The American Iris Society Announces the 2025 Morgan-Wood Medal Winner

'FIDDLES ON FIRE'

The Morgan-Wood Medal is restricted to Siberian (SIB) irises. It is named in honor of F. Cleveland Morgan (1882-1962) and Ira E. Wood (1903-1977). F. Cleveland Morgan was a pioneer Canadian breeder of Siberian irises and a founding member of AIS. Some of his magnificent cultivars still enhance gardens around the globe. Three of his best known irises are 'Caezar,' 'Caezar's Brother' and 'Tropic Night'. Ira E. Wood hybridized Siberian irises, but he introduced only one cultivar 'Ong's Hat.' He also served as a director of AIS and as its second vice president.

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

Siberian iris 'Fiddles on Fire'
photo by Heather Haley

'Fiddles On Fire'- (Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks, R. 2017) Seedling S11-61-10. SIB, 20" (51 cm). Midseason bloom. Standards red-orange to red-violet lighter in center, darker at edge; style arms richer colors than standards; Falls bright red over yellow, deep red veins, bright yellow signal with red veins. Seedling S08-14-2: (seedling S03-26-2, 'Carnivalito' pod parent x 'Miss Apple') X seedling S08-16-2, 'Carnivalito' sibling. Joe Pye Weed 2017.

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. 

The American Iris Society Announces the 2025 Sydney B. Mitchell Medal Winner

'OCEAN ROAR' and 'WILDER RANCH' (tie)

The Mitchell Medal is restricted to Pacific Coast Native (PCN) irises. It is named in honor of Sydney B. Mitchell (1878-1951). Professor 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 Iris innominata and I. douglasiana. 

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

Pacific Coast Native iris 'Ocean Roar'

photo by Joe Ghio

'Ocean Roar' (Joseph Ghio, R. 2017). Seedling# QPP-99II. CA, 13" (33 cm), Early midseason bloom. Standards smooth deep blue-purple; style arms blue-purple; falls same, dime sized purple signal surrounded by wide white halo, some lines radiating from signal. Seedling# NP-75F: ('Caught in the Wind' x 'Fresh Eyes') X seedling# NP-63L, 'Conga Line' pod parent sibling. Bay View 2017

Pacific Coast Native iris 'Wilder Ranch'
photo by Joe Ghio

'Wilder Ranch' (Joseph Ghio, R. 2013) Seedling# KP-166N3. CA, 12" (30 cm). Late midseason bloom. Standards and style arms henna; falls toast, blue edge, signal neon violet. Seedling# HP-163D, 'Mandalay Bay' sibling X seedling# IP-139H2, 'Silent Witness' sibling. Bay View 2013. 

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. 

The American Iris Society Announces the 2025 Founders of SIGNA Medal Winner

 'VIOLET CONSTELLATION'

The Founders of SIGNA Medal is restricted to species irises (SPEC) and is named to honor the founding members of the Species Iris Group of North America (SIGNA). Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

Species iris 'Violet Constellation'

photo by Chad Harris

'Violet Constellation' (Chad Harris, R. 2017) Seedling 11LC4. SPEC (laevigata), 33" (84 cm), Early bloom. Standards white, violet-blue (RHS 90C) flush at midrib, upright; style arms violet-blue, white edge, crest white flushed violet-blue at base; falls white evenly speckled violet-blue, very thin yellow (3C) signal surrounded by pale violet watermark; seed from SIGNA donated by Hiroshi Shimizu. Seedling 07LAK6, parentage unknown X self. Mt. Pleasant 2018.

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 in the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

The American Iris Society Announces the 2025 C. G. White Medal Winner

 'Chihuahua Night'

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.

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

Arilbred iris 'Chihuahua Night'
photo by Howard Dash

'Chihuahua Night' (Howard Dash, R. 2018). Seedling ADG-15-04-01. AB (OGB), 32" (81 cm). Early to midseason bloom. Standards lilac, plum veining, golden at base; style arms golden, bronzed lilac crests; falls creamy white, heavily veined and stippled dark plum lighter at rim, small plum-black signal; beards golden mustard. 'Garnettville' X 'Damfino'. Picacho Mountain Iris 2019.

'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.