Shirley's thrill of a lifetime

Wanganui iris breeder Shirley Spicer got the thrill of a lifetime when she was awarded an international medal for one of her flowers on Saturday.
She said she had been growing irises for more than 40 years, and breeding new hybrids since about 1986. She knew one of her cultivars had been favourably marked, but had no idea she was to be presented with the Dykes Medal in Palmerston North last weekend.
The medal originated in England and was awarded every two years, but only if an outstanding modern iris had been bred. Mrs Spicer said she was the second New Zealand person ever to receive it.
She was "small fry" as far as iris breeders went, pursuing her hobby on a small suburban section.
She said she got interested in irises after shifting to Gisborne with her husband Charles, a police officer. It was his friends, Reevie and Jack Harvey, who got her started. "He brought a sugar sack of irises to work for Charlie to give to me."
The couple also taught her how to grow them, and grow them she did. The irises shifted from place to place, as her husband's job took him to new towns.
"The irises travelled with us from garden to garden." She said she got fed up with being asked whether she found it tense being a policeman's wife. She started answering: "No. I had a sugar bag of irises."
Mrs Spicer joined the New Zealand Iris Society in 1981, and Reevie Harvey taught her how to recognise a good hybrid flower. She began her own breeding later that decade. It took many crosses and at least a three year wait to get a good flower. She had only registered about five.
"I've thrown dozens and dozens away. They have to reach a standard. They must have good branching, balance and colour, and they must have substance."
She said it was important to breed irises in New Zealand because biosecurity regulations were making it harder and harder to import them. Also, irises bred in the country were better suited to New Zealand conditions.
Her winning flower was a tall bearded iris in various shades of pale pink, an unusual colour in an iris. It had a sweet fragrance and she named it Salute d'Amour, after a piece of music and a horse she was fond of during her childhood.
She received her silver medal on Saturday from the president of the New Zealand Iris Society, who had come to Palmerston North from North Auckland especially to present it.
Mrs Spicer said she was a member of the Rangitikei Iris Group, which was started by Jean Stevens in 1950. The group had grown to cover a much larger area - its convenor was now in Palmerston North and there were only a few members in Wanganui.
Irises grew well in Wanganui, though. "I have got an Oamaru iris, and it looks better here." The first New Zealander to win a Dykes Medal was Carterton woman Francis Love, who received the award in 1995. "I was thrilled when that happened," Mrs Spicer said. "I never thought I would win one myself."