The American Iris Society Announces the 2023 Randolph-Perry Medal Winners

 'HAPPY TRAVELER' and 'LEMONY SNICKET'

The Randolph-Perry Medal is restricted to interspecies irises (SPEC-X). It is named in honor of Dr. L. F. Randolph (1894-1980) and Amos Perry (1871-1953).

Dr. L. F. Randolph, or "Fitz" as he was affectionately called by his many friends and associates, was chairman of the AIS Scientific Committee from 1945 to 1956. The work he and his students Jyotirmay Mitra and Katherine Heinig did on iris chromosomes produced many published monographs and provide the basis of our scientific understanding of the genus. He conducted a number of extensive iris species collection expeditions and brought back new species and many new forms of other iris species, especially of I. pumila.

Amos Perry was born into a family of nurserymen. Perry was one of the first hybridizers to use the tetraploid irises 'Amas,' I trojana, I. mesopotamica and I. cypriana. He introduced scores of new bearded cultivars, but he was more interested in Siberian irises and iris species. He probably created more new hybrid interspecies irises than any other iris breeder. His new hybrid irises often had names that indicated their species parentage, such as 'Chrysogana' (I. chrysographes x I. bulleyana); 'Tebract' (I. tenax x I. bracteata); 'Longsib' (I. longipetala x I. siberica); and 'Chrysowigi' (I. chrysographes x I. hartwegii).

Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

Species cross sibtosa iris 'Happy Traveler'
photo by Joe Bye Weed's Garden

'Happy Traveler' (Marty Schafer & Jan Sacks) Seedling SPx08-1-2. SPEC-X (sibtosa), 36" (91 cm), Midseason to late bloom. Standards mid violet-blue flushed darker in center; style arms pearly violet-blue; Falls violet-blue veined darker especially at signal, signal green-yellow with dark violet veining. 'Riverdance'; X 'Tourist'. Introduced through Joe Pye Weed's Garden in 2015.

Species cross pseudata iris 'Lemony Snicket'

photo by Mikey Lango

'Lemony Snicket' (Jill Copeland, R. 2014) Seedling HP-3. SPEC-X (pseudata), 44" (112 cm), Late bloom. Bright yellow self, signal golden yellow (17A) edged lighter, burgundy eye lash. unknown: ('Chance Beauty' x unknown) X 'Himeno'. Introduced by Ensata Gardens in 2016

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including Award of Merit and Honorable Mention, will be published on the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.