HERITAGE IRISES YEAR IN REVIEW 2012

      It was just a few days ago that doomsday theorists said it was the end of the world! never happened! Another non event was the Green Party who tried to convince us this year that 'Jack Frost' was going to become 'Jack the puddle' and that also never happened! its been a year where so called major predictions have gone hopelessly askew.
My bloom season for 2012 was the same as many New Zealand growers reported, it came early and all at once making the garden very surreal. At home we had Siberian Irises flowering with Standard dwarfs, the reliable strong Nor-westerly winds came and went and about half the Irises did not bloom at all, so all and all a interesting bloom season. Now before the climate change wonks say this is proof of their dribble, they should read any Iris Journal from the past and they will find published within are a multitude of reports that show the weather has its own mind and most likely always will. Some have immediately attributed  'Climate Change' to recent statements 'No Blooms for the Iris Show this year', my thoughts are that it has very little to do with a change in the weather but more to do with a change with the show date. History shows us that show dates year on year can and have changed by as many as 10 days either side of the previous year's date which has a far bigger impact on the amount of blooms for the show bench but always seems to be overlooked.
   Oh and today, Bee Warburtons 'Reprise' has decided to start blooming again, Bob Hollingworth's 'Shall We Dance' has not stopped blooming since it started 2 months ago, and looks like it will be around for Christmas Day, Terry Aitken's 'Double your Fun' has started to bloom today for the first time this season, it's an intermediate that is registered a re-bloomer but I think it's just a straggler.

Change is so swift in the digital world that Smartphones and Tablets are changing the way we use the internet and web masters need to make it a priority to view the way their web site display's on the smaller screens as within a year these little power packed wonders will be the major player in the world of digital media, web masters who ignore this rapidly advancing change will be rewarded by decreased visitors to their website.
While I am on the subject of digital media let me say the AIS E-membership is not what it is cracked up to be. I am a E-member so I can access the iris register database (the real one). The fee last year jumped from $10.00 to $15.00 and for the 50% jump in fees I get access in advance of the printed Bulletin as a PDF file and help fund the Twiki thing. The bulletin in Portable Document Format (PDF) is a huge data file, takes for ever to download cannot be printed or saved so every time you visit cost more megabits which I have to pay to the phone company, adding to this, once the bulletin is released in the digital format it is then parroted via the AIS Book face thingy and AIS World of Iris blog, parts of the featured articles are discussed on various Iris forums, and all this before my printed copy (which I have to pay for as a separate membership) arrives in the mail. By the time I get to read the printed bulletin half the publication has articles that have already been part published on the AIS Book face thingy and includes some expanded articles that were originally posted on the AIS World Of Irises Blog.
  Hey some people may like this new way of doing things but for me it devalues the Bulletin which is after all the AIS premium publication and this repetitive media strategy is getting a lot like listening to a Wagner opera, you know, where the lead character first tells you what he’s going to say, and then he says it, and then he tells you what he just said.
 
Also it was a year with some people getting sniffy about this blog expressing my opinions on the inaccuracy of the Iris Encyclopedia.
Am I opposed to a web site undermining the considerable credibility that we associate with the Checklists? Yes I am, but why should I have to shut up about that? Who says any faction of a Society should be able to step over me and say 'shut up, you're not allowed to open your mouth on that'. I am been seen by some to be doing something wrong by pointing out mistakes that are been published on the internet as facts.........huh?
However this is the real point....... Censorship is undesirable and a threat to liberty. We should always think long and hard before bowing to the ever present wowser elements in our society who would wish to align the limits of our liberty to their own tastes. You either believe in freedom of speech, or you do not.

In 2012 my eyes particularly like these irises ... George Shoops, 'Spring Tidings', 'Deep Venture', and 'Private Treasure', Barry Blyth's 'Covet Me', Joe Ghio's 'Caption' Ron Busch's 'Irwell Wild Child' and 'Irwell Fancy',

BEST IRIS PUBLICATION Bulletin or Journal for 2012 (That I receive, and I receive a few) goes to The Historic Iris Society online magazine  'Flags'. It's well set out, can be downloaded, great photos, and its free to everyone who visits the web site. After a trying year for the editor with back problems and surgery the publication still came out for the Fall. If there is one small criticism from me its the need to publish other points of view in regards to various issues but I am sure it will go on to even better and brighter things in the future.

 I DON'T THINK SO AWARD 2012 goes to the Iris Encyclopedia now often referred to as 'Bob's Bloopers' . It wins the award for putting the wrong photos against a check list description and I think my post 'Tall bearded Iris Beaumonde' covered problem well, but from all reports these problems have not gone away.
Now, when I visit the site (which is not often) I am reminded of that old saying 'Trust is like a eraser. It gets smaller and smaller after every mistake.'

Anyway Merry Christmas to all 'Heirtage Irises' readers, thanks to the comment makers, thanks to all the Worlds Iris Hybridisers both past and present for whom I have the utmost respect, to the contributors of Photos, and also to the International commentators, thank you all for a really great year .

All the Very best for 2013 and may your New Year be full of family, Irises, laughter and love.
 See you mid January and thanks for 2012.

  An explanation, 'Heritage Irises'  is a record some of the irises growing at my Home, features photos of 'New Zealand Bred Irises' and also the blog at times  features new introductions of Irises from International Breeders. As opposed to a Bulletin, Journal,or Year Books, 'Heritage Irises' is more of a personal diary with a minimum amount of interactivity.

 Reproduction in whole or in part of this post, its opinions or its images without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited. Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

 

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Book Review 'A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts'

I was approach by a Bookseller to review the book 'A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts' (2012) by Kelly Norris, this was before the books publication and it was an offer I turned down, the reason, Mr Norris recently became the Editor of the American Iris Society Bulletin so I had become reluctantly used to his media style, this understandably tempered my expectations for substance and possibly not the attitude required for writing a review for a bookseller who expects all the bells and whistles to sell books. However several months ago the same Bookseller offered me this book for a massively discounted price with no strings attached which I accepted. I have held off posting a review of this book but with the 'New Zealand Gardener' magazine coming out in their November 2012 publication with its so called book review is time to have a word.

With a listed ticket price of $79.99 I'm not even sure if this is a reasonable price for a 'A great coffee table addition' as one Amazon reviewer suggested, and as I have no idea what coffee table book aficionados require to fill a vacant space on a coffee table I can not say if the book fits this criteria, but I can say fairly and squarely I do not think this is a book of good value or importance to New Zealand Iris growers no matter what their status.
The style of writing is pretentious in a elitist witticism style which the publisher in their blurb consider humorous but after a couple of pages becomes tiresome, includes more than a few puzzling and unsubstantiated statements and with 300 or so colour photos that vary in quality the book could hardly be called comprehensive and to be frank there is just as much if not more information in a Schreiner's Iris catalogue ($5.00) . The book has all the appearances of being rushed into print. In the 'Red' colour section the author goes on to reference Louisians and I.fulva which is a surprise as the Book title states the scope of the book is limited to the bearded irises so this has the reader scrambling for another more authoritative book on Irises to try and understand what the writer is on about.
For New Zealand gardeners starting to find their feet in Iris growing this would be the one purchase not to buy, a good proportion of Bearded Irises listed are not available here, its gardening advise is written for North American gardeners and the books selective criteria covers only bearded iris varieties, also listing only commercial sources in North America. All of this would only lead to the reader especially if they are new to the iris world thinking that there is only a limited selection available in New Zealand.

If you have $80.00 to spend on a iris hobby my advise is send away for an Iris catalogue from a New Zealand commercial iris grower which will cost you anywhere between the price of a few postage stamps to $6.00. These catalogues normally contain good but brief growing information that suit the New Zealand growing conditions and for the $74.00 balance use the money to purchase your Iris plant selections from the catalogues.

If you want a real Iris book for the same approximate monetary value buy Clarie Austins 'Irises, A Gardeners Encyclopedia' reads well, without doubt much more comprehensive and covers the majority of the all popular Iris species and hybrids.

After reading the above and you still think you really need this book and you have half an hour to spare check out 'A Guide to Bearded Irises' first at a library if they have it, a quick flick through this book could save you a lot of money.

This Norris chap has been referred to in some reviews of this book as the poster boy of the Iris world...... Hello! I am not sure who has propagated this silly idea perhaps it could have been the same person who told Katy Perry she could sing but what makes this even more suspect is Mr Norris then twirps about about how great the review was on the twit network thing ...............unbelievable! I would think the poster boys would be the likes of Barry Blyth, Keith Keppel, Joe Ghio, Terry Aitken, George Sutton, Paul Black, Rick Tasco, Tom Johnson, Anton Mego, and Richard Cayeux. (sorry if I missed someone)
To the publisher Timber Press,'What were you thinking'?? if you are going to build a publication on the cult of the personality, you run the risk of irritating everybody outside the smallish targeted so called Hip gardeners demographic and why is your recommended retail price in New Zealand so high when this book only months after its release is already been flogged off with the price heavily discounted internationally??

The glowing review of this book in the 'New Zealand Gardener' magazine is just a cut and paste job from the publishers blurb and has all the appearance of reviewing the book without actually reading it. So brilliantly researched the reviewer couldn't even get the gender of the author correct. 'New Books' then goes on to review the book 'Garden Tours. A Visitor’s Guide to 50 Top New Zealand Gardens' by Michele Hickman' which it is said the author never visited the gardens but implied she did. Visit http://thinkingardens.co.uk/articles/an-interesting-book-review-by-abbie-jury/ The 'New Zealand Gardener' magazine has three of these books as a "Garden Giveaway" and after reading Abbie Jury's review, giving the book away is most likely the only way the publisher is going to shift this book out of his warehouse.
'New Zealand Gardeners' and for that matter 'All Gardeners' definitely deserve better!

'New Zealand Gardener' magazine

'A Guide to Bearded Irises:  Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts' (2012) by Kelly Norris.

Reproduction in whole or in part of this article without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited.

Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

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