Keith Keppel/Pollen Dauber's Seminar report

Hello all,

Keith Keppel was the special guest speaker at the 18th Annual Pollen
Dauber's Seminar yesterday in Oklahoma City.  Sooner State Iris Society
sponsored the seminar and Dr. Bill Jones hosted.  Keith is currently the
Registrar of the American Iris Society.  As one of the world's top iris
hybridizers, he is probably best known for his plicata lines.  One of
his earliest introductions, BABBLING BROOK (Keppel, '66), is still on
the 1996 AIS Tall Bearded Symposium (100 most popular TBs).  Others on
the list are RUSTLER, MULLED WINE, RASPBERRY FUDGE, CATALYST, THEATRE
and SNOWBROOK.

Keith began the 5-hour seminar with a caution to new hybridizers.  Set
goals in your breeding lines.  Know what is possible and what is not. 
Learn all you can about iris genetics.  Give yourself enough time to
accomplish the goal.  Ten or twenty years may be necessary.  

He discussed the pigments found in irises.  The 28 known pigments can be
divided into two groups.  The cool colors (blues and violets) are water
soluble and the warm colors (yellow, pink, orange) are fat soluble.  The
reds and browns are mixtures of yellow and purple.  The whites are a
lack of pigmentation.

He discussed the genetics of diploids and tetraploids.  Dominant and
recessive traits and their relationships in breeding were explained.  He
discussed chromosome counts of the species used in modern TBs.

He delighted us with a slide show of plicatas from the oldest to the
newest.  The show began with MME CHEREAU (1844 plicata) and went forward
through history to the tetraploids SAN FRANCISCO and LOS ANGELES and on
to the modern varieties.  He even showed us the famous (infamous?)
TIFFANY "twist".

Here are a few more tidbits I picked up:
- BABBLING BROOK  was a cross of two separate inbred lines.
- Heavily substanced flowers almost always have clubby stems.
- TEA APRON and RANCHO ROSE can throw broken color flowers.
- Never double-up on faults.  If both parents have the same fault, so
will the offspring 
- Blue beards came from I. Aphylla.
- Tangerine beards trace to I. Kashmiriana.

Keith is a delightful speaker and a wonderful guest.  We all learned a
great deal from him.  The iris world is a better place because of him.

Greer Holland
Central Oklahoma, USDA zone 7
President, Sooner State Iris Society
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index