Yes, Laura, do check out the personal database in your own NGA profile. For a long time I didn't know how to make categories, but finally learned how to do it. It's useful. But suppose you want to search your personal database for cultivars from a certain hybridizer? Instead of making a category for each hybridizer, you can go to the main database search page at
https://garden.org/plants/grou... , type in the name of the hybridizer in the hybridizer text box, then scroll way down to the bottom of the search page, and click in the checkbox that allows you to restrict the search to your own personal database. Or you can do the same sort of a restricted search to see how many of your irises were introduced in each decade, by typing in a three numeral query in the "Date of introduction" text box. For example, "199" will give you all of your cultivars introduced in the 1990s. The same sort of search, restricted to your personal database, can tell you which cultivars you have for each class of irises. There is so much you can learn about your own collection this way! Or, likewise, which ones do you have that are a certain color, or color pattern (plicata, self, amoena, etc.), or a certain form (tailored, ruffled, bubble ruffled, flatties)? This way, you are not only learning about your own collection, but about your own past preferences. It can be revelatory. And sometimes it can spur you to broaden your horizons in your future choices.
