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Welcome
to the official Canadian Iris Society (CIS) website
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Photo: ...and out of the mist comes a spectacular display of yellow and blue tall bearded irises. |
Welcome
to the official
Canadian Iris Society (CIS) website
Who belongs to the Canadian Iris Society?
...outstanding iris
specialists, gardening experts and horticulturists are all members but the
Society is primarily for the amateur gardener who enjoys growing irises.
Mission Statement
The Canadian Iris Society (CIS) is a non-profit
organization with the objective to encourage, improve and extend the
cultivation of the genus iris and to collaborate with other societies
for this purpose.
Love irises? Would you like to become a supporting member of the CIS?
Please go to the Membership area
of the CIS website for full information.
Thank you for being a CIS member.
Looking for a Canadian local or regional iris club/society?
Connect with
other iris people in your own area. For
information on this please go to the Regional
Iris Societiesarea of the CIS website. Listed here you will
find local iris/regional iris societies listed by province, plus various special interest
iris societies with a focus on a specific type of iris.
Iris Books: Looking for iris gardening
books to help get through through the off-season? Check the books
section of selected informative iris books for your wintertime/anytime enjoyment.
Go to: Iris Books section
CIS Newsletter: (early Jan 2012)
The Winter 2012 CIS Newsletter will be published and sent out to you around the end of January if
you are a current CIS member. As always, we hope that you will find the latest issue useful,
interesting and informative. The CIS Newsletter is published four times
per year.
CIS members receive the CIS Newsletter issues either electronically via
e-mail distribution or via regular postal mailing. Bonus of the
electronic version is that is comes to you sooner and has full color
images throughout whereas the printed version is black and white only. You may change your preference any time by communicating your choice via
e-mail to the CIS Membership chairman: e-mail: cdn-iris@rogers.com
For information on becoming a member of the Canadian Iris Society (CIS)
please go to the membership area of the
website. |
Happy Gardening in 2012!
CIS website updated:
January 16 2012
Canada Weather
Check the weather anywhere in Canada from here:
Forecast: Good gardening is out there on the horizon.
Spring is only days away! Looking forward to that vernal equinox which occurs this year on March 20, 2012 at 5:14am.
Newer items of interest:
2012 CIS Purchase Offer Program
This year the CIS will again offer a selection of special recently introduced high quality iris plants for your growing pleasure. These programs help support the activity and function of the Canadian Iris Society (CIS) and its registered affiliates, a further plus is that you get yourself some very nice flowers at the same time too! Please take note that the CIS Purchase Offer Programs are reserved for current CIS members only. (if you are not a CIS member see how you can still participate by joining at the same time as you place your order)
For all the details on these opportunities please go to the Iris Sales Events area of the CIS website. The 2012 info will be there ASAP. In addition to the program details we will have a special mini-catalogue with color photos and written descriptions of all the offerings. Details are also published in the CIS Newsletter publication which is mailed to all CIS members.
The IRIS FIX for 2012
"The Iris Fix" returns for 2012! Announcing the return of "The Iris Fix". The "Iris Fix" is a free e-mail subscription service available between early April-May and the summer. Each day (usually) you will receive an iris photograph via e-mail to enjoy. This is provided by Don McQueen of London, Ontario from his collection of very nice iris photographs taken in and around his garden. When you have had enough, all you need do is send him an e-mail saying 'thanks but no thanks" and he will remove you from the mailing list.
To subscribe, contact Don at ddmcqueen@rogers.com
2012 IRIS FIX
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 Quick Tip on Iris Growing for early Spring (March-April-May)
Springtime is a time of the gardening year that is awaited with great anticipation by iris growers and general gardeners alike. There is an intense inner enjoyment to be had from viewing the new years growth of foliage emerging from the recently frozen ground. Some nice iris bloom is just around the corner.
Specifically regarding irises, there are a few items that need attention. First, a clean up is in order of any garden debris that accumulated over the winter, as you do this check the plantings for any signs of winter damage and resolve these. Types of things to look for are; winter kill (botrytis, a grey-black fungus) carefully remove and dispose those afflicted/do not compost these. Look for winter heave, that is your iris plants standing up out of the ground by the roots! This happens mostly on new plantings …push them back down and perhaps add extra soil as required. Time to treat for iris borer if you control with chemicals, if you are controlling manually then the debris removal helps to remove any borer eggs that are typically found on the debris. Time to check your garden signage with your plant map in case any moved or disappeared over the winter. Also this is the time to put down any fertilizer around the iris plantings. They will respond well to the extra nutrients. A suggested fertilizer values for iris would be along the lines of 6-10-10, avoid using high nitrogen fertilizer as it can encourage rot problems. Lower first number which is the nitrogen, higher on the other two numbers will help to boost flower production and growth and contains enough nitrogen to provide optimum growth with a lower risk of bacterial soft rot. Take it easy on the fertilizer, a little goes a long way. Alfalfa is also an excellent supplemental addition that provides nice results. (For more details on specifically fertilizing irises please go to the "Garden Diggings-Decoding Fertilizer" article in the Editorial section of the website) Go to it!
Happy garden diggings in 2012. CH
For more please see the Cultural
Information area of the CIS website. Further items regarding iris
culture are also available in the Editorial
section of the CIS website.
Index CIS website:
We welcome you to explore our CIS website and hope that you will find it a useful
resource of information on all things iris! Follow the links that appear
across the top of every page to navigate the various areas of the
website. Happy Gardening.
History - information on the
Canadian Iris Society (CIS), includes historical background.
Calendar of Events - Calendar of Events 2012
Membership - 2012 CIS membership information
Admin/Contacts- CIS Board of
Directors listing and contact information, CIS Board meeting schedule,
past CIS Board meeting minutes, CIS Committees, CIS Constitution.
News news of events
past, present and future
Editorial various Garden Diggings
items
Awards -
CIS Awards and also an explanation of the AIS iris awards and a detailed listing for
the years 1996-2008 inclusive.
Articles Index - follow this link to find a sub-index of many interesting and useful iris
related articles
Cultural
Info - follow this link to find growing information/tips and advice on various types of iris: Bearded, Siberian,
Japanese. Also a glossary of iris terms; helpful to the understanding of the terminology used when reading iris catalogues and or
iris related articles.
Iris Sales Events - details on upcoming various iris sales
events
Regional Iris Societies - a listing of Canadian
local/regional iris clubs/societies and special interest iris societies
AIS/Canada Information - section provided for the AIS regions functioning within Canada and general related American Iris
Society (AIS) information.
Links to further iris information on the Internet.
Includes info on Iris-Talk an internet mailing list devoted
to the discussion of garden irises. Lots of fun and interaction with
people who love irises! Find out how to join in.
 Contact the CIS by e-mail at:
cdn-iris@rogers.com
Leave us a comment/message/question and we will get back to you ASAP. Many
frequently asked questions regarding iris or growing iris are answered in the articles contained on
this website. Please look for information on the website first.
Website created, produced and maintained by:
Christopher Hollinshead
Wolf Marketing Communications, Mississauga, Ontario Canada.
e-mail:
wolf-com@rogers.com
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