2019 Williamson-White Medal Winner

The American Iris Society

Announces

The 2019 Williamson-White Medal

'Gesundheit'

'Gesundheit'--image by Terry Aitken

'Gesundheit' (Charles Bunnell, R. 2011) Seedling #Q110-1. MTB, 20-22 (5136 cm), Early midseason bloom. Standards and style arms bright yellow, irregular purple specks; falls slightly lighter yellow, random small purple streaks; beards bright yellow. Seedling #H25-1: (seedling #D45-1: ('Lucky Mistake' x 'Zebra') x seedling #C39-12: ('Welch's Reward' x unknown)) X 'Opal Imp'. Aitken's Salmon Creek 2012. Honorable Mention 2014, Award of Merit 2017.

This medal is restricted to miniature tall bearded (MTB) irises. It is named in honor of E. B. Williamson (1877-1933), his daughter Mary Williamson (1909-1987) and Alice White (1886-1969). Although others had introduced irises that fit into the miniature tall bearded iris class before Williamson, he and his daughter were the first to breed them as cultivars in a distinctive class of irises. They were apparently byproducts of breeding for tall bearded irises. In the early 1950's, Alice White of Hemet, California began a crusade to gain recognition of the assets of these wonderful smaller irises. She organized table iris robins and wrote many articles for the AIS Bulletin and gardening magazines promoting their virtues.

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day all of the medal winners. The entire list of winners can be found at the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.