The American Iris Society Announces the 2022 Payne Medal Winner

'FLAMINGO WALTZ'

The Payne Medal is restricted to Japanese irises (JI). It is named in honor of W. Arlie Payne (1881-1971). W. Arlie Payne was at first especially interested in peonies, but in the late 1920s, he "discovered" Japanese irises. He started hybridizing Japanese irises in 1932. Over the next three and a half decades, he raised many thousands of seedlings. One of the most exceptional aspects of his breeding program was that it was developed in the early years using only six cultivars of the Edo type. Payne took line breeding to a new level of intensity. The American Iris Society awarded Arlie Payne its coveted Hybridizers Medal in 1964. When he died at the age of 90, in 1971, he was universally revered as the world's premier breeder of Japanese irises.

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

'Flamingo Waltz'
Photo by Chad Harris

'Flamingo Waltz' (Chad Harris, R. 2013) Seedling 00JF1. JI (6 F.), 36 (91 cm), Early bloom. Style arms light pink (RHS 75D), crest darker pink (75B); Falls pink, signal soft lemon-yellow (7B) turning to green in throat. 'Saigyozakura' X 'Hime Kagami'. Introduced by Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm 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.