It will be interesting to watch the results in the next few years.

This is the popularity poll... The last one they have up is 2011, but it's pretty interesting to see anyway..
http://wiki.irises.org/bin/vie...

Some plants are excellent growers all over the country. difficult to do.

Sherry, I have a few that are on the popularity poll but I should never have looked at it because now there are several more I want.

Yep, me, too. But it's fun.

That's interesting. There are very few in the first 50 that I don't have!!

See?

I have a long history of being a plant enabler, Vi

I have 51 of the top 100 on that list. 38 of the first 50.

Half of them are in my garden. Plus two others that died out.

I only have 11 of the first 50, and 9 of the second 50. Guess I am planting to the beat of a different drum!

I have been at this since Summer of 2008. Joined AIS in Summer of 2009. I went from 30 cultivars to 630 cultivars. Lets see where you are in 5 years!

The 12 I don't have are:

#20 Lady Friend
#23 That's All Folks (DM On my GOTTA have list)
#23 Immortality
#28 Skating Party
#31 Crackling Caldera
#32 Champagne Elegance
#36 Acoma
#38 Laced Cotton
#41 Clarence
#44 Rare Treat
#45 Italian Ice
#46 Afternoon Delight

There are two I don't want (Immortality & Clarence) and the one I really want (That's All Folks), then the rest fall into "probably" or "not so much".

Crackling Caldera is between yellow and orange and it is a great iris. Try it if you get a chance before you put it on the don't list. I have an iris friend that almost gets on a rant when someone touts a plicata. They are not her favorite and she just says "don't try and give me stitch anything, I don't want it. Stitch this and stitch that, I have enough!" It is reeeaaally funny. I had Skating Party and gave it away. Too many whites and it was not my favorite. Lady Friend is not over the top when it comes to spectacular but she is reliable and can stand up to drought, storms, high winds, etc. so she get a place in my garden. I don't get what everyone else does, I get what I Have To Have. smiles

Ironically I have 4 of the 12 you don't have, including the two you don't want! The other two being Lady Friend, and Acoma (which I am surprised is still so popular after being around forever).

Lestv said:I only have 11 of the first 50, and 9 of the second 50. Guess I am planting to the beat of a different drum!

Don't feel bad, I only have 7 out of the entire 100(+) and have been growing irises since I was a kid in the 70's.

The rules determining which irises are or aren't on the ballot are heavily slanted towards those which have won awards, particularly Dykes and Wister medal winners. Most irises disappear off the ballot before the average gardener even has a chance to grow them. This, combined with the fact that it takes a minimum of seven years for an iris to win the Dykes Medal, means the list is mostly populated with older varieties. 'Montmartre' might be the newest variety, introduced in 2008.

Also, only irises introduced in the US are eligible for AIS awards so there's almost no Australian or European varieties on the ballot. Keith Keppel introduced 'Decadence' in the US for Barry Blyth and I think it's Barry's only iris on the list. So, if you grow mostly newer and /or non-American irises, you won't see many of your favorites.

I have 22 of the first 50 and 18 of the second 50. I had some that I no longer have.

I was surprised to see Montmartre so high up on the list because it is a newer introduction. Sure is a standout in the garden though!

I would think that the more affordable iris would be higher on the list, but maybe that would be more true of popularity in the general populace compared to within AIS.

I've got about 20 out of the top 50...
I'd like to add 'Sea Power', 'Crackling Cladera', 'Honky Tonk Blues' (to see if it's a match for one of my NOIDS), 'Rare Treat' (Same reason), 'Victoria Falls' (ditto), 'Bride's Halo' (because I've wanted it for probably 20 years), 'Millenium Falcon'..
I've got about 10 more from the next 50...

Curiously, I also have 30 out of the top 100 from 1948... (I bet Arlyn has more)
http://wiki.irises.org/bin/vie...

Interesting list, Sherry.