Ron Mullin

By Phil Williams

I had planned a 3 day visit last month to visit my alert iris friend of 50 years Ron Mullin, former president of The American Iris Society.  The only flight out was canceled just as I was leaving for the airport. This week my journey back to Pawnee, Oklahoma is for his memorial service.  It will be my fourth and perhaps last visit to his adopted hometown.

Image from AIS archives

He was a kind and gentle man.  A man who visited and cared for his mother for her entire lifetime, traveling west to Marlow continuously.  Ron was a giver – to his family and every iris grower who crossed his path.

An amateur hybridizer, he won the Wister Medal with the beautiful pastel plicata 'Rhonda Fleming'.  Rhonda (the famous singer and actress who thrilled my parents when dating) is still very much alive and will be so saddened to learn of his passing.  After entering the nursing home, we would try to visit on the phone frequently until he could no longer keep the handset to his ear.

Without her knowledge, Rhonda herself will be a part of the funeral service.  Her beautiful voice could give life to a sacred hymn as well as the likes of George and Ira Gershwin. She and Ron visited by phone and writing letters frequently.

Ron always enjoyed sitting around the piano making requests and was more than surprised that I knew most of those ancient pop tunes.  He always said he wished we lived closer so that I could play at his funeral!

We are only 700 miles apart … and I will honor his wish, Lord willing! There will be hymns … and a bit of Gershwin .... many of the tunes recorded by Rhonda decades ago.

'Rhonda Fleming'--image by Evgeny Nazarov

Perhaps Ron is now in the midst of Mary Dunn, Kay Nelson, Melba Hamblen, Bob Schreiner, and a giant gathering of deceased iris friends that brought him such joy! On the other side might a simple wish for a garden filled with iris suddenly materialize?

Ron suffered many long years in a lovely, clean, and modern care facility in Pawnee staffed by many of his former high school students.  His former school superintendent and wife (Ned and Carolyn Williams) have cared for him all these years simply because they knew the importance of putting their love in action.  They are his living, breathing, mortal angels. What endless misery would have been his without these amazing two mortals!

The memorial service is scheduled for 11:00 am, Saturday, August  24 at Poteete Funeral Home, 600 Illinois Street, Pawnee, Oklahoma.

If you need further details, you may call the funeral home @ 918-762-2557.

Perhaps I will get to see some of you there. Ron was buried in Marlow, Oklahoma beside his Mother and Dad.

2019 Caparne-Welch Medal

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Caparne-Welch Medal 2019

‘Beetlejuice’

'Beetlejuice'--image by Paul Black

'Beetlejuice' (Paul Black, R. 2013) Seedling #Q80F. MDB, 7.5 (19 cm). Early to midseason bloom and rebloom. Standards pale buff-pink, mid red-violet plicata stitched edge, random dotting over center, dark purple-black midrib; style arms red-grape crest and midrib, light rose edge; falls buff-cream, widely spaced purple-black eye lash lines along beards extending 3/4 way down falls, grape sanding on outer edge of haft; beards red-orange in throat, mid-orange in middle, white ends, hairs based white; slight sweet fragrance. 'Chart' X 'Kaching'. Mid-America 2013. Honorable Mention 2015, Award Of Merit 2017.

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 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

2019 Cook-Douglas Medal Winner

 The American Iris Society

Announces the

2019 Cook-Douglas Medal Winner

‘Raspberry Ice’

'Raspberry Ice' (Keith Keppel, R. 2011) Seedling# 05-20F. SDB, 15" (38 cm), Midseason bloom. Standards buff rose (M&P 3-CD-8) shading to orchid (43-FG-7) toward base; style arms buff rose; falls apricot cream (9-B-4) ground, 3/8" blended buff rose and orchid band, shoulders peppered and veined darker greyed orchid (45-I-3); beards candy pink (2-H-10) and pale orchid (42-G-2) giving rusty coral effect. Seedling# 01-18C: (seedling# 99-24A, 'Arvo' sibling x seedling# 99-24H) X seedling #98-25N: ('Music' x 'Stormy Circle'). Keppel, 2012. HM 2014, AM 2016.

This medal is restricted to standard dwarf bearded (SDB) irises. It is named in honor of Paul Cook (1891-1963) and Geddes Douglas (1902-1993). Paul Cook's work with dwarf irises was truly pioneering. His early breeding of dwarf irises led to a series of I. arenaria hybrids. He was the first to use the true I. pumila in his breeding programs, and this resulted in the introduction of the first of the great stud irises in the standard dwarf class. Geddes Douglas was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1902. Douglas's historically most important hybridizing achievements were with dwarf irises. Working with stock from Paul Cook, Douglas's crosses of I pumila with tall bearded irises created the race of irises that came to be known as 'lilliputs.'

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.

2019 Williamson-White Medal Winner

The American Iris Society

Announces

The 2019 Williamson-White Medal

'Gesundheit'

'Gesundheit'--image by Terry Aitken

'Gesundheit' (Charles Bunnell, R. 2011) Seedling #Q110-1. MTB, 20-22 (5136 cm), Early midseason bloom. Standards and style arms bright yellow, irregular purple specks; falls slightly lighter yellow, random small purple streaks; beards bright yellow. Seedling #H25-1: (seedling #D45-1: ('Lucky Mistake' x 'Zebra') x seedling #C39-12: ('Welch's Reward' x unknown)) X 'Opal Imp'. Aitken's Salmon Creek 2012. Honorable Mention 2014, Award of Merit 2017.

This 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 1950's, Alice White of Hemet, California began a crusade to gain recognition of 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.

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.