The American Iris Society Announces the 2022 Williamson-White Medal Winner

'BREAKFAST IN BED'

The Williamson-White Medal is restricted to miniature tall bearded (MTB) irises. It is named in honor of E. B. Williamson (1877-1933), his daughter Mary Williamson (1909-1987) and Alice White (1886-1969). Although others had introduced irises that fit into the miniature tall bearded iris class before Williamson, he and his daughter were the first to breed them as cultivars in a distinctive class of irises. They were apparently byproducts of breeding for tall bearded irises. In the early 1950s, Alice White of Hemet, California began a crusade to gain recognition for the assets of these wonderful smaller irises. She organized table iris robins and wrote many articles for the AIS Bulletin and gardening magazines promoting their virtues.

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

'BREAKFAST IN BED'
photo by Mike Unser

'Breakfast in Bed' (Charles Bunnell, R. 2013) Seedling #K65B-10. MTB, 22-25 (56-63 cm). Late midseason bloom. Standards yellow (RHS 2B) blended with red-purple (71B), veined red-purple; style arms yellow; falls cream, red-purple blend towards middle end of falls, rims are bright yellow, heavily veined red-purple; beard hairs based yellow-orange, yellow tips. 'Yellow Flirt' X seedling #E24-2: ( 'Consummation' x 'Rosemary's Dream'). Introduced by Aitken's Salmon Creek Garden in 2014.

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.