Salem, Oregon, USA See: IRIS et BULBEUSES: n°169, 2019, pp. 14-17.
Thomas Johnson was honored by the American Iris Society with the Hybridizer Award in 2014. He was a Dykes Medal winner for 'Paul Black' in 2010. He has received three Wister Medals; for 'Paul Black', 'Ink Patterns', and 'Insaniac'. In addition he received the Cook-Douglas medal (best SDB) in 2010 for 'Ultimate', the Knowlton medal (best BB) for 'Border Control', the Caparne-Welch medal (best MDB) for 'Wise'. He is also a three-time William-Mohr medal winner (best arilbred with less than 50% but at least 25% aril content) for 'Octave', 'Egyptian Queen' and 'Suspect', He has received thirty-six Awards of Merit and one hundred thirty-four Honorable Mentions. Thomas works all the bearded classes, growing a large number of seedlings each year. A prolific hybridizer, Thomas began hybridizing while he was living in Canada, continued after moving to Oklahoma, and finally to Oregon when Mid-America moved to Salem, (excerpted from IRISES: The Bulletin of the American Iris Society, Winter 2015, page 8).He later won a Dykes Medal for 'Daring Deception' in 2021.