Region 1 Tour and Judges Training - Saturday, May 6

All members of Region 1, ISM, MIS, and CIS are invited to the Region 1 garden tour, sponsored by the Connecticut Iris Society. We will be at Barbara and Alan McWhirter’s gardens in Cheshire CT during the peak of their SDB season. 2 hours of in-garden Judges’ Training on SDBs will be offered in the McWhirters’ gardens. Anyone is welcome to take the judges’ training, whether not you are a candidate for judgeship or an accredited AIS judge.

Schedule of events:

  • 10:00 am: McWhirters’ gardens open to visitors
  • 11:00 am to 12:00 noon: Part 1 of Judges’ Training on SDBs by Dave Nitka
  • 12:00 to 1:00 pm: Lunch (bring your own lunch; drinks and other refreshments will be available; bring a chair if you don’t want to sit on the grass), socializing, and scouting out clumps to evaluate for the second half of the training
  • 1:00 pm: Part 2 of Judges’ Training on SDBs by Dave Nitka

Directions:

Alan and Barbara McWhirter, 223 Woodpond Road, Cheshire, CT, 06410
(call the McWhirters’ cell phone (203) 710-8479 if you need help finding their home)

On Google Maps, here: https://goo.gl/maps/ycuLKNezR8Z6enti9

Driving directions: Travel West on I-84 toward Waterbury. Proceed to and take I-84 Exit 27 Route I-691 East. Travel about two miles on I-691 East then take Exit 7 (old Exit 3) right onto Route 10 Highland Avenue South toward Cheshire. Travel 4 miles and take a left turn onto Wallingford Road. Travel 700 yards on Wallingford Road and turn right onto Woodpond Road. 223 Woodpond Road will be the third house on your right, with a white fence in the front yard.

On the Judges' Training:

SDB irises are hardy, vigorous and diverse in flower color and pattern. They bloom early and usher in iris bloom season every year. They are ideal perennials for Ne

w England gardens. Alan McWhirter hybridized SDB iris in the 1980s. Then raising a family, work obligations and volunteer work intervened. Decades later, after retirement, his hybridizing has resumed at full speed. In the McWhirters’ garden we will find many of the best and most interesting commercially available SDB cultivars. Part 1 of the judges training is designed to be informative for everyone; Part 2 is more particularly designed for people who already are or wish to become American Iris Society (AIS) judges.

We will begin with the origin and history of Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDB) irises. We will then discuss changes and improvements in SDBs brought about by hybridizers over the 70 years that SDB class has existed. Everyone’s thoughts, opinions and stories are welcome. We especially want to remember, recognize and celebrate the contributions and SDB cultivars of Region 1 members! In light of SDB advancements in recent decades, we will review the 7 or so significant changes to the SDB judging standard that were implemented in 2021.

After a break for lunch and refreshments, Part 2 of the training will review the “nuts and bolts” of the current SDB section of the AIS Judges' Handbook. We will apply the Judges Handbook SDB guidelines to evaluate clumps of introduced iris which the McWhirters have purchased to use in their hybridizing. Then we’ll move on to viewing seedlings and learning about Alan’s hybridizing goals and approaches. Finally, there will be a 20-question test. This will count as 2 hours of in-garden training.