The American Iris Society
Announces
The Eric Nies Medal 2018
‘Lemon Chiffon Pie’
'Lemon Chiffon Pie' (Anna and David Cadd, R. 2006). Creamy
yellow self; large gold signal blending to cream; ruffled. 'Media Luz' X
'Candle Lace'. Cadd's Beehive 2006. Honorable Mention 2010; Award of Merit 2014.
This medal is restricted to spuria irises. It is named in
honor of Eric Nies (1884-1952). Eric Nies was born in Saugatuck, Michigan, but
soon after Nies moved to California, he became interested in irises of all
types. He obtained his first spuria irises from Jennett Dean, who operated one
of the first iris specialist nurseries in the U.S. Spurias were his special
interest. His first cross was with I. orientalis with 'Monspur’ He interbred
seedlings from this cross, and in the second generation there was a virtual
explosion of color: blue, lavender, brown, bronze and cream. During his
lifetime, Nies was recognized as the foremost breeder of spuria irises in the world.
Marion Walker took over his seedlings and breeding lines after he died in 1952.
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
http://irises.org/About_Irises/Awards_Surveys/AIS_Awards.html, the AIS
Encyclopedia and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES. Pictures can be found at
http://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards2018.
