2019 Sydney B. Mitchell Medal

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Sydney B. Mitchell Medal 2019

‘Da Vinci Code’

'Da Vinci Code'--image by Leonine Iris

'Da Vinci Code' (Joseph Ghio, R. 2010) Seedling #IP-159E3. CA, 12" (30 cm). Late midseason bloom. Standards white veined blue on inside; falls white, blue across haft, dark blue veining to solid blue edge, blue signal. 'Like Clockwork' X seedling #FP-265U, 'Foggy Days' sibling. Bay View 2010.

This medal is restricted to Pacific Coast Native (PCN) irises. It is named in honor of Sydney B. Mitchell (1878-1951). Prof. Sydney Mitchell was an educator. He became Acting Librarian at the University of California during WW I, and later founded and became first director of the Graduate School of Librarianship at that university. He was also one of the organizers of the American Iris Society. Tom Craig wrote this of him: "Sydney looked upon plant breeding as a long term international effort in which individuals from all over the world should co-operate and add generation after generation to a real human achievement. He made me feel a real part of this and more particularly a part of a special work started by William Mohr and carried on by himself. Sydney generously gave flowers and plants of seedling for further encouragement with this work."

Mitchell was also interested in the native irises of the West Coast, and promoted them at every opportunity. He took great pride in the plantings of PCNs in his own garden. He had a large collection of various forms of I. innominata and I. douglasiana.

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.

Wild Iris tenax on Seacliffs in Northwest Oregon

By Kathleen Sayce

Iris tenax grows on mountains in northwest Oregon, including Saddle Mountain, Clatsop County, Oregon. This species is usually found on south facing slopes along the main trail and in meadows with wild cucumber, native grasses, paintbrush, and other wildflowers. It also  grows on seacliffs in several locations in Clatsop County. These locations are in state parks, Ecola and Oswald West, and are as far north as I. tenax grows on the coast. 

This plant has narrow falls that are mostly lavender towards the tip with a large yellow signal and smallish white patch. 

North of Clatsop County, this species grows in the Coast Range and Willapa Hills, in the Chehalis lowlands south of Olympia and east of Montesano, WA, and in the Cascade Range. But it does not grow along the coast north of the Columbia River. 

Seacliffs are one of the harshest environments plants can endure. They must tolerate high winds, salt water, salty air, winter wet conditions, high summer temperatures, prolonged drought, and erosion. The ability of any plant to withstand this combination of chemistry, wind, moisture levels and temperatures is amazing. 

This plant had the widest falls and standards, and a deeper pink-lavender color. Both falls and standards were wider than on other plants. 

Visiting these hardy plants is one of my annual pilgrimages. Like the departing Brant geese and returning swallows, seeking out wild Iris tenax when in flower is an activity that says “Spring.” 

A few years ago, I found a population of about five plants on the seacliffs above Manzanita, Oregon. These tenacious cliff-dwellers had larger flowers, and leaves that were easily twice the size of all the other I. tenax plants in this area. Seeds and a small fragment came to my own garden, where they thrive, and from which I collect seeds regularly for the SPCNI seed exchange. 

This Iris tenax plant had moderately narrow falls, and larger lighter colored areas. Standards were lavender; style arms were much paler, almost white. 

But remember erosion? As of my last visit in 2018, the block of eroding rock and meadow that this population lives on had slumped so much it is no longer safe to even climb down to get closeup photos of the flowers. It will be gone soon, reclaimed by the Pacific Ocean.

This large clump had a tiny yellow signal with a larger white patch around it, and moderately wide falls. Flowers are darker as they open, so I was careful to compare colors among flowers at the same stage 

This week I went back to see the plants in Ecola State Park. Two trails that passed by several populations of Iris tenax are closed due to landslides on the seacliffs. One trail is left that takes in a few plants, and these were flowering. They were still flowering two weeks later when I led a native plants group out to see them. The trail winds up a south-facing, exposed and eroding cliff face, so while these plants will be here for a few more years, in geologic time their fate is already clear:  they too will enter the Pacific Ocean very soon. 

The view along the trail to the northwest, with "Terrible Tilly", former Tillamook Head lighthouse, in the middle left. Note eroding cliffs along the headland.

Diversity in flower shape and color is generally based on where plants grow relative to their larger population. Outlier populations (on the edges) tend to be less diverse, and plants within a main population tend to be more diverse. All the photos in this article were taken at this one site near Indian Beach, and you can see the diversity of shape in petals, and in range of flower colors. From this residual diversity, we may conclude that many iris plants that formerly lived along this shoreline have already fallen into the ocean. 

But, Iris tenax still lives along the seacliffs today, and is flowering. Life is good. 

The World of Irises is the official blog of The American Iris Society. Now in its 99^th year, The American Iris Society exists to promote all types of irises. If you wish to comment on a post, you can do so at the end of the page and the author or the editors will reply. If you wish to learn more about The American Iris Society, follow the link.

Gifting SPCNI (or any organization)—with Longevity

Kathleen Sayce

Longevity for plant-interest societies like Society for Pacific Coast Native Irises and other sections of AIS comes from the dedication of individual members. Every person who takes on an aspect of management or activities carries that part of the organization forward. We are looking for new ideas, new approaches, and of course, interested members, to help carry SPCNI and other iris societies that are part of AIS forward into the 21st century. SPCNI will be 50 years old in 2022, and we’d very much like to see it thriving. 

Eager photographers at Rancho Santa Ana, 2012, looking at I. munzii x  plants, first studied by Dr. Lee Lenz, mid 20th century. 

In each paragraph below I comment on some aspect of running an organization that is foundering. I would like to hear from readers about each aspect, and I know other sections of AIS feel the same. Share your ideas!

Interest in Irises: A tall bearded iris is the first flowering plant I saw up close and remembered. It was purple, with thick fleshy rhizomes that crept around in ophidian fashion, and as tall as I was. To a three-year-old, it was simply stunning. Decades later, with a garden of my own, I joined SPCNI, having become an ecologist, then developed a passion for native plants. This took a garden (it was my family’s yard), an old iris (my mom soon ripped it out, to my dismay), and of course, flowering plants. How do we promote species - species interactions between people and irises?

The Pacifica Iris that led me to SPCNI:  Iris innominata; these photos are from wild sites in southern Oregon, where it is native. 

Members:  Membership is around 200 people. New members bring wonderful energy to organizations. There is a resurgence of interest in gardening and food quality, so an interest in flowers, and especially irises, may come along soon. How should we encourage new memberships?

Ditches full of Iris tenax x Iris innominata hybrids somewhere in southern Oregon on a field trip in 2010.

Participation: The board has been in place for more than ten years with only one change, a new seed chair a few years ago. All our board members are ready for a change, and this means others are needed to fill their positions.  How do we interest members in taking these positions? 

Print Issues of Publications:  There is interest in Pacific Iris; I get the emails when issues are late or missed. We did a full color print issue as a special treat last fall, but no one commented on it afterwards. I’m still wondering if anyone noticed! An AIS member told me that all our issues should be full color, but I wonder how many get the issues just to look at the pictures? 

Debby Cole at Ontario 2012 AIS Convention; iris convenings are great ways to meet people from all over the continent. But PCIs only grow well on the West Coast. 

Editors and Content:  SIGNA, Species Iris Group of North America, meanwhile is looking for content for their publication, and an editor; AIS is looking for articles. Our own editor is in the same boat. 

How do we encourage members to write and share images for publication?

Seed Donations:  There is interest in getting seeds, especially of new hybrids and stalwart old selections, but donors have dwindled to fewer than ten, and seed orders have dropped over the past few years to fewer than twenty-five, in part due to a drop in seed donations. It takes time and focus to produce selfed crosses or find wild plants, collect the pods, dry the seeds, and send them to the seed chair. The first time I cleaned seeds, I felt like I was connecting to long lost ancestors, carrying forward a skill that has served our people well for thousands of years; it was amazing.
Would videos help promote interest in this ageless skill? 

How about promoting gardening, so that vital skills like crossing plants, growing new hybrids, selecting high quality plants, and planning future crosses are not lost? 
Would more videos help? How do we encourage seed saving? 

Joseph Ghio, prolific hybridizer, active in several sections of the genus Iris; here with Debby Cole looking over his seed bed, 2012.

Sharing Information via Field Trips:  There is also interest in field trips, though the last time we offered to organize a trip, no one came forward to say “I will attend.”  In the past, these were several days of driving in the hills to see wild species. We are considering short, one-day trips to see a wild site, or a few gardens. 

Does this sound more attractive than longer trips? 

Superstition Iris Gardens, after the Ontario Convention, 2012

Display Gardens and Meetings:  We all love seeing well grown display gardens of our favorite iris groups, especially new hybrids. These take years to develop and major donations of time and plant materials as well as growing space. They go hand in hand with AIS conventions. SPCNI can’t fully participate because Pacifica iris don’t grow, or grow well, away from the West Coast.

Should we instead try virtual display gardens and meetings via video? 

Or try this:  Send the virtual garden manager five shots of your newest hybrid, he’ll merge them in a collection to stream? 

How about video tours of amazing private gardens or botanic gardens?

Please think about these topics, think about what you would like to see or do, and do post your ideas. We have some wonderful iris societies to energize!

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