In an effort to increase the diversity of pictures in the Iris Database, I'm going to make a special offer.

Any time a picture of a beardless iris is added to the database, I will give it a tip of two extra acorns. If it's the first ever picture in an entry, the tip will be five extra acorns.

So, pictures of:

Siberian
Japanese
Louisiana
Pacific Coast
Spuria
Species (not all of these are beardless, but we'll count them anyway)
Interspecies Hybrids---Species X (ditto)

would qualify.

I'll do the same thing for any pictures of Arils or Arilbreds as well.

Lastly, pictures of bearded irises can qualify as well, IF the plant was introduced prior to 1990.

Too bad I already posted most of mine for this year.

(A very nice example of a bearded species iris is Chocobeards - had to give it a plug since it is so pretty)

So if we have posted pictures of a beardless iris before now, but add another picture that shows a different perspective or whatever, does that count or is it just our very first picture we submit of that iris?

Acorns for every picture that meets the criteria. Of course, I'm assuming no one will abuse the system by posting a dozen or so essentially identical pictures of the same plant, but we'll worry about crossing that bridge if we get to it (I don't believe we will).

I think (hope) we can all behave. Thanks for letting me know.

for the extra s, Kent.

But like Leslie, I already posted all my other beardless/species etc. pictures for this season. With luck the slugs will be less prolific next year and I might get some bloom pics of I. dardanus.

I have a lot of slides taken by an SLR from mostly the 1970s, most taken at Melba Hamblen' s Mission Bell Gardens. I have an acquaintance who has one of those transfer to digital dohickies. I have had it in mind to ask for her help, but now I definitely will. Also a lot of Siberians taken in 1960s at Fred Casabeer's

I've got a few PCI's of Joe's 2017 intros from our last show that are not in the database..
They're not on the AIS site yet, but they are listed in his catalog. There is no verifiable website..
Starry Night
Cheddar Cheese
Tour de California

Pacific Coast Iris (Iris 'Cheddar Cheese')

Pacific Coast Iris (Iris 'Tour de California')

He really has an iris registered under the name 'Starry Night'? Surprising, because that name was used for a Louisiana Iris in 1945.

Frankly, I'd prefer to wait until AIS releases the 2017 registrations next spring, to be sure it's been approved, before adding it to the database.

KentPfeiffer said:https://garden.org/plants/view/746882/Iris-Cheddar-Cheese/

Pacific Coast Iris (Iris 'Tour de California')

He really has an iris registered under the name 'Starry Night'? Surprising, because that name was used for a Louisiana Iris in 1945.

Frankly, I'd prefer to wait until AIS releases the 2017 registrations next spring, to be sure it's been approved, before adding it to the database.

I've had three different vendors send me irises with names that, on a little investigation, I discovered were not yet registered. So I may have to remake marker labels... Is there a separate system for Europe? There are glitches there, too - for example, Cayeux have an iris called Hermes, which is a name already taken for a 1929 TB. But Cayeux have the blessing of the Hermes organisation to use the name, so they are very unlikely to change it.

No, there's not a separate system for Europe as the American Iris Society is the official world registry for rhizomatous irises.

There is a separate system for bulbous irises (Dutch, Reticulated, etc.). The official world registry for those is the Koninklijke Algemeene Vereeniging voor Bloembollencultuur (KAVB) https://www.kavb.nl/, based in the Netherlands. KAVB is also the official registry for tulips, Dutch hyacinths, and many other types of plants that grow from bulbs.

Many of the duplicate entries in the Iris Database are a result of the fact that there are two different registries handling the rhizomatous and bulbous irises. I've thought about asking Dave to split the bulbous irises into their own database, but it might create more problems than it solves.

There are a few different reasons why you might receive unregistered irises from a commercial grower:
1. The big one is that publication of the AIS registry can lag more than a year. For example, if a hybridizer registered a plant in January 2017 and made it available for sale this spring/summer, you could potentially see it blooming in you garden before AIS publishes its registration information, which will occur around late April 2018.
2. Some hybridizers introduce plants, but don't register them until a later time.
3. Some growers don't register their plants at all.

This last reason, in particular, creates all sorts of confusion and it's why we are rather reluctant to add unregistered irises to the database without a fair bit of background information.

As for 'Hermes', it IS possible re-use the name of a previously registered iris. I believe it can only be done if the original iris is no longer in existence, doesn't show up in the parentage of any other registered iris, and I think you need the original hybridizer to release the name (not sure what you do if that person is deceased). There are probably other hurdles I'm unaware of as well, but it can be done.

Thanks, Kent - interesting information, and it explains some of the unregistered irises I've been sent. Two have even had their names changed since I received them (one Cayeux, one Zalewska). Re-using the name of a previously registered iris sounds like hard work!

I have seen many iris listed first as one name, then changed after they find it is already taken for another registered iris. These have all been iris put up for sale during the lag time Kent mentioned in reason 1 above.

I do have one LA that was never officially registered on the database. Most of my others have been entered at least by bloom time.

Iris Subbiflora x Revoluta X Crave seedling. And another one.

Just an FYI, I'll be pretty well buried at work from now to late April, at which point my own irises will be starting to bloom, so won't be online here as much as usual until late May/early June. Consequently, if you submit a qualifying iris picture and don't receive your acorns within a week or so, just send me a Tmail with a link to the picture and I'll take care of it as soon as possible.

Do they need to be id'd? I have several beautiful NOIDS.

Yes, the purpose of the acorn offer is to encourage more contributions to particular parts of the Irises Database. The only appropriate place for pictures of NOIDs in the database is the main plant entry, which has no shortage of pictures. Sorry.

Thanks for the info.

What is an acorn, and why do we want them?

Acorns are rewards for contributing to the site. A more detail explanation is here: https://garden.org/special/aco...

I would guess the primary reason people want acorns is to buy tickets to the Not-A-Raffles-Raffles: https://garden.org/ideas/view/... , but there are other uses. For example, at times, Dave has offered T-shirts, coffee cups, and other stuff that you could pay for with acorns.

Who is Dave? I keep hearing him mentioned all across the the different forums.