crowrita1 said: Looking over the "medal winners"list, there are a few that make me wonder just what the judges saw ! Or, where they were growing at the time ! Maybe just judged for "beauty", or "new color ", and not for hardiness!
You have to appreciate an iris in the context of its time. There weren't many SDBs in the late 70's and early 80's that had big, bold frosted blue beards like that:
It also helps to consider where the AIS conventions were held during the time period when an iris was being judged. Judges obviously can't acquire every iris that gets introduced each year so the conventions represent a significant chunk of their opportunities to see some irises. Sapphire Jewel won Honorable Mention in 1980, the Award of Merit in 1982, and the Cool-Douglas Medal in 1984. The conventions were in Oklahoma City, Denver, and Seattle, respectively, those years. If I remember right, Melba Hamblen was from Utah. You would expect an iris hybridized in Utah to do well in all of those places, especially Denver.
