Hi All,

I guess my title was too long LOL!

I was thinking about iris in my garden that haven't been given the Dykes or Wister but take my breath away when they bloom. Here's 5 picks from me. Looking forward to yours! List is in no particular order.

Aristocracy - size, color, ruffles and lace


Beauty Within - huge size, colors


Class Ring - the colors good enough to eat!


Water Waltz - huge, waxy, ruffled sky


Smoke and Thunder - Everything about it! I can't believe it's even real

there are so many nice iris, that judges can't see them all. Each class has only 3 yrs on the ballot & some are 'discovered' after eligbility has run out.

Coral Chalice


Pacific Fire (open to see the whole photo)


Royalty Remembered (open to see the whole photo)




Sapphire Hills

That is why I wanted to do this thread. When I started my iris collection I bought things like "collection of Dykes winners" etc from catalogs. Now that I understand how the small the universe of shows and judges and voters are, there are tons of people out there who've never been to a show or voted (like me). Even with our wonderful database here - some things you really can't tell from a picture.

irisarian said: there are so many nice iris, that judges can't see them all. Each class has only 3 yrs on the ballot & some are 'discovered' after eligbility has run out.

I'm hoping to see my first bloom on this this season. Now I'm even more excited!

Royalty Remembered (open to see the whole photo)

Those photos don't seem to open fully unless you hit on the cultivar name to go to its profile page, and then open the photo on the profile page.

I think I fixed it. Looks like I copied the wrong URL (the thumbnail)

DaisyDo said: Those photos don't seem to open fully unless you hit on the cultivar name to go to its profile page, and then open the photo on the profile page.

Royalty Remembered was also breathtaking in my garden. It's a big flower.

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Only 5????

near duplicate post deleted

voting isn't just a popularity contest. You have to be an accredited judge to vote awards. Sign up with your region's RVP & take the judges training. There are different catagories apprentice, garden judge & master judge. it is a great deal of work, but believe me new people are needed. Check the AIS site for your nearest iris club & their meeting schedule.

Some of these are still new enough that they may still get Wister or Dykes. A couple above (Smoke and Thunder and Just Witchery) did not compete because they are out-of-country hybrids (Blyth). When I am lookng for good irises, I have to give special consideration to Blyth and Cayeux cultivars despite the lack of awards, realizing that they aren't allowed to compete, at least not for the Dykes.

Feel free to add more! I just didn't want to make "playing this game" too much of ask. Very excited you mentioned Pharaoh's Poet as I was thinking of ordering it this year. Now I will for sure :)

Only 5???? [/quote]

Unfortunately, in my case, the closest iris club is 90 miles away. That's why I've never been to a show. But I hope others here will be encouraged to participate by your invitation.

irisarian said: voting isn't just a popularity contest. You have to be an accredited judge to vote awards. Sign up with your region's RVP & take the judges training. There are different catagories apprentice, garden judge & master judge. it is a great deal of work, but believe me new people are needed. Check the AIS site for your nearest iris club & their meeting schedule.

ROYALTY REMEMBERED is a beauty for sure.

The memory bank is refusing to pay out... later in the season as I rediscover favorites I may comment.

janwax said: Royalty Remembered was also breathtaking in my garden. It's a big flower.

Good to know! I am greedy for big flowers!
I have ordered Royalty remembered

Yes, only the certified judges get to vote for AIS awards. But there is indeed a popularity poll that anyone can vote in. And that's the Tall Bearded Iris Sympsium. The ballot for that is published every summer, and you mark the 25 you think are the best, and send your marked ballot to the designated offcial for your AIS region. I think that both the AIS awards and the TBIS popularity award have merits. I look forward to the results of BOTH each year. And both influence what I choose to obtain for my small garden.

Why do I like the TBIS popularity poll? Well, it tells me something about staying power. If you track the rankings in the TBIS popularity poll from year to year, you'll see that many cultivars with new characteristics rise in the rankings and then fall back as quickly. But then there are others, even some quite old ones that hang in there for years and years and years in a very stable manner. Those very stable ones are the ones that have turned out for me to be "must haves." And when one is as limited for space as I am, it's important to learn which are the "must haves." They may not always have as many ruffles and florishes as the very newest award winners, but there is something about those stable ones that keeps them in the top 100 for year after year. Sometimes simpler turns out to be better.

The ones that took my breath away when I first saw them are:
the colours are beautiful

so dramatic!

I love broken patterns and this one has nice reddish beards

I think it looks better in person than in the photos

the colours were more vibrant than I was expecting

*** Just noticed that I shouldn't have included Dedicated which is a sdb.

So many of my faves have already won the Dykes - especially Keith Keppel's!

This relates to what I wrote above about the TBIS popularity poll. I was curious enough about these "oldies but goodies" that have "staying power" that I decided to examine the 2021 results more closely. I decided to list which of them in the top 100 were introduced before 1990. Interestingly, ALL that were introduced before 1990 are not only in the top 100, but they are actually ALL of them in the top 50! I'm going to list them below. I will first show their current rank, then the cultivar name, followed by the year introduced.

#1 Dusky Challenger, 1986
#2 Thornbird, 1989
#5 Jesse's Song, 1983
#12 Conjuration, 1989
#19 Silverado, 1987
#22 Immortality, 1982
#23 Beverly Sills, 1979
#24 Lady Friend, 1981
#26 Stepping Out, 1964
#29 Before the Storm, 1989
#33 Skating Party, 1983
#38 Vanity, 1975
#39 Superstition, 1977
#43 Edith Wolford, 1986
#43 Titan's Glory, 1981
#46 Rustler, 1988

Just some comments: Dusky Challenger has been #1 for decades, with the exception of last year when it slipped to #2. But as you see, it's back up again!
I think Lady Friend is still the top rated "red".
I think, if I recall correctly, Vanity is still ranked as first or second among the pinks because it is a very true pink, with no trace of shrimp in it.

Edith Wolford has been surpassed by her more recent child, Stairway to Heaven, which as nearly as I can see is much more vigorous and floriferous. I was never a fan of the yellow/blue combo, so I think STH is prettier, too. IMHO.

Rustler is probably the top-rated rust in this list.

Immortality is rated above Skating Party (both whites) in this list, probably because it reblooms. I think Skating Party is actually a prettier bloom, but it is definitely a more reluctant bloomer, and slower to increase.

If any of you are not familiar with these names, I encourage you to check them out in the database.