2011 Tall Bearded Symposium

For anybody new to The American Iris Society, here's something I personally look forward to every year: the 2011 Tall Bearded Iris Symposium -- 100 Most Popular Tall Bearded Irises.

The symposium is an annual popularity poll of Tall Bearded (TB) iris conducted by the American Iris Society (AIS). All AIS members may vote in this symposium. The top 100 Tall Bearded iris are then ranked and the results of the symposium each year are published in a PDF format and available via the AIS website at the end of January each year. All AIS members receive this quarterly publication as part of their AIS membership. More information about membership here.

Here are a few interesting details about the 2011 Symposium:

• This is the Seventy-first Official Tall Bearded Iris Symposium of the American Iris Society
• This year the list of iris eligible for the Tall Bearded Symposium was only available online

The list of candidates was completed by combining the following lists of outstanding varieties:

• The 100 top varieties in last year’s Symposium
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Dykes Medal
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Wister Medal
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Awards of Merit
• The tall bearded irises that won 2010 Awards of Merit
• The tall bearded irises that won 2010 Honorable Mentions

Also noteworthy, NEW TBs added to the list this year are featured below:

'Montmartre' by Keith Keppel (2007)

'Absolute Treasure' by Rick Tasco (2006)

'Black Magic Woman' by Rick Tasco (2008)

'Celestial Explotion' by Rick Tasco (2004)

'Chief John Jolly' by T. Parkhill (2003)

'Duncan's Smiling Eyes' by Larry Lauer (2003)

'Juke Box Hero' by Larry Lauer (2003)

Stop by the AIS website to check the 2011 Tall Bearded Iris Symposium complete list (it will be available soon), and also check the AIS Encyclopedia's website where you can find the same top-100 list accompanied by full-color pictures of each iris. Who knows, you may actually have some of them in your garden? Have fun!

Note: The above pictures first appeared in January's issue of IRISES, the Bulletin of the American Iris Society. IRISES is a quarterly publication available to members of the AIS in print or digital formats.