By
Bryce Williamson
After
a too short visit to the Keppel garden—it would be possible to spend days there
watching the bloom unfold, it was on the road again this time to head south of
Salem to the garden of Kevin Vaughn.
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| Vaughn T-18-1 A tetraploid MTB voted best seeding at the 2018 Region 14 Spring meeting. |
When
Kevin retired from the USDA job, he found 3 acres south of Salem. Just as
Lynda Miller had provided a short cut to get to her garden, Kevin had told me
a quicker way to get to his garden by skirting the east side of Salem before
cutting over to his place on
River
Road.
Kevin
brings a wealth of scientific knowledge to irises and he as been a frequent and
useful contributor to The World of Irises
blog. While working for the USDA, he published over 160 scientific papers and
recently he wrote Beardless Irises A Plant for Every Garden Situation and is now working on a book about median irises. His
Louisiana irises have won awards and in 2019, his ‘Lemon Zest’ was one for the
winners of the Mary Swords Deballion Medal for Louisiana irises.
He has been raising Siberians and out of the selections below, several will be introduced when stock allows.
He has been raising Siberians and out of the selections below, several will be introduced when stock allows.
His
hybridizing interests in irises ranging from dwarfs through tall bearded and
including in addition to the above Siberian seedlings, Louisianas and Spurias, and that interest is match also by his interest in
hybridizing other types of plants too. In his twenties, Kevin was a bright star
of hosta breeding and the American Hosta Society have honored Kevin's
contributions to the development of the genus Hosta by establishing in 2001 the
Kevin Vaughn Award, which is given to the entered sport that is chosen as Best
Overall by the AHS Judges.
With
a new garden, Kevin has returned to hosta hybridizing something that he could
not do during his years stationed in the South for USDA.
From
his early teens, he was interested in breeding sempervivums and continues to do
so. To find out more about his creations in that area, follow the this link. Daylilies and
daffodils have experienced his touch; most recently he has seed from miniature
gladiolus. A trip to this garden is always rewarding.
In
the last two years, one of the most interested bearded irises in the yard is a
Witt seedling—Kevin is growing the last of Jean Witt’s irises and the first of
the selections, ‘Just A Dusting’, will be introduced by Aitken’s Salmon Creek in
2020. The most interesting diploid iris in the garden is the reddest beard iris any of us have seen. It will never be introduced since it is too big for
the MTB class, but some of us are growing it in the hopes of using tetraploid
pollen on it and get—if we are very lucky—a tetraploid from those crosses that
should bring new a new source of red pigments into tall bearded irises.
To
make sure he does not get stale in retirement, he is also an accomplished
musician playing wind instruments, mainly oboe, in Salem Symphonic Winds, Salem
Orchestra and Winds of the Willamette wind quintet. From time to time he also plays for musicals
and other groups.
In between checking out plants and great conversation that continued over dinner at Roberts Crossing Restaurant on River Road (why can't we have a high quality, reasonable priced eatery in my neighborhood like this?), Kevin and I made a dash to Larry Lauer's garden nearby garden and that will be the subject of my next 'On the Road Again' post.
In between checking out plants and great conversation that continued over dinner at Roberts Crossing Restaurant on River Road (why can't we have a high quality, reasonable priced eatery in my neighborhood like this?), Kevin and I made a dash to Larry Lauer's garden nearby garden and that will be the subject of my next 'On the Road Again' post.
