The top 15 Iris at ‘Smokin Heights’ season 2019/20 in Australia!

By Mel Schiller and Bailey Schiller

We are smack bang in the middle of digging customer orders right now before Christmas. Here is our top 15 Iris for this current season.

15. 'Mallee Sunrise' (Stribley '07) BB: An excellent garden Iris that grows well and blooms reliably. It puts on a wonderful show and calls viewers over from across the field.

14. 'Ruby Slippers' (Keppel '02) IB: On the older side now but it is an absolute showstopper!

13. 'Dedicated' (Black '11) SDB: Very unusual almost green colouring makes you do a double take. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, it has that wow factor!

12. 'Coralina' (Johnson '14)TB: Super bubble ruffled in peach tones makes this variety standout!

11. 'Line Drive' (M Sutton '07) IB: Nothing else like it! What more can we say?

10. 'Lancer' (Shockey '95) AB: An older Arilbred but it keeps up with the newer varieties. Its dark signal against the pastel lavender tone makes it very appealing.

9. 'Brilliant Disguise' (Johnson '08) TB: Flowers are born in abundance on this variegata. You won’t miss this Iris as you walk past!

8. 'Terse Verse' (Blyth '00) SDB: Very easy growing dwarf that covers itself in bloom season after season. Very strange colouring that is hard to describe.

7. 'Merchant Marine' (Keppel '07) TB: An all-time favourite in this colour class. Everything about it is perfection, we expect nothing less of Keith Keppel!

6. 'Voulez-vous' (Johnson '15) TB: A fabulous flat Iris that is among the best in this class. We use it a lot in hybridizing!

5. 'Splatter Matter's' (Painter '10) TB: We thought this would be popular, it proved us right!

4. 'Molokini' (M Sutton '16) TB: One of those “love it or hate it” Iris. For lovers of the unusual this is the Iris for you!

3. 'Waves On The Coast' (B. Schiller '19) TB: The illusion of a blue and green iris from the distance….interesting!

2. 'Kissed By Fire' (M. Schiller '19) TB: Garden visitors revelled in the magnet of colour this iris provided.

1. 'Edge Of Happiness' (Barry Blyth '19) TB: Barry Blyth has created this beautiful iris. Our most favourite from the season just gone by. WOW!

We find that iris seasons differ from year to year. Customers decide on the colour scheme iris for each year. Last year 'orange' appeared to be popular. This season, well it has yet to be decided! 

Well, we will leave you to it we have digging to do!

Happy Gardening!

Dykes Medal 2019

 The American Iris Society

Announces the

2019 Dykes Medal Winner

‘Bottle Rocket’

Mike Sutton 2009

First awarded in 1927, the Dykes Medal is the highest award of the AIS, awarded to no more than one iris per year. Irises are eligible as a Dykes Medal candidate for three years following the winning of a classification medal. Only AIS registered judges may vote.

'Bottle Rocket' -- image by Colleen Modra

The American Iris Society is pleased to announce the 2019 winner is Mike Sutton’s ‘Bottle Rocket'. While the iris was created in California, under the AIS rules this will become the first Dykes Medal winner for Idaho.

The Dykes Medal is named for William Rickatson Dykes, an English botanist, horticulturist, schoolmaster, plant breeder, author, and the foremost authority on irises at the turn of the Twenty Century. He became the world's leading authority on iris. His insatiable curiosity led him to obtain a wide knowledge of many other plants, but his chief interest was in the lily, iris, and amaryllis natural orders. He also did much work with tulips, and his knowledge of them was comparable to his knowledge of iris. W.R. Dykes was also a prolific author. In 1909 he began to plan and work on his monograph, The Genus Iris. He worked on this project for 5 years.

On December 1, 1925, W.R. Dykes died as a result of a motor accident. His work had only begun, for he was on the threshold of greater achievements as demonstrated by his glorious yellow seedling which was named for him. His death was a shock and a Ioss to the entire world of gardeners. At a meeting of the British Iris Society held on June 16, 1926 it was resolved to award a medal to the hybridizer of the outstanding iris variety of each year in memory of Mr. Dykes and thus the Dykes Medal was created. It has become the most highly coveted, highly prized iris award dreamed of by all iris hybridizers. This is the highest iris award available and its name, the Dykes Medal, keeps his name alive and warm in all our hearts.

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.

Wister Medal Winner 2018

 The American Iris Society Announces
The 2018 Wister Medal Winners

Notta Lemon
Bottle Rocket
Strawberry Shake

This medal is restricted to tall bearded (TB) irises. It is named in honor of John C. Wister. Three medals are awarded each year.

John C. Wister led the organizing meeting that created the American Iris Society and became its first president, a position he held for fourteen years. He guided the society through its formative years.

This year's three Wister Medals are:

'Notta Lemon'--image Howard Dash

'Notta Lemon' (Tom Burseen, R. 2009). Early to late bloom. Standards and style arms lemon yellow-gold; falls white, lemon yellow-gold edges, yellow texture veins; beards gold, large; very ruffled; pronounced spicy fragrance. 'That's All Folks' X seedling 02-169: (seedling 98-521, 'Jaw Dropper' pollen parent, x seedling A166, 'Vegas Bound' pollen parent). Burseen 2010. Honorable Mention 2012, President's Cup 2013, Award of Merit 2014.

'Bottle Rocket'--Image by Mike Sutton

'Bottle Rocket' (Michael Sutton, R. 2009). Seedling# U-524-A. TB, 35" (89 cm). Early midseason bloom and rebloom. Standards orange buff flushed pink at midribs; style arms buff orange; falls ruby red veined orange, lighter veining around carrot beards, greyed-orange 1/4" rim; slight musky fragrance. Seedling# S-702-A: ('Connie Sue' x 'Let's Boogie') X seedling# R-687-A: ('Return Address' x 'Tropical Delight'). Sutton 2010. Honorable Mention 2012, Award of Merit 2014.

'Strawberry Shake'--image by Robin Shadlow

'Strawberry Shake' (Keith Keppel, R. 2011). Seedling# 05-92B. TB, 36" (91 cm). Midseason bloom. Standards hydrangea pink (M&P 2-E-7); style arms peach (9-A-5); falls peach to orient pink (9-A-6), center creamier pink (9-AB-4); beards shrimp (1-E-10). 'In Love Again' X seedling# 99-115C: ('Crystal Gazer' x seedling# 96-35C, 'Adoregon' sibling).

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day the other medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. 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.

Median Iris: Standard Dwarf Bearded

By Hooker Nichols

One of the most delightful classes of bearded iris one can grow is that particular group of iris known as the standard dwarf bearded.  These wonderful smaller iris range 8 to 16 inches in height.   They bloom after the peak season of miniature dwarf bearded iris and before the peak season of the intermediate bearded iris.

Hooker Nichol's 'Amazon Princess'--image by Igor Khorosh

Most generally as a group, these delightful iris are rapid increasers and the clumps give the appearance of mounds of flowers.  They possess the color range found in the other bearded classes.  Bloom is determined by the amount of cold weather experienced during the winter season.  Here in Texas, we experienced 334 frost free growing days in 2017 and spring bloom was very limited.  On the flip side of the coin, abundant rainfall during the spring and early summer resulted in very good rebloom from those possessing reblooming traits.

'Bright Blue Eyes' (M. Sutton)--image by Mike Sutton

This group of iris are easy to hybridize and generally the seeds germinate very well.  One can get nearly 100 percent bloom the spring following the germination.  They make excellent border plants, but generally must be transplanted every three years.

'Open Your Eyes' (Paul Black)--image from Mid America Iris Gardens

Standard dwarf bearded irises do well in most regions of the country and are well liked overseas.  I encourage you to plant a few to begin and extend your bloom season.

'Eye of the Tiger' (Paul Black)--image by Chuck Chapman

Editor's Note: The top award in this class is the Cook Douglas Medal. All images in this blog have won that award.

'Ultimate' (Thomas Johnson)--image by Brock Heilman