My ribbons came to me in the mail today (because we live at a distance). 7 entries, 6 ribbons. (2 irises lost their heads getting out of the car and didn't get entered). I'd recommend visiting an iris show near you to any iris-admirers.

When judging horses, we judge the animal, not the grooming except in a grooming class such as showmanship where we judge the way the horse is presented, not the horse. Seems to me that a bloom should be judged by how it looks in nature, not how it's been adjusted to look. It's like saying that an absolutely beautiful and perfect stem is placed lower down because the exhibitor forgot to clean off a finger print, and a somewhat inferior bloom stem is given first place because it didn't have a finger print. Just my 2 cents worth. However if one plays the game one must follow the rules I guess.

There's always rules!
But, fingermarks on the stem can be smoothed out with a soft brush.

yes, tom but even in performance classes you wouldn't take a raggity looking horse. they all look good. There are points for flower, stem branches etc. I think people just look at the flower & don't think of the rest of the plant. There is a class called English boxes which has holes for the flower only & you have a theme, seedling from one set of parents, purple flowers etc. (whatever you think up) I think that there 5 holes in the box & they are judged as a whole. Still shows are good to turn people away from the 'yellow one or the purple one'. People are forced to walk around the show & see all the different colors & are amazed.

I was fortunate enough to have a complete set of library bound AIS Bulletins come into my possession , and, I've been reading a "year" (one book) every night.....it IS amazing, how those "back in the day" thought about "what was a perfect stalk" . Lots of tips, tricks, and chicanery were, and probably still are, used in getting an iris "show ready". Quite a bit of "ink" was spent on what the Judges should look for....both good and bad...., , and, remember, this was in the days of the "black list" (all those iris which were NOT to be sold, traded ,or grown, because they were "passé", "old fashioned", or "had no redeeming value"). All in all, I think, when a lot of the rules and criteria were laid down.....there were a LOT of iris "snobs" ! I've never "showed" an iris....and probably never will....but, I agree with some of Tom's comments........however NATURE made that stalk, can't be improved on.....wiping finger prints, trimming , etc., should "SUBTRACT" points, not add them !

The judging brings in some added interest to an iris show. Anything that spreads
the virus is o.k. in my book!
Arlyn - lucky you to have those bound AIS bulletins!

You are right about that, Jan......some like the "growing", and some like the "looking", and, since we human critters are pretty competitive .....we tend to make contests out of everything !

I always prefer garden tours to shows, but they draw people to our favorite plants.

The rules are what is in vogue today. Twenty years from now a natural bloom may be what they are looking for. Then again, with all the hybridizing making spectacular flowers, the bloom may have to have an act like playing the piano or juggling.

It is interesting to see how things have changed.

AIS is talking about redoing the judges' handbook. I can see adding things but changes don't seem to be needed. It is a loose leaf, so some changes can be easily added.

On the subject of getting iris to the shows: When I had a lot of tall blooms I used a tire and could get a number there in good shape. Right now I am having trouble explaining. There was a local artist whose wife was very active in the club. We talked about me doing an article for the Bulletin on transporting iris to the show and him illustrating it; but that was about the time my mother became ill and I never followed up.

This is my favorite story about myself and shows. Mother was living and would drive me to the set-up with me holding the best two stalks and the rest elsewhere in the car. That year I was carrying High Life and Stepping Out. This would have been about 1973. I walked in carrying those two and called out, "Does anyone have the Queen?" Well, High Life won Queen and Stepping Out won Runnerup to Queen! I don't think I ever asked that question again. The next year I got my own car and while Mother was still driving we usually took both cars with most of the flowers in the tires.

I can also carry some stalks on the rear seat by sliding the bottom of the stalks into the crack at the back of the seat. At he same time I use a book or something to raise the flowers up so they do not get damaged.

I doubt I will have much for horticulture, so I'd better start planning for doing some arrangements.

Enjoyed your story, Charlotte. I'm trying to visualize your "tire" carrying arrangement. A full-size auto tire?
yes, getting the irises intact to the show is the big problem. Several long-time growers had parking lot accidents
with their irises at this last show - all it takes is a bump! Chris's arrangement of duct tape squares (like a checkerboard)that covered the
lip and top of the 5 gal. bucket, worked very well for us, considering how far we had to drive, over curvy roads. Still
a smal "bump" getting out of the car knocked off a couple of nice blooms!

I remember a well known hybridizer telling me about the time he broke off the terminal bloom. He glued it back on and entered the stalk. It won Queen of show.
The judges don't catch everything.

That's funny!

Recently someone told me they used a bucket of wet sand to hold stems for transporting.

Tom, when is the show? You're likely to have some great show stalks when the time comes, might as well take a couple just to get a little experience with grooming them. The daffodil show this spring was my first flower show. It does take some time to get them ready to display- I worked right up till the last few minutes.

My experience as a floral designer helped and hindered- situating blooms the way I wanted came naturally, but making the presentation as a whole look pretty is not the objective. Only yew or boxwood clippings were allowed as the greenery used to wedge between the stem and the test tube to hold the bloom upright. I kept wanting to use pretty greenery tips and make a fluffy little collar for the stem, but that was a no no. I was told it was preferable to just wad a little piece of greenery up and stuff it around the stem where it didn't show much- it's all about the bloom.

Finding perfect blooms was tough enough with daffs, and they're single blooms. Perfect show stalks of irises is way trickier!

Being a wedding floral designer, I spend a lot of time sweating over transporting fragile blooms. At the venue where I work, they receive shipments of 2 liter bottles of softdrinks in plastic crates designed to hold 6 bottles snugly. They also perfectly hold some vases I have, and I use them to transport bridesmaids bouquets. I just realized how perfect they would be for transporting show flowers, using 2 liter bottles!

That is a good idea. I wonder if you could just ask your local grocery if they had boxes with divisions.
If you saved the 2 liter, you could cut the top and add sand.

I bet an area liquor store has boxes with divisions. When I moved, I got some there and they were perfect for packing glassware.

If I leave the liquor store with boxes....they won't be empty....I'll do that at home

Superstition Gardens will send their new introductions if you win Best in show with one of their introductions. Ed & Pat Norton from Maine won that at our show 2 years ago & then won it at the Maine show. So 2 years of introductions. No worry here this year as they are judging our show.