H. "Rooty Tooty" (Pickles, 2011)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

October, 2011


H. 'Shamrock Dew'

Fall is here and everyone is savoring their last daylily bloom in the garden. I’ve seen e-mails from different people commenting on the last bloom in their garden and everyone wants to know about those cultivars that bloom very late in the garden as well as rebloomers. In my own garden, Hemerocallis ‘Shamrock Dew’ ( pictured at right) was the last to bloom – a rebloom from earlier in the season.

 With fall weather, news arrives of the fall meetings of the different clubs in Region 10. Susan Okrasinski wrote that Tri-Cities Daylily Society had Mike and Sandy Holmes as guest speakers on October 1, and according to the comments on Facebook, not only did the TDHS members enjoy it immensely, but so did the guest speakers. A crisp sunny Saturday morning on October 1 also saw the Middle Tennessee Daylily Society meeting at the Baker Arboretum and Museum in Bowling Green, KY to tour the grounds. The Baker Arboretum, built on a hill overlooking Bowling Green, focuses on conifers but also has over a hundred Japanese Maple cultivars. The museum has the largest art collection of internationally renowned artist, Joe Downing, a Kentucky native and one of only a few American artists to ever exhibit at the Louvre in Paris. And for an upcoming event, I got news from Elizabeth Trotter that the Blue Grass Hemerocallis Society is also hosting Mike and Sandy Holmes on October 10 in Lexington, KY. For details you may contact Elizabeth at daylilygirl@shelbybb.net.

I received word from David Kirchhoff and Brenda Macy that the speakers have been scheduled for the Mid-Winter Symposium to be held Nashville, January 20-22, 2012. It promises to be an exciting symposium with people such as Dan & Jane Trimmer, Nikki Schmith, and Josh Jacques among others making presentations.  The ad will be appearing in the upcoming Daylily Appeal and can be seen also on the Region 10 website as well as the AHS portal. The AHS Membership Portal continues to be a good source of news for members and I would encourage all members to access it. I recently saw a list of Region 10 names and numbers who have registered on the portal and was really surprised at the missing names and the low numbers – only 18% of Region 10 members have taken the time to register and actually see what the portal has to offer. If you are not taking advantage of the portal, you are truly missing one of the benefits of being an AHS member. Only with everyone's participation on the Portal can AHS fully utilize this feature.  

I’m excited to announce that as the incoming AHS Region 10 president, I have gathered a talented group of individuals for the 2012 Board from across Tennessee and Kentucky. They are as follows:

Regional Publicity Director: Susan Okrasinski – Tri-Cities Daylily Society, Kingsport,  Tennessee

Treasurer: Sandy Merritt – Middle Tennessee Daylily Society, Nashville, Tennessee

Secretary: Chris Schardein – Daylily Society of Louisville, Louisville,  Kentucky

Please congratulate and support these folks as they work to make Region 10 one of the best in the country. We hope to be innovative in our problem solving and include as many people as possible in the decision making process. And don't forget, if you want your club's activites mentioned in the blog - all you have to do is send me an e-mail with the details to willcol@aol.com.