Frank E. Chowning was born in 1894 in Rison, Arkansas. He graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1922 and practiced law in Little Rock, AK for 52 years. He was married to Bryce Leigh Williams and they had one daughter, Ann Chowning, a son, Robert E. Chowning, and a step daughter, Bryce Reveley. Chowning died on November 20, 1981 at the age of 87 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In 1930, Chowning began collecting the native irises of Arkansas and Louisiana. He continued for many years hybridizing and growing them, writing about them, and promoting them through the American Iris Society and the Society for Louisiana Irises. In 1934 he joined the American Iris Society and joined the Society for Louisiana Irises in 1943. In the early 1950s, he began registering his hybrids.

Four of his irises have won the Mary Swords Debaillon Award: "Dixie Deb" in 1967, "This I Love" in 1979, "Ann Chowning" in 1980, and "Bryce Leigh" in 1981.