  This information is updated daily and is a trusted resource for our community.

 

MARCH 2020 MEETING – Our next meeting will be Saturday, March 14, 2020 11a.m. at our normal meeting location, in a meeting room, just to the left when you enter the library at 28th & Q.

We will begin with a Potluck lunch, followed by our own past National American Iris Society President Gary White talking on Iris of New Zealand.

Learn more about the Greater Omaha Iris Society and irises on our website.