Aril & Iris Society 2025 Schedule & Show

All events held at the Albuquerque Garden Center unless specified otherwise

Interested non-members welcome; meetings are at 2 pm in Grace’s Room

April 25 – Garden Center Plant Sale -- we’ll sell potted irises, 1-5 pm only

April 27 Meeting – Preparing Your Iris for the Show; artistic design & photography division instructions

May 10 – Set Up for Show, 2-6 pm

May 11 – MOTHERS DAY IRIS SHOW – open to public 1-5 pm

June 8 Meeting – Show Awards, preparing for Region Convention

July 18-19 – Garden Center Flower Show (enter flowers, group competition)

July 20 Meeting – Final preparations for Regional Convention. Annual Drawing for NEW IRIS purchased (Members Only)

August 15 – Set up for Region 23 Iris Convention

August 16 – AIS REGION 23 CONVENTION 9 am – 5 pm – we are host

August 31 Meeting — Class on Dig, Divide, Process Your Iris

September 19 – Set Up for Iris Sale, 1-5 pm

September 20 – ANNUAL IRIS SALE – open to public 9 am - noon

October 19 Meeting – Preparing Iris Beds for Winter; Demo with our two iris beds in Garden Center gardens

October 25 – Halloween Glow ‘n Stroll (participation encouraged)

Dec 20 Holiday Party at Garden Center; members may invite one spouse/guest

OFFICERS 2025:

President Rae Phillips 505-235-5992, raecyp65@gmail.com

Vice President Candy Scott 505-200-2046, candysbridgeclub@aol.com

Treasurer Linn Furnish 505-884-6626, swimsew@comcast.net

Secretary Jody Kennedy 505-288-1511, jodykennedy21@gmail.com

Member-at-Large Eva Barry 505-350-0382, eva13barry@gmail.com

Annual Report for 2023 & Schedule 2024

2023. Starting with 35 members, this year had us back on track with a normal schedule after a really busy 2022. Our elected officers were: President Eva Barry, Vice President Candy Scott, Treasurer Linn Furnish, Secretary Rae Phillips, and Past President Helen Crotty. Eva Barry needed to step down in February, so Rae took the helm with it becoming a community effort from the other officers and our members.

Our Annual Iris Show was held on April 23rd, with a relatively small number of participants due to the early date; many irises were not yet in bloom. Most of our entries were ABs and SDBs – which was actually a nice change, since shows held in May are mostly TBs. It introduced our members and attendees to varieties of iris not always present at our shows, and hopefully encouraged members to start growing some of them. Several members had expressed interest in adding artistic design to our show, so they were encouraged to create some as a display-only section. Given its popularity, the section will probably be added to future shows.

Our Iris Sale was July 15th, with likewise smaller participation due to the excessive heat that prevented many from digging. (We really appreciated all the brave souls that got out early in the mornings to do so.) Eva, Linn, Candy and others had potted iris last year from those we received from national convention in Las Cruces, so they brought in additional income to make this annual fund raiser a success.

Good participation from most of our members helped make these events successful. Our 2023 meetings were also well attended with enthusiastic participation. We featured guest presenters who expanded our knowledge of all things iris -- especially helpful given that many newer members are just getting into growing iris. The only months we do not have any events are January and November. We finished the year with a fun Holiday Party December 13th. We are ending the year with 41 members.

2024. Major events scheduled for next year will be the Iris Show on Mothers' Day May 12 and the Iris Sale July 13. Meeting dates for 2024 are Feb 18, Mar 17, Apr 28, June 16, Aug 18, Sept 22, and Oct 20. Meetings are usually held at 2:00 pm at the Albuquerque Garden Center and visitors are always welcome. We are way behind in updating our website (albuquerquearilandirissociety.com), but it still contains good information on growing and processing iris. Meanwhile, join us on our active Facebook group page, especially when bloom season begins.

Rcp/AAIS/1.15.24 – 505-235-5992, raecyp65@gmail.com