The American Iris Society Announces the 2024 Payne Medal Winner

 'COLUMBIA CREST'

The Payne Medal is restricted to Japanese irises (JI). It is named in honor of W. Arlie Payne (1881-1971). W. Arlie Payne was at first especially interested in peonies, but in the late 1920s, he "discovered" Japanese irises. He started hybridizing Japanese irises in 1932. Over the next three and a half decades, he raised many thousands of seedlings. One of the most exceptional aspects of his breeding program was that it was developed in the early years using only six cultivars of the Edo type. Payne took line breeding to a new level of intensity. The American Iris Society awarded Arlie Payne its coveted Hybridizers Medal in 1964. When he died at the age of 90, in 1971, he was universally revered as the world's premier breeder of Japanese irises.

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

Japanese iris 'Columbia Crest'
photo by Chad Haris

'Columbia Crest' ( Chad Harris, R. 2014), Seedling 02JC13. JI (6 falls), 50" (127 cm), Late bloom. Style arms multiple, upright, flaring crests royal purple (RHS 90A); Falls royal purple blending to hyacinth blue (93B) around the bright gold-yellow (7A) signal. 'Night Angel' X 'Frosted Intrigue'. Introduced by Mt. Pleasant Iris farm in 2015.

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.