Augie had a very wide range of plant interests, including such things as developing heat-tolerant rhubarb and seedless pawpaws. However, his primary focus was on developing yellow magnolias, rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas, and on chemically inducing plant polyploidy with the use of colchicine and pre-emergent herbicides.

He wrote the section on hybridizing azaleas in Galle's Azaleas, and once told a friend he considered his greatest contribution to be the discovery that pollen can be saved for re-use up to years later by drying and freezing it.

Of the many hundreds of crosses he made and the many thousands of seedlings he raised, Augie registered only 11 azaleas, 14 rhododendrons and 31 magnolias. Our goal is to have each of these plants represented in the memorial garden, along with a few others he crossed that others registered, and a few more we know of which have never been named.

To see an enlarged image and information about the plant, click its image, below. (If you have an image of any Kehr hybrid not pictured here, and you are willing to share it, please email Bob Stelloh about it.)