Isabella Preston

Ottawa, Ontario
1881-1965

Her accomplishments in the arena of horticulture were second­ to-none and provided the foundation for other hybridizers who followed and built upon her successes. The “Grand Lady of Canadian Horticulture”. Worked at the Ontario Agricultural College of Guelph, Ontario with Professor J.W. Crow, who taught her the principles and practices of plant breeding, then managed Ornamental Plant Breeding Division at the Central Experimental Farms in Ottawa where she bred lilies and a number of other ornamentals.

Stated her interest in lilies started in 1913 when she began work at the College in Guelph and Professor Crow gave her pots of lily seedlings to care for. Began breeding lilies in 1914. Credited for first bringing davidii var. willmottiae into the field of lily hybridization. Author of “Garden Lilies” in 1929 and “Lilies for Every Garden” in 1947. Her Stenographer Series is considered her greatest achievement.

The Isabella Preston Trophy is named in her honor and is awarded at the annual NALS convention for the best lily in show. Also, Mr. Ralph M. Warner of Connecticut, named one of his seedlings ‘Isabella Preston’ c.1945, an outfacing Asiatic, in her honor. It was described as a striking plant with star-shaped vivid orange blooms tipped with tangerine-red. Received the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal in 1931 for experimental work with the genus lilium, the Jackson Dawson Medal of the same society in 1947 for skill in hybridization and propagation of hardy, wooden plants, the American Iris Society Medal for achievement in hybridizing (year?), the RHS Veitch Memorial Cup in 1938 (awarded to persons who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture), the Ontario Horticultural Association Carter Medal in 1937 for horticultural achievement and the RHS Lyttel Cup in 1950 (offered sporadically beginning in 1939. It is awarded to someone who has done good work on behalf of lilies, nomocharis or fritillaries). Recipient of the E.H. Wilson Award NALS 1961.

Honorary life membership in the NALS 1959. Also, honorary life memberships in the Canadian Iris Society and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The Ontario Regional Lily Society (ORLS) established the Isabella Preston Award for the best stem of an unnamed seedling lily grown from seed by the exhibitor in Section E, Classes 32-36. In 2015, the Farmer’s Almanac, which publishes small features about personalities who made advancements in horticulture or agriculture, paid tribute to Preston in a feature called “95 Years Ago: A Career Bloomed and Flowered”.

Excerpted from “Canadian Lily Hybridizers and Their Lilies – A Working Garden Reference” by Leanne Dowd
Photo courtesy of the Archives, Royal Botanical Gardens