IRISES Fall Issue

I understand fairly well that this is not the Kim and Kris after 72-days separation news, but it's an exclusive nonetheless to iris fans who are hungry for iris news. As you can see it's the cover of the latest Bulletin of the American Iris Society, IRISES. It's hot off the presses and heading to your home, and to the e-membership files for viewing. I feel like I'm holding the secret Oscar ballots, or something similar. What a treat.

This issue contains several interesting articles and newsworthy pieces, including lots of and lots of iris pictures taken at the National Convention this year held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada with fairly detailed descriptions of each guest garden; pictures of all Top 15 Irises of the Victoria Convention; Sections News; Youth News; an article written by Hybridizer Marky Smith from Washington, who is asked to name her top eight Intermediate Irises (IBs); and so much more. Two featured pieces also caught my attention and I will write about them in later posts here: "Bloom Season" by Bob Pries, from North Carolina and "The Other Irids: The Peacock Flowers," by Michael Mace from California. I'm told that this issue of IRISES is running a little late, but it's been printed and should reach the first of you next week.

Lastly, IRISES Editor Kelly Norris is a very curious person, and he is looking for a few good men and women to report whatever news they may have encountered in their gardens for Irises section "In Your Backyard." Trying something new in your garden this year? You're faced with a challenge? Too many or too few irises? Discovered something important about irises in your area? Kelly wants to know. Please write him at editor@irises.org. The Winter issue of IRISES is being produced right now and I'm sure Kelly will be happy to hear from you.

To receive a hard copy of IRISES you must be an AIS member or an e-member to read a PDF copy anywhere in the world. For more information on membership with the American Iris Society, please click here.

From the Editor's Desk

Hopefully by now most of you have received your April issue of Irises with my apologies for its tardiness. I'm always eager to hear what you have to feed forward (the term feedback after all doesn't really imply a progressive, improvement-bound direction now does it?) Drop me a line at editor@irises.org.

I thought this month I'd share a couple of tips with any of you interested in submitting photos to Irises. We're always looking for sources of high-quality photography, so consider the following when roaming the garden this spring with your camera:

• Photographs should be a minimum of 300 dpi (dots per inch) for standard printing. Check your camera owner's manual for instructions on how to adjust the resolution of images captured with your camera. Higher resolution images do take up more storage space, but essentially contain greater amounts of digital information that can be exploited in layouts and ultimately by printing presses to result in a magazine-quality look. Many digital cameras come pre-set to capture images at low resolutions of 96 or 150 dpi, which are more appropriate for on-screen viewing. These lower quality images are difficult to manipulate for publication design purposes.
• Watch the backgrounds! This is especially difficult at conventions when gardens are often crammed full of iris lovers all keen on indulging in the latest introduction. Take care to keep hands, feet, hats, and other obstructing body parts and accompaniments out of the backgrounds of your photos. Nobody wants to be distracted while perceiving the beauty of an iris flower.
• Too little editing is much better than too much editing. While Photoshop and various other digital photography software are readily available, save yourself the time by submitting your images directly to us. If you're an advanced photographer or software user, we'll make an exception. Otherwise, it's easier for us to take a great, well-composed photo and manipulate it accordingly for our layouts.

If all else fails, drop me a line! I'll happily answer any and all questions about submissions to the magazine. I'm passionate about transforming our organization, its publication, and inspiring our readers to love irises.

Stop the presses (err..keys!)..... news has reached the editor's desk from abroad that Keith Keppel's 2008 introduction 'Silk Road' took first place in Florence, Italy at the International Iris Competition. Congratulations to Keith and all the other American winners.

From the Editor's Desk

First off, I'm so thrilled that The American Iris Society finally has a blog! Kudos to Andi Rivarola for leading up this effort to produce snappy, free content on behalf of the world's largest organization of iris lovers. If you belong to the AIS, you've probably seen my name atop the masthead of Irises, our Society's official magazine. Feel free to drop me an email about anything iris- or magazine-related at editor@irises.org. I'm always in search of the next great iris story to tell. With any luck that story might just grow in your own backyard or take place at your local club's next event. Don't be a stranger! I plan to use my posts to preview upcoming content in Irises and solicit your input. I'll try to drop hints about cover stories, headlines, and give updates about the status of the issue as it works its way through the publishing process. The AIS needs as much feedback from our membership as possible now more than ever.

So here's a teaser for the upcoming April issue... interested in all the new color breaks coming along in Siberians? Hybridizing masters Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks have authored a tremendously colorful article full of some mouth-watering photos of Siberian seedlings coming out of superior varieties like 'Humors of Whiskey' (2007), pictured below, courtesy of Brock Heilman.