By Bob Hollingworth
Well, it ended up just fine after all! It turned out that
postponing the 2012 Siberian-Species Convention until this year was a good
decision (and, since it was an unprecedented move, it took a little nerve to do
it). The 128 people who registered enjoyed some very pleasant Michigan late
spring weather and caught the irises at or near peak bloom. The arrangements
went ahead quite smoothly and more than a few people said it was the best
convention they had ever attended. So luck was on our side this time. The guest irises were generally growing quite
well and at John and Jean Kaufmann’s garden in particular there were many
clumps of enormous size after four years in the ground. A sandy soil, generous
fertilization and an irrigation system brought out their full genetic
potential. I don’t recall ver seeing Siberians being grown better.. The other gardens on tour were at Jill and Jim Copeland's, the Ensata Garden of Bob Bauer and John Coble, and ours. The many fine clumps led to
some real competition in the voting for favorites at the end of the convention,
and some quite wonderful irises didn’t make the final list.
So let me share the final outcome and some photos with you.
Listing the Favorite Siberians may seem self-serving since one of mine, the plicata-like
tetraploid “Judy, Judy, Judy”, named for my wife, was voted overall favorite – but keep in
mind that this was a home game for us and maybe having Judy, Judy, Judy‘s
Tearoom serving English afternoon tea to the garden visitors could be seen as a
less-than-subtle hint on how to vote.
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| Judy, Judy, Judy |
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| Afternoon tea is now being served on the verandah | | | |
The next iris in the voting, Marky
Smith’s “Star Lion”, is a perennial favorite and grew beautifully in several
gardens. For someone who pays only passing attention to hybridizing Siberians,
Marky has a remarkable record of success. Her deepest red-violet “Kilauea” also
made the top ten list. Our “Swans in Flight”, a very large white diploid, and Sylvia
Borglum’s “Sylvia’s Love” followed on. This iris is one that has attracted me ever
since I first saw it as a guest at the Minnesota convention in 2009 – a good
grower with a delicate light blue rim on the white falls that makes a perfect
clump. Then came Dean Cole’s “My Girl Emily”, a striking tetraploid with a broad diffuse rim
of red around a milky bluish background on the falls – colored rims seemed to
get the votes this year.
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| Star Lion |
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| My Girl Emily |
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| Swans in Flight |
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Sylvia's Love
|
Other favorites in the voting included Marty Schafer
and Jan Sack’s “Sandy River Belle”, a subtle blend of sandy yellow and pink
that presented wonderful flower bouquets in several gardens. As I said, the
competition was extreme – “Trip to Paris” (Schafer-Sacks, 2009) was just one of
the many irises that didn’t get on the favorites list but by any measure must
be judged to be quite outstanding.
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| Sandy River Belle |
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| Trip to Paris |
Favorite 10 Siberian or Species seen growing
in the guest gardens
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1
|
Judy, Judy, Judy
|
Siberian (tet.)
|
Bob Hollingworth,
2010
|
2
|
Star Lion
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Marky Smith, 2006
|
3
|
Swans In Flight
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Bob Hollingworth,
2006
|
3
|
Sylvia’s Love
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Sylvia Borglum,
2006
|
5
|
My Girl Emily
|
Siberian (tet.)
|
Dean Cole, 2012
|
6
|
Encore Performance
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Bob Hollingworth,
2010
|
7
|
Sushi
|
Pseudacorus
|
Jill Copeland,
2013
|
8
|
Sandy River Belle
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Marty Schafer-Jan
Sacks, 2011
|
9
|
Neptune’s Gold
|
Siberian (tet.)
|
Bob Hollingworth,
Reg. 2013
|
10
|
Emily Anne
|
Siberian (tet.)
|
Bob Hollingworth,
2002
|
10
|
Great Falls Wine
|
Siberian (tet.)
|
Dean Cole, 2008
|
10
|
Kilauea
|
Siberian (dip.)
|
Marky Smith, 2007
|
10
|
Lakeside Ghost
|
Laevigata
|
Chad Harris, 2012
|
The attendees also voted for the best seedling among the
guests. The winner was a bit of a surprise, particularly to Brian Wendell, a
hybridizer relatively new to the Siberian world, who seemed to be walking on
air when he went up to accept the award. His seedling 2-02 was a very vigorous
grower in a classic form with pure light to mid-blue flowers. The runners
up were Dana Borglum’s Seedling 22 (mid-blue with a large yellow patch on the
falls) tied with Schafer-Sacks S04-22C-10 (yellow-brown base with reddish eyelash veining
on the falls). I hope all three will be introduced soon.
.jpg) |
Wendell 02-2
D. Borglum Sdlg. 22 |
So, it all had to end, we wished our friends, old and new, goodbye, and we garden owners could decompress
and bask a little in the glow of an event that went well. Probably it will not
recur in Michigan again until the memories of the work and worry of
running a convention have faded a bit, but now we can look forward to a new
Siberian Convention added on to the AIS Meeting in Portland in 2015. May they
be as fortunate there as we were.
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