I do not think it matters whether the tide is going in or out. I am reminded of the saying is the glass half full or half empty. There were some interesting facts revealed in the plight of the botanical gardens that are relevant to us. I find the information very positive for the growth of the American Iris Society. Note that they said 31% of Americans grow flowers. In the last twenty years the US population has increased by 23%. or 58,297,677 people. During this time our membership declined by almost half. Even if 31% is a new low for flower gardeners that still means the number of flower gardeners increased by over 18 million during the time of our decline in the Iris Society. Twenty years ago the Daylily Society was much smaller than the Iris Society but during the last twenty years it has grown and we have gone down where now it is almost three times our size. It was only with the recent daylily rust plague that they saw declines and that has turned around. But what has made the difference. The daylily society has changed more rapidly than AIS. Even today it continues to experiment with new things. The AIS is finally addressing the internet community of gardeners. Even though it was evident 5 years ago when I started of the board that the future of AIS would depend on viable interfaces with the online horticultural community most of what we need to do is still in the planning stage and many months from implementation. The Botanic Gardens are trying new things to react the current conditions and these conditions could change dramatically from one season to the next. We have been unable to address the broader changes in our society that have been happening for years and will continue for many more. The AIS survived a great depression, It survive a world war, but can it survive its lethargy?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rita Gormley" <gormleygreenery@gmail.com>
To: "AIS Discuss" <aisdiscuss@aisboard.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 10:19:08 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [AISdiscuss] OT: Article of interest from the NY Times.
AIS is not the only group swimming against the tide these days. This article was of interest to us.