Newsletter: November 2003
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN IRIS SOCIETY Inc.
Editorial
The iris season has flown by for another
year and what a strange season it has been. The bearded
irises were mostly 3 to 4 weeks later than usual which
meant fewer flowers for the show and those shown mostly
early varieties. My Louisianas were about the same but
the Japanese are spot on time just starting to bloom at
the end of November to peak in December. It is most
unusual to see dwarf bearded iris flowering at the end of
November but that has happened this year. The last
stragglers are now flowering in my seedling beds and I
now look forward next year to seeing second year bloom on
some exciting new seedlings.
One advantage of the late season for me was the chance to
see the early blooms at Rainbow Ridge the weekend after
our show and at Tempo Two the following weekend. The
season was late there too. I am always looking for new
genetic material to use with my super early line and have
difficulty finding anything early enough to use. Blooming
in both nurseries was later than usual with many
varieties not showing colour and very few varieties that
had finished blooming. Both iris gardens were spectacular
and I recommend a visit to them when you get a chance.
The coffee mug that got away! Whenever I go away I always
look for another coffee mug featuring irises to add to my
collection. My collection includes quite a few that have
cost between $1 and $3 with very pretty iris designs on
them.
While staying in Cowra in NSW I went looking for a coffee
mug. I found a Mitre10 store (by accident) and decided to
check it out. There was a small section with coffee mugs
and on the bottom shelf, 3" above the floor, was a
mug with irises on it. I examined it with delight. It had
botanical drawings of five different species iris
including a Pacific Coast. Wow! Then I looked at the
bottom to see the price. $34.95!!!!!!!! It wasn't even
gold plated! I reluctantly put it back. I still dream of
the mug that got away. If anyone is going through Cowra
and feeling very wealthy check out the Mitre10 store, the
iris coffee mug will probably be there for quite a long
time.
New Club Members
Apologies to Belinda and Karl Meredith for missing you in the last edition. Welcome also to Gary Roberts who has joined since the show. I hope to get some more new members contacting me through the mail as there were quite a few application forms taken from the show.
Show raffle winners
First prize, a voucher from Iris Acres, was won by Jo Meyer from Woodville West. Second was Betty Parsons, our special secretary, who won the Dalmation picture donated by Ronda Burg and third was Michaela Baulderstone from Vale Park who won four coffee mugs featuring iris donated by Pam Hilton. Thankyou to the donors and all who bought tickets, the raffle raised $193 for the club.
November Minutes
Apologies: Colleen Modra, Roger Beech,
Brett Draper, Carol Schmidt, Karl Meredith, Pam and
Trevor Hilton.
Correspondence: Advertiser, Australian Fuchsia Society,
Australian Rose Heritage Society, Lilium Society Of South
Australia.
Business: The final Advertiser account from the Show was
passed by all for payment.
Congratulations was given to Graham Kuchel for winning 3
gold medals at the Masters Games in Archery, the games
were held in Canberra. Well done Graham.
Financial Report: Income for October was $7,269.60 which
included $7,056.10 from the show. Expenses
Were $824.90. Some accounts were still outstanding from
the show and members had not been paid for their
commission plants. These will show in the November
statement. On October 31st the cheque account balance was
$1,143.61, cash in transit at the bank $6,745.00, Cash
Management Account $7,647.05, 2005 Convention Account
$1,191.88, Petty cash $52.95 giving a Club net worth of
$17,079.31.
Show and Tell: There were lots of items to show and tell
this meeting from members who returned from the West
Australian Iris Convention and who had a lovely time in
Perth.
Pam Jackson: With items from Pam and Peter's trip to
Perth. A lovely gold ceramic serving dish with a pretty
purple Iris painted in the inside. ..... Ceramic green
based tile with yellow and purple Irises painted on it.
... Leadlight Iris of a rosy/ red/ pinky colour. ...
Postcard of a pinky / red Aril; they all where just so
nice.
Natalie Houba: Natalie showed us a novel wine bottle
flattened with an Iris embossed into it. A lovely
sandwich tray of yellow with white Irises painted inside.
... Lots of tourist books, video's and tea towels of
Western Australian fauna and wild life.
John Turner: Firstly John and Marg Douglass modeled polo
shirts from the West Australian Convention.
John brought back a lovely tray white back ground with
pretty blue Irises painted inside the tray.
Julia Jacobs: Julia brought in a lovely Dutch Iris
"Thunder Bolt", purple standards, with brown
falls and yellow signals, really stunning.
Pauline Smith from Pauline's recent trip to Japan,
Pauline showed a lovely handkerchief made from cotton
with Japanese iris on it.
Marg Kuchel: While Marg and Graham where in Canberra for
the Masters Games , Marg managed to find time to do a
little shopping where Marg found (in the Canberra Botanic
Gardens gift shop) a beautiful gold rimmed china coffee
mug with the Iris / Rose story, plus a lovely Iris and
Rose painted on the mug.
Before the Show Prizes were handed out an auction was
held of a lovely Hand Painted Folk Art Iris tray donated
by Darrelle Watson. Rhonda Burg was the lucky bidder for
$18.00
Thankyou to Darrelle for the donation and also to Roger
Beech for the Rhizomes Roger donated to the Club Trading
Table. To our wonderful Sponsors and lastly to the
Families of members who helped with our Show. Well done.
WA Convention: Peter Jackson, assisted by all the other
Convention goers, showed slides and told tales of the WA
show and garden visits followed by the sight seeing
tours. Those who stayed home to run the show here were
very envious. It is hoped to have a written report of the
convention in the December Newsletter.
The committee of the SA Iris Society wish all members a
happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year .
Next meeting The Annual General Meeting on February 12th
2004 with a guest speaker.
