American Iris Society - Region 7 spans Tennessee and Kentucky, with USDA climate zones that range from 5 to 8, from mountains to valleys, plateaus, and the Mississippi floodplain.  Soil types range from clay to gravel with wonderful loess in the western part of Tennessee.  Weather is everything and anything, the only thing we know for sure is that it can change abruptly from drought to deluge and back again in summer, and from subfreezing to balmy in midwinter.

 Before the big commercial iris gardens on the west coast dominated the iris scene, the region was a center of top notch hybridizing, producing several Dykes medal winners in the 1930s and 1940s - Dauntless, Copper Lustre, Mary Geddes, and Chivalry - and, in 1978, Bride's Halo.   The iris is the state flower of Tennessee, although we aren't exactly in agreement as to which iris!

Vote your AIS TB Symposium Ballot!
The ballot can be copied, voted and mailed to

Sue Ann Barnes
205 Westwood Ave
Jackson, TN 38301

or just a list of the iris voted can be e-mailed to her. If e-mailing, all the AIS member needs to include is his/her name and the numbers of 25 or fewer favorites. Names are OK as well, but numbers are shorter. A couple can send two lists in one e-mail, or can mark a ballot in different colors or with different marks and mail just one ballot. Remember that 25 or fewer irises are chosen, NOT 100.

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This page was last updated on 5/16/12