Foundation Irises

"Scientists consider a species to be biologically successful on the basis of how well it carries on its progeny. Cultivars are biologically successful if they produce many descendants. Some produce many more then others. These high performers can be considered the foundation of the populations we presently see. I call them Foundation Irises."---Bob Pries For a comparison of biological success for Irises of first recorded in a given year see biological success by year

One might expect that highly esteemed Iris such as Dykes Medal winners would all be Foundation Irises but often they are not as shown in the gallery below. And a few irises that have never won high awards have still been honored for their contribution to the gene pool by the AIS board crowning them with the Board Of Director's Award. But this has been very few.

Winners of the AIS Board of Directors Award

Year	Iris	Type	Hybridizer	As pod parent	As pollen parent	All descendants*
2021	'Chubby Cheeks'	SDB	Paul Black			246
1987	'White Swirl'	SIB	Fred Cassebeer			101
1975	'Tobacco Road'	TB	Rudolph Kleinsorge			129
1973	'Snow Flurry'	TB	Clara Rees			517

Note *All descendants/offspring includes only those that show this cultivar in listed registration parentage, in other words probably a parent within first 4 generations.

Some other possibilities

Year	Iris	Type	Hybridizer	As pod parent	As pollen parent	All descendants*
1979	'Sky Hooks'	TB	Manley Osborne			315

...

Gallery of Dykes Medal Winners with numbers of progeny

showing their relative contributions to the Gene pool. Note irises before 1940 are underestimated and in need of review. For discussion See Below

'Don't Doubt Dalton'
2023 - Tom Burseen
1 progeny
'Football Hero'
2022 - Lynda Miller
4 progeny 'Daring Deception'
2021 - Thomas Johnson
16 progeny 'Reckless Abandon'
2021 - Keith Keppel
86 progeny 'Bottle Rocket'
2019 - Michael Sutton
33 progeny 'Haunted Heart'
2018 - Keith Keppel
127 progeny 'Montmartre'
2017 - Keith Keppel
37 progeny 'Swans In Flight'
2016 - Robert Hollingworth
2 progeny 'Gypsy Lord'
2015 - Keith Keppel
187 progeny 'Dividing Line'
2014 - Chuck Bunnell
0 progeny 'That's All Folks'
2013 - William Maryott
7 progeny 'Florentine Silk'
2012 - Keith Keppel
11 progeny 'Drama Queen'
2011 - Keith Keppel
46 progeny 'Paul Black'
2010 - Tom Johnson
55 progeny 'Golden Panther'
2009 - Rick Tasco
46 progeny 'Starwoman'
2008 - Marky Smith
3 progeny 'Queen's Circle'
2007 - Fred Kerr
16 progeny 'Sea Power'
2006 - Keith Keppel
101 progeny 'Splashacata'
2005 - Rick Tasco
29 progeny 'Crowned Heads'
2004 - Keith Keppel
40 progeny 'Celebration Song'
2003 - Schreiners
91 progeny 'Mesmerizer'
2002 - Byers
229 progeny 'Yaquina Blue'
2001 - Schreiners
64 progeny 'Stairway To Heaven'
2000 - Larry Lauer
43 progeny 'Hello Darkness'
1999 - Schreiners
150 progeny 'Conjuration'
1998 - Byers
251 progeny 'Thornbird'
1997 - Byers
142 progeny 'Before The Storm'
1996 - Innerst
37 progeny 'Honky Tonk Blues'
1995 - Schreiners
221 progeny 'Silverado'
1994 - Schreiners
260 progeny 'Edith Wolford'
1993 - Ben Hager
148 progeny 'Dusky Challenger'
1992 - Schreiner
103 progeny 'Everything Plus'
1991 - Dave Niswonger
19 progeny 'Jesse's Song'
1990 - Williamson
18 progeny 1989
Not Awarded 'Titan's Glory'
1988 - Schreiners
109 progeny 1987
Not Awarded 'Song Of Norway'
1986 - Walter Luihn
129 progeny 'Beverly Sills'
1985 - Ben Hager
89 progeny 'Victoria Falls'
1984 - Schreiners
117 progeny 'Ruffled Ballet'
1983 - Elvan Roderick
46 progeny 'Vanity'
1982 - Ben Hager
198 progeny 'Brown Lasso'
1981 - Buckles-Niswonger
40 progeny 'Mystique'
1980 - Joe Ghio
114 progeny 'Mary Frances'
1979 - Larry Gaulter
74 progeny 'Bride's Halo'
1978 - Mohr
44 progeny 'Dream Lover'
1977 - E. Tams
45 progeny 'Kilt Lilt'
1976 - Gibson
36 progeny 'Pink Taffeta'
1975 - Nate Rudolph
143 progeny 'Shipshape'
1974 - Sanford Babson
74 progeny 'New Moon'
1973 - Neva Sexton
182 progeny 'Babbling Brook'
1972 - Keith Keppel
61 progeny 'Debby Rairdon'
1971 - Kuntz
49 progeny 'Skywatch'
1970 - Benson
43 progeny 1969
Not Awarded 'Stepping Out'
1968 - Schreiners
201 progeny Winter Olympics'
1967 - Opal Brown
149 progeny 'Rippling Waters'
1966 - Orville Fay
387 progeny 'Pacific Panorama'
1965 - Neva Sexton
54 progeny 'Allegiance'
1964 - Paul Cook
184 progeny 'Amethyst Flame'
1963 - Schreiners
122 progeny 'Whole Cloth'
1962 - Paul Cook
315 progeny 'Eleanor's Pride'
1961 - Watkins
43 progeny 1960
Not Awarded 'Swan Ballet'
1959 - Muhlestein
47 progeny 'Blue Sapphire'
1958 - Schreiners
54 progeny 'Violet Harmony'
1957 - Lowry
59 progeny 'First Violet'
1956 - DeForest
60 progeny 'Sable Night'
1955 - Paul Cook
77 progeny 'Mary Randall'
1954 - Orville Fay
348 progeny 'Truly Yours'
1953- Orville Fay
31 progeny 'Argus Pheasant'
1952 - DeForest
47 progeny 'Cherie'
1951 - Hall
132 progeny 'Blue Rhythm'
1950 - Whiting
78 progeny Irises before 1950 may show too few progeny since they were not included in integrated system 'Helen McGregor'
1949 - Graves
115 progeny 'Ola Kala'
1948 - Sass
144 progeny Chivalry'
1947 - Wills
261 progeny 1946
Not Awarded 'Elmohr'
1945 - Loomis
43 progeny 'Spun Gold'
1944 - Gultzbeck
27 progeny 'Prairie Sunset'
1943 - Sass
120 progeny 'Great Lakes'
1942 - Cousins
167 progeny 'The Red Douglas'
1941 - Sass
24 progeny 'Wabash'
1940 - Williamson
98 progeny 'Rosy Wings'
1939 - Gage
11 progeny 'Copper Lustre'
1938 - Kirkland
6 progeny 'Missouri'
1937 - Grinter
74 progeny 'Mary Geddes'
1936 - Mary G. Stahlman
59 progeny 'Sierra Blue'
1935 - Essig
45 progeny 1934
Not Awarded 'Coralie'
1933 - Ayres
10 progeny 'Rameses'
1932 - Hans Sass
154 progeny 1931
Not Awarded 1930
Not Awarded 'Dauntless'
1929 - Connell
108 progeny 1928
Not Awarded 'San Francisco'
1927 - Mohr
73 progeny

Discussion:

Most of the above progeny numbers were quick estimates using the Integrated System (IS). Since the IS does not contain irises before 1950 in its database any irises before that time are not counted. If a count was derived from this Encyclopedia a full list of progeny appear on the cultivars' page. Since it sometimes takes 20 years from introduction to winning the Dykes, Irises before 1970 probably should be suspect on their progeny numbers. With research a few questions could be answered:

• How long did it take for each Dykes Medal Winner to recieve the award from its date of introduction?
• How many generations is it from the species?
• Through how many years was the iris used in hybridization?

Irises too close to the present may still be being used to create more registered progeny

Some other possibilities---Unawarded and prior to 1950

Publication Year	Iris	Type	Hybridizer	As pod parent	As pollen parent	All descendants*
1885	'Amas'	TB	Sir Michael foster			49
		Immortality				34
		Unicorn					38
		Clarence

Case (Needing construction) See also: (Needing construction)

• Foundation Irises SDBs
• Foundation Irises Siberian