Founders of SIGNA Medal 2018

The American Iris Society

Announces

THE FOUNDERS OF SIGNA MEDAL

WILDWOOD WILLIE

This medal is restricted to species irises (SPEC) and is named to honor the founding members of the Species Iris Group of North American (SIGNA).

'Wildwood Willie'--image by Will Plotner

'Wildwood Willie' ( Michael Iler by Will Plotner, R. 2007) A seeding of I. milesii. Standards white veined and striped lavender; style arms dark lavender in center, white edges, dark lavender split tips, few white and lavender hairs on crest; falls white veined dark lavender and purple, red purple at end with thin white edge. Wildwood Gardens 2007. Honorable Mention 2011, Award of Merit 2014.

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 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.

Mohr Medal 2018

The American Iris Society

Announces

THE WILLIAM A. MOHR MEDAL

‘SRI LANKA’

'Sri Lanka'--image by Jeanette Graham

‘SRI LANKA’ (T.Johnson ‘10). Sri Lanka has many excellent traits including strong growth and clumps loaded with stalks having 2 branches and up to 6 buds. White standards have prominent, strong gold midribs and edges that curl back slightly to reveal yellow styles. Slightly recurved light greenish yellow falls have diffuse mid gold spots encircling soft yellow to tangerine beards.

This medal is restricted to irises of one-quarter or more aril content that do not meet the more restrictive requirements of the Clarence G. White Medal.

It is named in honor of William A. Mohr (1871-1923). About ten years before his death, Mohr began working with irises. He obtained the tetraploid Asiatic species, as well as regelia and oncocyclus irises, and communicated with other iris hybridizers such as Ellen Sturtevant and Samuel Stillman Berry. The two greatest achievements of William Mohr's hybridizing programs are probably his plicatas and his innovative and beautiful arilbreds. His great plicatas are `Los Angeles' and the iris that won the first American Dykes Medal, `San Francisco.' Mohr's most important arilbred iris is the magnificent `William Mohr.'

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 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.

CG White Medal 2018

The American Iris Society

Announces

THE CLARENCE G. WHITE MEDAL

'BYZANTINE RUBY'

'Byzantine Ruby'--image by Lowell Baumuck

'Byzantine Ruby' (Lowell Baumunk, R. 2009). Standards and style arms lavender lightly veined darker; Falls. lavender, slightly more red than standards, 1½" bright maroon-red signal, darker near diffuse yellow beards. Honorable Mention 2012. Award of Merit 2015.

Since 1993, the Clarence G. White memorial medal has been awarded to the best arilbred iris with 1/2 or more aril ancestry. When Clarence G. White began his work with aril irises, little was known about the complexity of iris genetics. White assembled the largest collection of aril irises in the world, and conducted thousands of breeding experiments to obtain viable, fertile seedlings. One of his goals was to develop strong, pure Oncocylus hybrids.

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.

The 2018 Caparne-Welch Medal

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Caparne-Welch Medal 2018

‘KAYLA'S SONG’

'Kayla's Song'--image by Virginia Spoon

'Kayla's Song' (Donald Spoon, R. 2008). Standards lavender blue (RHS 92B); style arms same edged tan, darker at midrib; falls lavender blue, plum violet (77A) spot, darker (79B) veins; beards light lavender-blue tipped yellow orange (23A) deep in throat; slightly ruffled; slight spicy fragrance. 'Crown Of Snow' X 'My Kayla'. Winterberry 2009. Award of Merit 2015.

This medal is restricted to miniature dwarf bearded (MDB) irises. It is named in honor of William John Caparne (1855-1940) and Walter Welch (1887-1980). Caparne worked extensively breeding various dwarf iris species and was the first iris hybridizer to concentrate on smaller irises. Most of the dwarf iris cultivars grown in gardens in the first quarter of the 20th century were products of Caparne's hybridizing efforts. Walter Welch was the founder of the Dwarf Iris Society. After moving to Middlebury, Indiana, he met Paul Cook and began hybridizing irises. He shared Cook's enthusiasm for dwarf irises, and set out to develop new forms for the garden.

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day the other medal winners. 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.