Iris in Indiana: E.B. and Mary Williamson

by Jean Richter

Edward Bruce Williamson was born in 1877 on Marion, Indiana. His father Lent A. Williamson and an uncle founded the Wells County Bank in Bluffton, Indiana in 1888, where his father was president until 1918. His mother was Dorothea Kellerman Williamson. Bruce, as he was known to family and friends, graduated from Ohio State University in 1897, and then worked as Assistant Curator of Insects (his academic specialty) at the Carnegie Museum. He also taught high school science, and published numerous scientific articles on dragonflies, upon which (in addition to damselflies) he was a world-class authority.

He married Anna Tribolet in 1902, and the following year began working in his father's bank, first as a cashier, and then succeeding his father as president in 1918. The Williamsons had three foster daughters, Dorothea, Jane, and Mary.

E.B. Williamson (as he was known professionally), started growing irises soon after he married and obtained his home and garden in Bluffton. He began corresponding with J.N. Gerard regarding hybridizing irises, who gave him the rather astonishing advice that so many people had been breeding tall bearded iris that their potential for improvement was probably exhausted! At Gerard's suggestion, Williamson began breeding aril irises, probably the most difficult type of iris to grow in Indiana. Despite the difficulty, he was able to produce successful crosses with Iris susiana and Iris korolkowii. After a number of years, Morrison abandoned his hybridizing program with arils and gave his entire collection to hybridizer B.Y. Morrison. Charles Gersdorff, for many years the American Iris Society registrar, was impressed with some of Williamson's korolkowii hybrids and introduced them. Unfortunately, none are known to be extant today.

Williamson had a very unorthodox hybridizing method, gathering pollen from multiple cultivars, mixing the pollen in small pillboxes, and then applying the pollen to the flowers of iris  he thought would be good parents. He was assisted in this by his daughters Mary and Jane, and he sometimes also hired local schoolchildren to assist if he had particularly large numbers of flowers to hybridize.

This method produced unique seedlings of bearded iris, but was not successful with beardless iris, as usually bees had pollinated the flowers before he could get to them. One instance in which he did not use mixed pollen in a cross was one between Louisiana iris species Iris fulva and what is now called Iris brevicaulis. The resulting variety 'Dorothea Williamson' (named after his mother) was one of the first Louisiana iris hybrids, and the first bred by an American. 'Dorothea Williamson' (or its close relations) now grows semi-wild in many areas of the U.S., including places where native Louisiana iris are not found (such as the eastern seaboard).

When E.B. Williamson began to sell iris in 1918, he established a nursery named Longfield Iris Farm (named after the name of his father's house in Bluffton). Two years later he entered into a partnership with hybridizer Paul Cook, who would later become one of the world's most distinguished hybridizers himself.

E.B. Williamson's fame as an iris hybridizer came not from aril or Louisiana iris, however, but from a tall bearded iris that radically changed course of iris development in the U.S. He made many crosses of the collected tall bearded iris 'Amas.' Of all these crosses only a few yielded pods, and only one contained a seed - the largest bearded iris seed he had ever seen. From this seed grew the plant he introduced as 'Lent A. Williamson' after his father in 1918. This iris was one of the first tetraploid iris (four sets of chromosones) produced in the U.S., and an important advancement (nearly all modern tall bearded iris are tetraploid). Many hybridizers used this iris to create their own tetraploid iris, leading to it being called the "great progenitor."

'Lent A. Williamson' (1918)

photo by Mary Hess

Williamson himself used 'Lent A. Williamson' to produce the important iris 'Dolly Madison,' which can be found in the background of a myriad of modern iris.

'Dolly Madison' (1927)

photo by Mary Hess

Below are some other excellent iris Williamson introduced during the 1920s.

'Cinnabar' (1928)

photo by Mary Hess

'Gay Hussar' (1925) originally listed as IB, now BB

photo by Mary Hess

'Rhea' (1928) pentaploid (5 sets of chromosones)!

photo by Mary Hess

While working at the bank and in his iris fields, Williamson continued to do research on dragonflies and damselflies. He named an astounding 14 new genera and 92 new dragonfly species. His contributions to entomology were recognized by having a new genus of dragonfly named Williamsonia in his honor. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1928, and his bank failed in early 1929 (just before the Great Crash). Since his university position required his presence in Michigan, his daughters Mary and Jane took over the operation of Longfield Iris Farm.

E.B. Williamson was elected to the AIS board of directors in 1926, and elected vice president in 1928, a position he held until his death in 1933 after a brief illness. Longfield Iris Farm continued to introduce iris after his death. One of the best of these later introductions is 'Amigo,' a handsome and vigorous iris.

'Amigo' (1933)

photo by Mary Hess

Mary Williamson was born in 1909, and died in Bluffton in 1987. In the course of managing Longfield Iris Farm after her father died, she named, registered, and introduced a fabulous white and purple iris that became a classic almost immediately: 'Wabash.' When it won the Dykes Medal in 1940 it was already one of the most popular iris in the U.S. and Canada, and is still a very popular iris today.

'Wabash' (1936)

photo by Mary Hess

The matter of the true originator of 'Wabash' (E.B. or Mary Williamson) had been a matter of some controversy over the years. However, when she wrote a history of Longfield Iris Farm, Mary named herself as its hybridizer, and when the British Iris Society awarded the Dykes Medal for 'Wabash,' it also identified her as the originator. Subsequent research has fairly unequivocally proved that Mary Williamson was the originator of 'Wabash,' and one the first women hybridizers to win the Dykes Medal.

Another of Mary's important achievements was the popularization of miniature tall bearded iris, or "table irises" as they were known at the time. While her father referred to these smaller, more delicate iris as "runts," Mary saw their potential. E.B. allowed only a few of these iris to be introduced during his lifetime, and Mary continued working with them and introduced a number of others in the 1930s and 1940s. Alice White was another major advocate of these iris, and led a campaign within the AIS to have them recognized as a distinct class. The exacting standards for this new class, now called miniature tall bearded iris, were written by White using measurements provided by Mary Williamson. The Williamson-White Medal is awarded by the AIS annually to the best miniature tall bearded iris. While the award was named for E.B Williamson and Alice White, it is perhaps more appropriate to honor Mary Williamson who did so much to popularize these iris rather than her father.

The Williamsons both had a profound effect on the development of iris in the U.S., from E.B. Williamson's breakthroughs with Louisiana iris and tall bearded iris, to Mary's Dykes Medal winner and her popularization of miniature tall bearded iris.

I am greatly indebted to the material found in Clarence Mahan's wonderful book Classic Irises and the Men and Women Who Created Them, as well as to Mary Hess for the use of her beautiful photographs.

On the Road Again: The Miller Garden, Canby

By Bryce Williamson

Those of you who read The World of Irises on a regular basis know that I am a firm believer in garden visits. Yes, I know we have gotten older and in my case slower, but visiting gardens is so important in a time of high prices for newer irises. By visiting gardens, I find the irises that I like and irises that are growing well as garden plants.

The season’s On the Road Again posts will be about Oregon and Washington and I am going to cheat, combining information in the post about the gardens and what I saw in the last two years.

Flying into Portland from San Jose (who would have thought at 6:30 AM flight would be full?) I picked up the car and headed first to Lynda and Roger Miller’s garden in Canby. I had written Lynda that I was coming up and she wisely told me not to take the freeway to the connection to I-5 and instead drop down on the Old Portland Highway and it was perfect—traffic flowed smoothly and I cut at least a half hour off my time.

Lynda and Roger have put down new roots in Oregon after their move from the Midwest. And the garden is a joy not just for the irises, but all the other plant materials integrated into landscape. They also sell a wide variety of perennials and conifers. 

Lynda Miller

Lynda has seedlings in all classes of bearded irises ranging from dwarfs to tall bearded. Lynda is well known as a successful hybridizer of both diploid and tetraploid miniature tall bearded irises. Her ‘Moose Tracks’ is gathering lots of votes from AIS judges.

'Bingo Marker'

Miller 13918

Miller 4118-B

Lynda also has some fine tall bearded irises. Her 'Football Hero' was the top Award of Merit winner on this years AIS awards list. 

'Football Hero'

Among her irises, I liked the following.

'Amazon Queen' has a huge flower and it is not a flashy color, but I am planning to add it to the collection next year because I believe it is one of those varieties that will grow on me as I see it from day to day.

'Amazon Queen'

A personal favorite of mine is her 'Ninja Warrior'. When I heard the color combination of rose-pink standards and black falls, I thought, "This cannot work." But it does.

I like and hybridize pink plicatas, so I really like her 'Blushing Grapes' with its pink ground; many of the other Region 13 hybridizers are working on orange grounds, but I think pink compliments the plicata edging. This is another iris on the want list for 2020.

Lynda is also working with space age irises. She is keenly aware of the potential faults of this popular class of irises and working to create flowers that do not have those faults.

'Love in the Air'

Miller 1716B

Miller 4817C

Miller 5918

'Cookie Crisp'

As one might expect in Region 13, Lynda grows many new things from hybridizers. Here are a few things that have impressed me the last few years.

'Dancing Days' (Keppel)

Strangely, we do not have a lot of good reds these days, but Terry Aitken's 'Red Triumph' was looking good in the Miller garden.

'Red Triumph'

'Colors of the Wind' (Blyth)

Lauer 62-2

After my whirlwind visit to the garden, I headed south to the Keppel garden in Salem and that will be the subject of the next On the Road Again post. Stay tuned.

Our debt to Iris aphylla

Tom Waters

I. aphylla

The European bearded iris species Iris aphylla has contributed to the development of modern bearded irises in a number of different ways. It still remains of considerable interest to hybridizers, particularly those working with the median classes.

The species is native to much of eastern Europe, with a range extending farther north than other bearded species. This makes it thoroughly winter hardy. It goes completely dormant in winter, losing all its leaves right to the ground. (The Latin word aphylla means "leafless".) The flowers are violet, although some recessive white and other off-color forms exist. The flowers themselves are not particularly glamorous, being often narrow and of poor substance. One of its most distinctive characteristics is prolific basal branching, with long branches starting low on the stalk, not infrequently at the point the stalk emerges from the rhizome. It varies in height, with forms as small as 30 cm and as tall as 60 cm or more. Both wild-collected forms and garden cultivars of the species have been registered and circulated.

I. aphylla 'Slick' (Lynn Markham, 2003)

Happily, I. aphylla has a similar chromosome complement to that of our modern tetraploid tall bearded (TB) and border bearded (BB) irises. This means it can be crossed with them to produce fertile seedlings that can be continuously worked with and improved for as many generations as one likes.

Early breeders showed little interest in medians, and simply worked I. aphylla into TB lines. It was found to contribute two interesting traits: an intensification of violet flower color, and blue or violet beards! Many early approaches to black in TB irises, such as 'Sable' (Cook, 1938) and probably 'Black Forest' (Schreiner, 1948), derive from I. aphylla. It is also behind many whitish or light blue TBs with blue or violet beards. In these irises, the dominant white found in TBs interacts with the intensification of violet pigment from I. aphylla.

When enthusiasm for median irises blossomed in the 1950s, with the formation of the Median Iris Society and the establishment of the four classes of median irises, creative breeders began to consider the potential of I. aphylla to add variety to these classes.

'Tic Tac Toe' (Johnson, 2010)
tetraploid MTB descended from I. aphylla

The most ambitious of such undertakings was Ben Hager's project to create tetraploid miniature tall bearded (MTB) irises. This class had been created with diploids in mind. Most TB irises from the 1800s and early 1900s were diploid, with a daintiness that was lost when tetraploids came to dominate. Early MTB breeders had taken these daintier TBs and bred them for even smaller size and greater delicacy. The MTBs were promoted as subjects for flower arranging. Tetraploid TBs, however, showed more different colors (such as tangerine pink), wider form, and better substance. Could these traits from the modern TBs be transferred to irises dainty enough to qualify for the strict requirements of the MTB class? Hager set about proving that they could. He crossed I. aphylla with small TBs and BBs, and then kept breeding toward the MTB requirements. After many generations of work, he established a line of tetraploid MTBs. Although these did not look exactly like the diploid MTBs (I. aphylla yields straight, upright stalks with vertical branching, whereas diploid MTBs often have a more zig-zag branching style), they had an appeal all their own. The first pink MTBs were Hager's tetraploids from I. aphylla.

'Saucy' (Craig, 1998)
tetraploid IB descended from I. aphylla

Hager's work was carried on by Jim and Vicki Craig, who combined Hager's irises with their own crosses involving different forms of I. aphylla. They introduced not only tetraploid MTBs, but BBs and IBs from the same breeding lines. This enhanced the variety of all three classes. They even produced a couple that were small enough to qualify as standard dwarf bearded (SDB)!

Others have worked with I. aphylla over the years, and continue to do so. Some hybrids that a relatively close to the species itself have been registered in the SPEC-X category. Paul Black's "small-flowered TBs" owe a debt to I. aphylla.

This species has contributed a great deal to the variety we find in both TBs and medians today. Do you grow any irises with I. aphylla ancestry? I'd wager you do!

'Night Mood' (Lynn Markham, 2003)
SPEC-X from 'Blackbeard' X I. aphylla 'Dark Violet'

Honey, I Shrunk the Irises!

by Tom Waters

MTB irises 'Redrock Princess' and 'Dividing Line'

Miniature Tall Bearded?

An oxymoron is a phrase whose parts seem to contradict each other, like jumbo shrimp. In the iris world, we have the rather perplexing term miniature tall bearded. How can an iris be both tall and miniature? Of course the word "miniature" here must be taken in a relative sense: these are irises much smaller than the standard tall bearded irises which they otherwise resemble.

Bearded irises are categorized into six classes, based mostly on height. Strangely, however, there are three classes that all occupy the height range between standard dwarfs and tall beardeds: intermediate bearded (IB), border bearded (BB) and miniature tall bearded (MTB). When I first became interested in irises in southern New Mexico in the 1970s, I found this rather confusing, moreso because at the time I had not grown any of these various types of medians. I asked a local club member about MTBs, and she said "I don't think anyone here grows those."

Happily, this group of irises has grown steadily in popularity since then. They are now widely grown, and one 'Dividing Line' (Bunnell, 2005), has even won the Dykes Medal. But what are they exactly?

The Story of MTBs

The answer takes us back to the 1920s and 1930s, when the popular tall bearded irises were changing rapidly through the work of the hybridizers of the day. In particular, more and more tetraploids were being introduced and supplanting the older diploids in popularity. A tetraploid is a plant with four sets of chromosomes, whereas diploids have only two. Tetraploids are often larger and huskier than their diploid counterparts. This was certainly the case with the TB irises, and the iris world was all enthused over the new large blooms and tall stalks.

'Hot News'

But there were a few people here and there who were less enthusiastic about the new "bigger is better" trend. Ethel Peckham, Thura Hires, and Mary Williamson were amongst the first to go against the trend and seek out the smallest TBs, rather than the largest. Mary Williamson's father, E. B. Williamson, was a noted iris breeder at the time, and the three ladies kept a close eye on his seedling beds looking for the daintiest, tiniest irises, which the hybridizer himself referred to as "runts". Pekham dubbed them "table irises" to call attention to their suitability for flower arrangements. These original selections were all diploids.

Interest in the table irises declined as time passed, however, probably because they were not recognized as an official category, so had no awards or other encouragement. They might have been altogether forgotten were it not for the work of Alice White in the 1950s, who tirelessly promoted the table irises. The timing was right, as this was an era when there was a surge of interest in dwarf and median irises. New types were being developed, and it became apparent that a new system of categories was needed to accommodate the many different sorts of irises smaller than the TBs. So in 1957, the miniature tall bearded class was created. This name was chosen over "table irises" to emphasize that they can be appreciated as garden plants in their own right, not just for flower arrangements.

The requirements of the MTB class are stricter and more exacting than any other. Not only must they fall in the proper height range (41 to 70 cm, although the center portion of that range is preferred), but they must also meet limits for flower size and even stem diameter. In many ways, the standards of the class are a reaction against the prevailing trends in TB breeding. Instead of taller and taller stalks with larger and larger blooms, MTBs must be truly miniature and dainty in all respects.

Meet the Diploids...

Iris variegata

As noted above, the original MTBs were all diploids. That is no longer the case, but diploids remain the most prominent type. Although a variety of different bearded species are in the background of the diploid MTBs, the dominant influence is from Iris variegata, a dainty median-sized species from eastern Europe, usually yellow with red or brown veins covering the falls. Its wiry stems curve gracefully, resulting in a slightly zig-zag branching pattern. The blooms have a nice flaring form.

There are many modern diploid MTBs in which the variegata coloring and form are much in evidence, but the range of color and pattern goes beyond that into white, blue, violet, plicata, orchid, and blends. Some recent favorites of mine include 'Redrock Princess' (Witt, 2006), 'Peebee and Jay' (Schmieder, 2006), and 'Hot News' (S. Markham, 2009). 

diploid MTB 'Rayos Adentro' (Morgan, 2007)

...and the Tetraploids

Iris aphylla

Although the tetraploid TBs are larger than the diploid TBs, there are tetraploid bearded species in all different sizes. Early on, some creative hybridizers such as Ben Hager realized that it might be possible to breed tetraploids that would meet the strict size requirements of the MTB class. Hager used Iris aphylla, a copiously branched small bearded species to create tetraploid MTBs, introducing many in the 1970s and later.

Why undertake such a project? One reason is that there are colors and patterns in the tetraploid bearded irises that simply do not exist in the diploids. Tangerine pink is the best-known example. If you want a true pink (or orange, or red-bearded white) MTB, it will have to be tetraploid.

Iris aphylla has lots of branches and lots of buds, which is a good thing, but it brings some problems, too. The stems tend

'Tic Tac Toe'

to be stiff, with branches from the base of the stalk that stay parallel to the main stem. This can lead to a crowded, coarse appearance far from the MTB ideal of grace typified by diploids from Iris variegata. Still, with diligence and patience, the difficulties were gradually overcome, and today we have quite dainty and graceful tetraploid MTBs to complement their diploid counterparts.

Some favorites of mine include 'Say Red' (Craig, 2008), which has three buds in each of its many sockets, and seems to just keep on blooming forever, 'Tic Tac Toe' (Johnson, 2010), a lovely pink and pastel violet bicolor, and my new favorite 'Silver Ice' (Black, 2013) an almost-white plicata with beautifully formed ruffled blooms.

'Say Red'

Although some were initially skeptical regarding tetraploid MTBs, there is no doubt now that they are here to stay, giving us even more choices and possibilities within this class of delicacy, daintiness, and refinement.

Have you tried MTBs in your own garden? Do you prefer diploids or tetraploids, or do you enjoy some of each?

The Untapped Potential of Iris reichenbachii

by Tom Waters

Today's post is all about an underappreciated bearded iris species, Iris reichenbachii. The name, it seems, is bigger than the iris itself. I. reichenbachii is a dwarf, ranging in height from 10 to 30 cm (4 to 12 inches), with one or sometimes two buds at the top of the stalk. (Very rarely, a third bud may appear further down the stalk.) The flowers are yellow (often with brownish markings or blending), smoky violet, or occasionally clear deep violet.

Iris reichenbachii

The species is native to the Balkan peninsula, from Rumania and Bulgaria through Serbia and into Greece. A related species, I. suaveolens, is similar but smaller. Two other species names, I. balkana and I. bosniaca, are now regarded as synonyms of I. reichenbachii.

As a garden subject, I. reichenbachii is pleasant enough, if somewhat unremarkable. It has found a home with rock gardeners and plant collectors. For those who fancy modern hybrid dwarf and median irises, this little species can seem drab by comparison. The petals are rather narrow, substance is lacking, and the colors can seem a bit murky.

To the hybridizer, however, I. reichenbachii has something unique to offer. Its chromosomes are very similar to those of tall bearded irises, and it is quite compatible with them. Furthermore, I. reichenbachii exists in both diploid (two sets of chromosomes) and tetraploid (four sets) forms. Since modern TBs and BBs are tetraploid, they can cross with tetraploid I. reichenbachii and produce fertile offspring. (For an explanation of diploids and tetraploids, see my earlier blog post Tetraploid Arils, Anyone?)

'Progenitor' (Cook, 1951)
 from I. reichenbachii X TB 'Shining Waters'

In the 1940s, the talented hybridizer Paul Cook did precisely that. A seedling from the cross, aptly named 'Progenitor', was registered in 1951. It was an unimpressive iris of intermediate size, but Cook could see its potential. 'Progenitor' was a bicolor, with violet falls and pure white standards. At the time, this was a new color pattern. (Earlier bicolors were actually variations on a "spot pattern" from I. variegata, and seldom showed the completely solid falls and pristine standards of 'Progenitor'. It is interesting to note that I. reichenbachii itself is not a bicolor. The bicolor pattern resulted from combining its genes with those of the TB parent. By crossing 'Progenitor' back to high-quality TBs, Cook was eventually able to transfer the bicolor pattern onto irises that otherwise showed no resemblance to the modest little dwarf that had given rise to the new pattern. 'Whole Cloth' (Cook, 1958), four generations on from 'Progenitor', won the Dykes Medal in 1962.

Virtually all TB and BB bicolors today (standards white, yellow, or pink; falls blue, violet, purple, reddish, or brown) are descendants of 'Progenitor', and hence of I. reichenbachii.

But there is still more to be done with this interesting little species. When Cook was making his crosses, there was very little interest in dwarf or median irises. In fact, medians as we know them today hardly existed at that time. So Cook simply worked to transfer the new color pattern into TBs. Today, however, there is considerable interest in breeding medians, especially BBs and MTBs that are consistently small and dainty. Surely the little dwarf I. reichenbachii has something to offer in these endeavors. The tetraploid forms are compatible with BBs and tetraploid MTBs, while the diploid I. reichenbachii could be crossed with diploid MTBs. Since these sorts of crosses should produce fertile seedlings, a hybridizer could continue the breeding line to achieve any desired goal.

Iris reichenbachii

I. reichenbachii is a little difficult to find in commerce, but not impossible. Some specialty nurseries list it, and if one is willing to grow from seed, it shows up rather often in seed exchanges that include iris species.

If you see this odd little species available somewhere, why not give it a try? Perhaps even make a cross or two to see what happens...