The Utah Iris Society had 2 accredited shows in May. I was unable to attend the first because I was still in rehab for my hip but I did get to the second one. I took lots of pictures to share but have procrastinated.........So today was a slow day and here they are. I hope someone enjoys them.......
UIS Members preparing entries for the show




















The show room ready for judging

















Best of Show IB Nickel





Hysteriac














Best Design





Design contains a flat black seedling of Don Nebekers

A black flattie? Be still my heart!

Looks like quite a few iris were submitted. Thanks for posting. I have never seen an iris show.

Thanks for taking us along, Paul !!

Great photos, Paul. Almost felt like I attended.

Thanks for posting all the pictures Paul -- I have never been to an Iris show either. Did you enter any Irises of your own this year?

Fabulous, thank you for posting the photos Paul, also I'm glad your improving with the hip.

Great to see you back Paul and thanks for sharing the show with us.

Very interesting. I noticed some entries that had only one bloom open. Is that OK, would they ever place one like that?

Wonderful photographs, Paul.

Glad you are back.

Tom.....usually a stem with multiple fresh well spaced blossoms wins. In 2013 I won with a stem of Merry Madrigal which had 4 open blooms. It depends somewhat on the year. Once I remember a difficult season and Silverado which was new that year won with a single perfect blossom. Many of us bring stems with single blossoms so that the public will be able to see a great variety of bloom and good quality ones can get a blue.. Also the exhibitor with the most blues wins the sweepstakes and silver medal from AIS. My exhibiting days may be over.......

Another thought........some times a cultivar that opens multiple blossoms at one time blooms out more quickly than one that opens one or two on a stalk over a longer period of time. Can be a trade off..........

I hope that your exhibiting days are not over, Paul............

Me, too, Paul.

And me too.

Thanks Paul, for making that clear. I'm trying to learn about showing a bit. I missed our club's show as it was in conflict with things I had to do. But next year I hope to see it. I wonder how it went, as it was a bit early for the peak bloom time for me, and I'm South of where the center of the club is. Things would have been limited to the early bloomers for sure.

Shows like multiple blooms & we don't in the garden. Our club considers show as a teaching tool for the general public. The Maine club are into showing for its own shape.

It's good to see you back in the forums Paul. The irises look so elegant on the tables. I can imagine someone having them on the tables at a wedding reception. I wonder if anyone has done that.

Gives me good memories of attending that show. Loved the fragrance the blooms it all.

I especially liked seeing the arrangements.. Some nice creativity.. It's also fun to see how different clubs do things..

Tom, I hope next year you'll take the leap and show some of your Iris. Talk to the judges after they're done judging and get feedback. Sometimes they write comments on the card... but I've found most of them are really helpful with advice..