Wow, that's great news! It's such a nice iris and a good grower too. How many Dykes medal's has he won now?

Seven, starting with Babbling Brook which came from a cross he made in 1962.

That is quite an accomplishment I'd say.

Congratulations, Keith Keppel!

ditto!

I have:

Babbling Brook
Blowing Kisses
Fancy Woman
Crowned Heads
French Lilacs
Friendly Advice
Gypsy Lord
Haunted Heart
Merchant Marine
Nouveau Riche
Parisian Dawn
Raging Tide
Sea Cruise
Venita Faye
Versailles

Sea Cruise and French Lilacs did not bloom for me the first year, but the
second year - wow! Nice floriferous clumps. Blowing Kisses and Nouveau Riche were also impressive clumps.

I am still waiting for Friendly Advice to bloom.

I just planted Boston Cream (2014) and Espionage (2015). It'll be interesting
to see if they bloom next spring.

my keppel's:



.

.

in my first year i've observed more struggle than with other hybridizers' irises. however, my one keppel that did bloom was marvelous, and bloomed at three separate times.

'haunted heart' was the only keppel iris purchased this year, and 'naughty nights' was the first iris i planted in the ground (but, while the 'nn' clump is getting quite large, it did not bloom this year. looking forward to next year).

i may lose 'desert moth' even though it appears to remain viable; the green portion where leaves develop is shriveling as i write and there are no signs of any new starts developing.( i will remain diligent over its continuing care hoping it will eventually grow. rec'd this iris a year ago in july 2016.)

Looking at these lists, I am again reminded of how many of those beauties were sent in buddy boxes, and also how many I had forgotten were Keppels.

As Montmartre was one of the first bonus iris Is ever got and has bloomed ever since I am really happy to hear it won the Dyke's.

Daphne, Keppel's irises have taken a while to get going for me, too, but once
they do, they are worth the wait. I am very envious of your blooms of Friendly
Advice!

I have a lot of irises by a lot of different hybredizers, and some take more then one year to bloom, and others don't. I wouldn't generalize that Keppel irises take any longer to bloom then any of the others. Maybe the ones you selected happened to be the ones that took more time. There are so many variables that can affect when that first bloom shows. Here, that can be having the bloom stem rot off before it can develop. That happens a lot here due to the wet cold springs we have, with temps jumping up and down. Soil fertility, amount of water and sun shine can also affect if they bloom. Of course this year the nasty hail storm took out most of my blooms..

I haven't noticed Keppels taking any longer than anyone else's. His rhizomes are so large that I figure they have a better chance at survival than others' !

Congratulations Keith Keppel Dykes medal winner
I only have three Keppels and I am hoping that someone imports and sells Vista Point now that Tempo Two is closed. I also like some of his seedlings he posts on his fb that have yet to be released.

Tom, You make some very good points about generalizing about hybridizes. I stand corrected.

I went through my lost/died list. I lost more from the 'garden guys' pulling weeds this year than from those that just died. I think I had two from Schreiners, and one each from various other hybridizers. I see that as a pretty good results from all the hybridizers.
Edit: As far as who blooms and who doesn't I really haven't paid that much attention.

We grow more of his median & dwarfs than TBs. Black Lipstick bloomed this year 7 was quite impressive.

Montmartre is the first luminata to win the Dykes Medal. I imagine Keith is gratified by that since he has done so much to resurrect and popularize that pattern over the past few decades.

UndertheSun said:I want 09-104A and I want it now!

/end Veruca (Willy Wonka) rant

I was looking over the old revived Keppel thread....The one you wanted was Introduced as Black lipstick.... I hope they have this one at the PNW sale this year.

shizen said:

i may lose 'desert moth' even though it appears to remain viable; the green portion where leaves develop is shriveling as i write and there are no signs of any new starts developing.( i will remain diligent over its continuing care hoping it will eventually grow. rec'd this iris a year ago in july 2016.)

I may be able to help next year if things go bad with Desert Moth

iciris said:

I was looking over the old revived Keppel thread....The one you wanted was Introduced as Black lipstick.... I hope they have this one at the PNW sale this year.

When is the PNW iris sale?

thank you for your generous offer timothy, for now since i posted the dire news on 'desert moth' . it must have heard my desperation, as well as' imbroglio'. i had almost given up on the latter. here are pics of both of those today, as i write.😃
'desert moth' looked like 'imbroglio' until about 3 weeks ago. it's mother rhizome is almost shriveled. i was trying to get a close up of that....not such a great photo, but i am happy there's more green. that it will come back. i am looking for a place in the ground, so it may expand.

struggling 'imbroglio' put up this greenery within the last week. hopefully, this one will follow the example of 'dm'.

got this little rhizome last year in august (2016).