What a crazy year. Not all bad, but lots to juggle – I’m sure many of you know what that’s like. Which is why it’s taken so long to post about the amazing six-week research trip I went on during the New Zealand autumn.
My trip was all about meeting and interviewing people, visiting places integral to Jean’s story, and sharing about my project and Jean’s work. I went to:
- Melbourne, Australia – to meet and interview notable iris breeder Barry Blyth, who has created so many new irises from Jean’s TB Sunset Snows.
- Florence, Italy – to visit Giardino dell’Iris where TB Sunset Snows won three awards at the annual international iris competition in 1967. I also spoke to interested locals about my project (translated into Italian as I went by the gracious Sofia Cavini).
- RHS Wisley Garden, UK – to visit the trial beds where Jean sent her irises for assessment back in the day (irises are no longer trialled at Wisley, but other plants still are, including delphiniums from New Zealand!).
- Oregon, USA – to visit and interview renowned iris breeders Thomas Johnson (that’s him in the photo – he’s continuing Barry Blyth’s work) and Keith Keppel (who showed me some of Jean’s breeding notebooks – wow!), and to visit Schreiner’s Iris Gardens (they were Jean’s US distributors for many years).
More to come, but this trip has really deepened my understanding and appreciation of Jean’s story.
A very warm ‘thank you!’ to the New Zealand’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the Bason Botanic Gardens, and the American Iris Society for generous support to enable the trip to happen.
Karen Wrigglesworth 
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