Building Galleries in the Iris Encyclopedia

 By Bob Pries

Here in North Carolina, spring has taken hold it seems a bit too early. But I define spring by the redbuds being in bloom. For many years I can remember the Japanese magnolias which are often called tulips trees opening their flowers for one glorious day and then turning brown the next because there was a hard freeze that night. This year they lasted a good week. The forsythias are about to end their bloom along with the crocus, and there are daffodils everywhere. But the weatherman is now forecasting possible four nights of hard freezes. Is winter coming back?

It seems climate change is bringing spring almost a month early. The reticulata irises have bloomed. Iris fans seem like they are growing an inch each day and many hostas have already unfurled their leaves. Hopefully, they won’t be reduced to mush by the upcoming freezes. All this chaos seems much too early. I still haven’t sat back and gone through all the plant catalogs to see what I might do to enhance my gardens.

This year I am working on a project on the Iris Encyclopedia* that may help me decide on what new irises to order. My thought was, “What if I could see all the new irises in one massive image gallery?”. In January and February, I began assembling this gallery. New introductions are mostly 2022 and 2023 registrations. So, I have made galleries for those years' registrations. Of course, 2023 registrations will continue to be added throughout the year, but this year’s introductions should already have their registrations approved.

There are already about 500 irises registered for 2023 and about 1,000 for 2022. I will continue to update these galleries as registrations are added. So while not complete these galleries can show an amazing number of irises. While creating the galleries I was impressed by the miracles our hybridizers seem to be creating. Color combinations and patterns of which I have never dreamed leap out from the page. To find my playground go to https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoNewRegistrationsFor2022.

New Registrations and Yearly Image Galleries

*EDITOR'S NOTE: The American Iris Society is always looking for volunteers to help add content and pictures to the Iris Encyclopedia. If you are interested and available for projects like this, please reach out to Bob at bobpries3@gmail.com.