Hybridizer Wilma Greenlee(1907-1984)

Monticello, Illinois, USA

WILMA GREENLEE 1907-1984---

Wilma Greenlee's death following a six-year illness closes another page on the early days of the median movement. A self-taught hybridizer, she was very knowledgeable, incorporating genes of many species into her lines. By putting tall bearded pollen mailed from warmer climes onto her dwarfs, she produced a grand array of intermediates. Generous with plants and knowledge, she corresponded actively with median breeders over a twenty-year span. Her intermediates became the classics of the time. BLUE ASTERISK and CLOUD FLUFF won the Sass Award in 1962 and 1963 respectively, and BLUKEETA won an Award of Merit in 1968. FIRST LILAC, ILLIANA, INDIAN DOLL, INDIAN FIRE and ROCKET FLAME were also widely grown and liked. Among the standard dwarfs were FI-LEE, GAY KATY, GLIMMER, MYRA, MYRA'S CHILD (Award of Merit in 1977) and PALE SUEDE. The miniature dwarf KNICK-KNACK, at that time unique in the class for being a plicata, won the Caparne Award in 1967. She and her husband Raymond, who survives her, also maintained a large wild flower planting at their Chrisman, Illinois home. [AIS Bulletin #254(July 1984): 83.]

Registrations/Introductions:

Intermediate Bearded: 'Aruba', 'Bixby', 'Blue Asterisk', 'Blukeeta', 'Brownie Troupe', 'Cloud Fluff', 'Dancing Zenith', 'First Lilac', 'Forest Night', 'Frilly', 'Galaxy', 'Glimmer', 'Harmonizer', 'Heavenly Star', 'Illiana', 'Indian Doll', 'Indian Fire', 'Mid Eastern', 'Raspberry Acres', 'Rocket Flame', 'Rose Garden', 'Smoothy', 'Snow Cherries', 'Snow Fleck', 'Spring Contrast', 'Tanager's Flight', 'Vanilla Ice', 'Whitchee', 'Witches Flight',

Miniature Dwarf Bearded: 'Copperita', 'Cream Flare', 'Fuchsia Rose', 'Grape Spot', 'Knick-Knack', 'Multiplex', 'November', 'Orango', 'Red Overlay', 'Red Sheen', 'Rich Acres', 'Sharp Contrast', 'Wee Doll', 'Winking Star'.

Standard Dwarf Bearded: 'Americana', 'Bainbridge', 'Busy Bee', 'Cheerful Heart', 'Cheery Cherry', 'Daisy Chain', 'Duplex', 'Fi Lee', 'Gay Katy', 'Green Halo', 'Green Haze', 'Lilac And Lavender', 'Myra', 'Myra's Child', 'Orange Key', 'Oriental Tan', 'Pale Suede', 'Pearl Sheen', 'Pearl Shell', 'Purple Fringe', 'Queen's Velvet', 'Sugar Loaf', 'Sugar Please', 'Tan Fantasy',

Tall Bearded: 'Witches Flight'.

-- BobPries - 2012-05-18