There is much joy in visiting and sharing gardens with the public, but isn't it prudent to cancel garden gatherings this season as a precautionary measure? For the sake of the hybridizers, I hope people will be mindful and not put those folks at risk, especially if the person/s are in a high risk category. Please forgive me if this post is redundant since I don't check the forum pages that often. And I hope I'm not upsetting the hybridizers who open their gardens to the public; ultimately it's their right to decide how they want to proceed this season. Best wishes to all, and hope everyone stays healthy and has a beautiful garden at home to add some color and joy during these difficult times.

A timely message, Richard. Our scheduled trip to Salem is in about 10 weeks, but we are prepared to cancel if we're still in virus crisis.

... most of the visitors to my place are either single persons or 2-3 person groups. Its always a trickle, never a crowd. In this time of uncertainty and concern, im not going to deny people a bit of solace and visual delight where they can take a small leave of their concerns and share my enjoyment of iris.

Disclaimer: ... this is a only a statement of my plans for 2020 concerning my garden visitation -- not a oppositional argument to the original poster

Tim and Richard. I think we're all on unfamiliar ground with this virus. It's a wait and see world. I hope that gardens will be open, but who knows?

I started out thinking it might be only a few weeks, but now it seems that the health officials are predicting months - or more.

I don't think the Australian visitors have much chance of attending

We're on mandated shutdown here, so one local (non commercial) garden has already had to rescind their open garden invitation.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the CA commercial gardens (like Superstition) have to close to visitors. I expect that we are going to be in for a longer siege than the current postulated 3 weeks.

I agree Marilyn, We were going to have a Mother's Day weekend, Open Studio and Garden event, May 9 & 10, here at the pottery studio, but I'm cancelling it. Small sacrifice to comply with new rules that we agree with, particuarly when others are losing so much more.

Just heard via Phil Williams that this year's National Convention has been cancelled. Our local club meeting(s) and Iris Show has also been cancelled. We are in an "Shelter in Place" order as are an increasing number of counties in California.

Sad to hear, but surely necessary with all that's going on. I haven't heard yet if our club will cancel our show, but most likely as our Governor has banned any events with more then 50 people.