Iris Show – Greater Omaha Iris Society May 13, 2023

Posted on May 10, 2023 by wrmesser

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 Fall Meeting – August 13, 2022 Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Posted on June 12, 2022 by wrmesser

Pleas join us for the Region 21 Fall Meeting Saturday, August 13, 2022 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our speaker will be Hooker Nichols presenting Judges Training on Tall Bearded and Louisiana Irises. More details and invitations will be coming soon.

Region 21 Virtual Fall 2021 Meeting

Posted on August 11, 2021 by wrmesser

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.

Monument Valley Iris Society Sale 2021

Posted on May 28, 2021 by wrmesser

This year’s iris sale by the Monument Valley Iris Society will again be outdoors at the University of Nebraska Research and Extension Center. On June 5th and 6th they will have a “showing” and the sale at its garden area. Complete details can be found here.

Allan Ensminger Iris Photos Needed

Posted on January 5, 2021 by wrmesser

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!

Monument Valley Iris Society Sale 2020

Posted on May 28, 2020 by wrmesser

This year’s Monument Valley Iris Society sale will be different. There will not be an iris show as part of it. And it will be held outdoors to allow proper social distancing. You can read all about it, along with a video, here and more here.

Region 21 Covid-19 Related Announcements

Posted on April 14, 2020 by wrmesser

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

Posted on February 26, 2020 by wrmesser

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.

Region 21 Fall Meeting August 16-17, 2019

Posted on August 4, 2019 by wrmesser

Time is fast approaching for the Region 21 Fall meeting. The Fall meeting, educational sessions, keynote speaker, and auction will be held in Omaha and all events will take place August 16th – 17th at the conference hotel, the Hampton Inn, Omaha AkSarBen Area.

The featured keynote speaker for this year’s event will be renowned hybridizer Paul Black. Educational sessions will be eligible for three hours of judges training c.e. credit for those in need of additional credit hours. Additionally the Regional Rhizome auction will be held on Saturday, August 17th.

A block of rooms has been reserved for attendees at the conference hotel for $114/night. This block of rooms will be held until August 1st after which room pricing will revert to the prevailing rate. Details and a registration form can be found here.

Questions may be addressed to meeting coordinators Linda Wilkie (402-493-3808 or lrwilkie@gmail.com) and Gary White (402-890-3689 or in2iris@yahoo.com).

Update 8/12/19: The final schedule is available here.

Region 18 Fall Meeting is October 5-6, 2018

Posted on September 16, 2018 by wrmesser

Other Regions of The American Iris Society also have fall meetings that members of Region 21 can attend. This is another way to learn more about irises, obtain more judges training, and meet other irisarians. Region 18 (Kansas and Missouri) is particularly convenient for many members of Region 21 to visit.

This year the Region 18 Fall Meeting is in St. Joseph, Missouri at the Remington Nature Center on October 5th and 6th. Bonnie Nichols, president of the Novelty Iris Society, is the speaker. She is also presenting 2 hours of judges training on Novelty Iris. More details on the schedule are here and the registration form (PDF) is available.

You can find details on all the 2018 Regional Fall Meetings in this table. Hope to see you at some of them!