Members:

Here is the newsletter for September.  The weather has been about as close to normal for Missoula as it’s ever been in the last few years. A few hot days here and there, but overall it’s been a great summer. Fall is falling quickly and soon it will be time to get ready for winter again. I’m ready, how about you?

Pete Addeo, Webmaster
Missoula Iris Society
http://www.missoulairis.com

DATE & TIME: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th, 6:30 pm.  Meeting and Potluck dinner begins at 6:30 pm.

PLACE:   Home of Arnie and Teri Kirschenheiter, 1960 Mullan Trail, 2.4 miles west on Mullan Road, from Reserve.  First right turn past the store.  Call 549-3080 for further information.

PROGRAM:  None planned

"FYI" NEWS

IN MEMORIAM

Members of the iris society were saddened to learn of the passing of Gary Clark's mother in July.  Marlene Johnson of Corvallis passed away on July 9, 2008, just three days short of her 74th birthday.  She had been ill for some time with cancer.  Marlene was a Montana  native, she was born on July 12, 1934 in Stevensville.  She was the oldest of four children; her mother Helen Jenkins is still active today at 92 years of age.

In addition to her mother, Marlene is survived by her husband Myron and three children, Carol, Gary and Randy, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Many of us knew Marlene from the Farmer Market; she grew beautiful varieties of flowers in her Corvallis garden  and she and Gary sold them at the market.  Marlene's work and business career included ownership and management of restaurants in Darby, Corvallis, Hamilton and Superior.

Auditing Committee: We need to start thinking about getting volunteers for the auditing committee. We need 3 volunteers to be ready to audit the books at the end of the year. Call President Cindy Davis at 728-7109.

New Officers Election: How about some new volunteers to run for office in 2009?? Let’s see if we can get some fresh, new and handsome volunteers who want to lead our club to new heights. Think about it.

Mall Shows: We also need to start getting ready for the new year Mall shows and start to plan a schedule. We should also be holding a Median show next year as well. Needs to be discussed at the next meeting.

New Members:  Add them to your membership list.  If you don't have a membership list, call Carol at 251-5833 or  e mail at carolyn@montana.com, and we'll get you  a current membership list.

NEW MEMBERS
Marie Hoyer, 6246 Red Hill Rd, Lewistown, MT 59457-Ph 538-9281. e mail marlee19@wb.midrivers.com
Earl & Brenda Steward, 7065 Savannna Lane, Lolo, MT 59847.  Ph #273-2896

RHIZOME SALE REPORT:   from  sale chairperson Carol Addeo:  Another year of a lot of work by a lot of members, but we got the job accomplished with no major problems.  I guess by now, we kinda know how to do this.  The sale was a big success, judging from the number of very good quality rhizomes to sell and from the gross revenue, so far a whopping $4619.10!! Subtract the seed money of $240.00 and the total income was $4,379.10! Nice job, all of you involved.

A total of 1,700 rhizomes were donated by members.  These included 113 varieties of TB's, 31 Dykes, 16 SA's, 11 varieties of IB's, 6 varieties of BB's, 5 MTB's, and 13 varieties of SDB's.  We also had 23 varieties of Siberian Iris donated, many of them came from our Fort Gardens.

A big thank you to everyone who helped with our sale, especially those who helped a  lot during the sale preparation.  On the Sunday before the sale, we had about a dozen helpers for digging, cleaning and trimming and another dozen helpers showed up on Monday at our yard to help with name tags.  Thanks to Alverta, who spent many hours helping and was the guru of solutions for every problem. Thanks to Honk for hauling stuff over. Thanks to Bob for delivering  and returning the tables.  Thanks to Swede for the use of his pickup truck.

Thanks to Jean who showed up every day during sorting to help where she could.  Thanks to Claudia, her sister  Brenda and Cindy who worked for several hours one evening after they worked a full day at  their regular jobs.  Thanks to Eloie for digging and donating so many fine rhizomes to the sale, then spending several hours helping with the sorting.  Thanks to Gary, Ron and Donna, Ed and Anita who helped, too.   Thanks to Pete for doing the signs.  And thanks to Billie, Zona and Swede, who spent so many hours digging, cleaning and preparing the Siberian iris from the Fort. Thanks to Arnie, Teri, Gene, Lynette, Ernie, Kalli , and all the others who helped at the sale.  Ron Dunn was even able to make an appearance at the sale and help our customers.  Nice to see him up and around.

GARDEN  MARKER TAGS - Metal plant markers are available for your gardens.  The cost is 10 for $4.00 or 100  for $35.  If you need some plant markers, contact Carol or Pete Addeo at 251-5833.

IRIS LISTS:  Alverta Symes would probably appreciate your lists including all new varieties you acquired for your garden.  This is for our sale cards.  It helps to know ahead of time which new varieties may show up at our sales, so that cards with pictures can be prepared ahead of time.

PRESIDENTIAL RHIZOME PARTY:   We had a good turn out, about 25 members, to the party on Sunday, August 17th in the back yard  of  Addeo's.  Mid America Gardens provided a very generous amount of rhizomes, not only for the Presidential Rhizomes but plenty to give for special awards and to auction a good deal of them, too.   Presidential rhizomes were given out to the monthly winners, plus special awards were given to members who consistently volunteer, help, and take charge of projects during the year.  They were:
   Billie Gray, for working and supervising the Fort Gardens and for being Tour Chairman this year.
   Swede Gustafson, for work he does on the Fort Gardens and for shed building, not to mention about 16 years of being our  former treasurer.
   Alayne Hilditch, who provided signs for the tour at her own expense, plus had her yard on tour, plus served on the tour committee.
   Pete Addeo, who took charge of the shed building project and he and Swede have been single handedly building it for the past several months.
   Carol Addeo, who voluntarily coordinates the meeting locations and newsletter, who chaired the rhizome sale this year, volunteered on the tour committee,  and for seven years of being our  former secretary.
   Jean Macaraeg, who is always willing to come to help whenever called and who came to help several days in a row  during the pre-sales days.
   Zona Lindemann, who has mowed the lawns at the Fort Gardens for several years, and consistently helps Billie with the garden chores.
   Honk Meyer, who has hauled and stored our "shed stuff" for several years, and has been known to donate a full day of weeding at the gardens.
   Scotty Burns-Drake, who is always willing to help where ever needed, especially  during the show.
   Leona Wyckoff, who took over the show co-chair duties at the last minute and stayed as long as necessary to complete all the paperwork.

Thanks to you all.

Several new variety rhizomes went to our Fort Gardens, but there were many more left to be  auctioned  off  to members.    We aren't sure, but we think the award for spending the most money on iris and tags went to Arnie and Keri Kirschenheiter.  Good for you!  Our club is a good cause.

It's Their Birthday!!....Let's Give 'Em a Cheer!!!

Happy day to Eloie Jeter, September 15th; and Roger Muir, September 17th.  Have a happy birthday all

 
Shed Progress from Pete:
It’s been a long hard grind for both Swede and myself in getting the shed finished. Swede has been doing much of the work by himself as I have been unable to get away from the store during the week. The roof is finally done, thanks to Swede, the outside is now ready for the siding to be applied and I am working on building the shelves inside and the door for the front of the shed. We still have a lot to do. We need to get this job done before the winter season.

MEETING LOCATIONS:
We need a location for the November meeting.  Call Carol if you can donate your home for that meeting on Saturday, November 1.

The October meeting will be held at the home of Leona Wyckoff.

We need to be ready for our Christmas Party as well. We will be needing a volunteer home for the party. This can be discussed at the next meeting.

Treasurer's Report from Pete Addeo:

The numbers are for the months of July and August 2008

Minutes:  September 6, 2008

The meeting was called to order by President Cindy Davis.  It was moved by Ed Verplancke and seconded by Honk Meyer that the minutes be approved as published in the Falls and Standards.  The motion passed.

The treasurer’s report was given by Pete Addeo.  $1072.00 has been spent of the $1900.00 allotted for the gardens.  After all the bills were paid and the seed money returned, the rhizome sale was $49.00 over budget.  $757.00 of the $857.00 shed budget has been spent.  Pete says that he still has to buy nails and with a couple of outstanding bills yet to pay the shed budget will run over a little bit.  The show budget was $400.00.  We came in under budget.  It appears that the Society has spent about $275.00 for the show.  Sunshine has spent $29.00 to date.  The Tour had $400.00 allotted and spent approximately $260.00.  Our sale brought in $4619.00 plus $92.50 from the Farmers’ Market.  The grand total, therefore, is $4711.50.  This was the best sale in seven years.

Old Business

Thanks to all those who took part in the iris auction.

Fort Garden:  The Siberian bed is done and ready to plant.  The only things needing to be finished are the paths and the back wall.  Billie will be working at the gardens on September 7^th so anyone who wants to join her is welcome.  There will be a scheduled work party near the end of September.

Shed: The shed is two-thirds finished.  Plans are in the works to finish it on September 7^th.  There is still some sheeting to be applied and help would be appreciated in cleaning up the construction debris.

            FYI:  The total size of the shed is 12’ x 32’.  Our half is 12’ x 16’.  The scaffolding rental was $146.00 per week.

New Business

Audit Committee:  Honk Meyer, Bob Symes, Alverta Symes.

Nominating Committee:  No one volunteered.  It was suggested that Elinor Utech might serve.  She will be contacted.

There was some discussion about changing the terms of the officers.  The by-laws will be checked to see how this can be done legally.

Web Site:  Pete Addeo, our able web master has requested material for the web site.  The site needs to have some additions from time to time.  Everyone needs to get their thinking caps on and find a fact or two or joke or something to add to our web page.

Important Dates for 2009:

            Median Show:  Mid-May; possibly May 23.

            TB Show:  June 13

Card Meeting:  Alverta Symes says the date and time will be announced.  Volunteers to date:  Teri Kirschenheiter and Lynette Kirschenheiter.

Board meeting for budget planning:  Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m.  Location: Addeo residence.

The next MIS meeting is October 4, 2008, at Leona Wyckoff’s on Gooden Lane.

The Presidential rhizome was won by Anita Cervenak.

Bob Symes moved the meeting be adjourned.  Ed Verplancke seconded the motion.  The meeting was adjourned.

Respectively submitted,

Zona Lindemann, Secretary

Webmaster