User:Drechmeria-RBGV/McCaskill Gardens

Vern Otho McCaskill was a prominent nurseryman active in southern California for much of the 20th century who specialised in breeding Camellia and Azalea cultivars. He was the father of the botanist and herbarium curator June McCaskill.

Life
In June 1918, McCaskill was admitted to the United States Naval Academy at the age of 16. But he was dismissed from the Academy the following year, in March 1919.

Horticultural Legacy
With his wife, Bilie McCaskill, he opened a nursery on South Michillinda Avenue in Pasadena, California, in 1932. REF AND Specialising in Camellias and Azaleas, the business became the largest Camellia nursery in the southern California region. Over his horticultural career, between 1930 and 1988, McCaskill developed 72 Camellia japonica cultivars and eight non-reticulata hybrids between 1930 and 1988. In the 1970s, due to the long periods of time needed to create new Camellia cultivars and hybids, McCaskill switched to Iris ser. Californicae, and started to sell Iris cultivars.

As an accredited Camellia judge, McCaskill also became the director of the Southern California Camellia Society.

Vern is credited as hybridisers of the following Irises:
 * Iris 'Hidden Shadows'
 * Iris 'Kaweah Maiden'
 * Iris 'Kaweah Sunrise'
 * Iris 'Showers of Flowers'