January, 2014

The end of 2013 has come and gone and I wanted to write at least once before 2014 got fully started to thank everyone for their participation and enthusiasm during 2013 to make Region 10 one of the best in the country. As I think back over the year just as the frog in the below picture, I realize the year was full of fun filled events held by the individual clubs and region throughout the year. We always begin the year with the Mid-Winter Symposium which makes everyone realize how many daylilies they still do NOT have in their garden.  And the upcoming MWS in 2014 will be no exception. 

Lee Pickles and David Kirchhoff are serving as co-chairs of the event and have assembled a diverse program on daylilies and gardening that everyone will enjoy.  For the first time in several years we have moved the event to February which should allow even more people to attend.  If you want to view the program, just look in the latest edition of the Daylily Appeal or go to the AHS membership portal under the Region 10 Calendar of Events.   Our  2013 summer meeting was held in Kingsport and hosted by the Tri-Cities Daylily Society.  I did not get to attend since my cardiologist thought that it was more important that I have several fuel lines to my heart replaced so that I would run more efficiently. That’s funny since I thought I was already "uber" efficient, but I digress and that’s another blog.  Regardless the summer meeting went off without a hitch and the hours of planning by the Tri-Cities club were very evident judging by the numerous positive comments that I received.  In 2014, our summer regional meeting is being hosted by the BGHS in Lexington and I am being told that there will be not just one day of garden tours, but TWO.  Wow, I can hardly wait. The Lexington area is rich with tradition and gardens – I just hope that two days are enough and that my checkbook can withstand it.

Speaking of Region 10 clubs, isn’t it exciting that the two Louisville clubs won the bid to host the AHS National Conference in 2016? It’s quite an honor for Region 10 and speaks well for the resources available within LADS and DSL. In other news at the Region 10 club level, we have had some developments that have impacted the summer rotation of the future summer meetings.  It’s with regret that I must advise everyone that the East Tennessee Daylily Society in Knoxville voted to disband effective 12/31/13 due to several factors -  the most important being decreasing membership.  The Knoxville club had a rich history of AHS participation and will be missed. The challenges of decreasing membership and slow growth are being faced by many AHS clubs as well as plant societies across the country and every organization must deal with these issues on an individual basis. Since Knoxville was scheduled for the 2015 Summer meeting, Region 10 is especially grateful for the financial donation to the Region which the Knoxville club made prior to dissolution to help offset any losses which the Region may sustain as a result of this sudden change for 2015.  As everyone knows, the proceeds from the MWS and Summer meeting auctions go directly to underwrite the publication of the Regional newsletter, The Daylily Appeal.   In a similar vein, the Jackson club asked to withdraw from the summer meeting rotation due to declining membership and a lack of resources.  All of these changes are forcing the Board of Region 10 Directors to review the current summer meeting rotation schedule in an effort to continue to have yearly meetings without losing our momentum and prevent future losses in our AHS regional membership.  On a positive note, I am excited about the formation of a new club in Madisonville, KY, Kentucky Daylily Fans, and look forward to their future growth and participation in Region 10 activities.

Just a reminder for all Region 10 club presidents to update your list of 2014 officers with the AHS website, Tim Fehr at:  fehrtj@charter.net  And if you want your officers updated on the AHS Membership Portal for club activities, please forward that list to me at: willcol@aol.com.   And don't forget that we continue to add more and more information to the Region 10 Membership Portal - all Daylily Appeal editions are now archived there for historical and future reference.  Finally,  I look forward to seeing everyone at the MWS !!

I can't believe that the first day of autumn is already here. I'm still busier than ever creating new garden beds and moving plants around. But the summer flew by and it's partially because of all the daylily events that took place. After a stranger than strange spring, daylilies began blooming about two to three weeks ahead of schedule and threw all the AHS shows and scheduled conferences into a panic.  How can you have a daylily show without daylilies? But because of the diversity of daylilies, many late blooming cultivars were blooming and daylily fanatics were able to view flowers blooming that normally are not open in time for the shows and meetings. That just proves there's a silver lining to every cloud !! The Region 10 AHS Meeting in Chattanooga, TN and hosted by the Tennessee Valley Club on June 8,9 was a huge success.  It was quickly apparent after the conference started that hours of planning had gone into the meeting as all the scheduled events took place just like clockwork.  And if they didn't, it certainly was a well kept secret from the meeting participants.  Thanks to Jane Dixon and the Tennessee Valley Daylily Society for a wonderful meeting.  And Jane, now that we have discovered your talents as an auctioneer, you will NOT be forgotten. I am still searching for places to plant the cultivars I purchased in Chattanooga at the auction.  About the time the Chattanooga meeting was ending, results of the club shows started appearing on my Facebook page. Thanks to social media, I knew almost the same time as the show winners did of their awards and often had pictures posted on Facebook.  Attached is a picture of Brenda Macy and her Best in Show entry "Octavian Princess" at the Daylily Society of Louisville show.  I still marvel at how Brenda knew to wear purple that day so that she would match her award ribbon. This is the first year that I have had so many daylily friends on my Facebook page and I must admit, the daylily comments and pictures were a bit overwhelming at times. Never let it be said that daylily enthusiasts are not passionate about their hobby. All the Facebook activity seemed to crescendo just after the National Convention which was held in Columbus, Ohio on July 11-14.  I was able to attend the conference and must say that the gardens were spectacular in spite of the dry weather. Within hours of the conference ending, hundreds of pictures and comments started appearing on my Facebook page. I'm sure it was at that point that probably most of my non-gardening Facebook friends decided to unfriend me.  But regardless, apparently everyone seemed to be in agreement that the national convention was one not to be forgotten.  I would like to end with reminding everyone that even though the season may be ending, there is still something to look forward to - the 2013 Mid-Winter Symposium.  Thanks to Lee Pickles and David Kirchhoff, the speakers are already lined up and the program schedule completed. The registration form and program are available on the AHS website portal for Region 10, the Region 10 website, and the AHS website. Being held again at the Hotel Preston in Nashville, TN, the dates are January 18-21, 2013.  I hope to see everyone there!!

February, 2012

Well, the Mid-Winter Symposium has come and gone, just as my initial rough draft of this blog came and went as I played with inserting the pictures and formatting the article. However, hopefully my thoughts are just as fresh of what I wrote only two hours ago as the memories are of the recent MWS.  Regardless, with the passing of the MWS comes the onslaught of acute spring fever brought on by our unusually mild winter and a desire to 'get it started'. One personal rite of spring that I have is the annual sowing of daylily seeds from crosses that I made the previous summer.  I've been doing amateur hybridizing a little over 10 years sowing several several hundred seeds each year and finally feel that I may register a few this year.  It's mind boggling to think that in a span of 10 years, AHS registrations have increased almost 25,000, from 50,000 to 75,000 !!  For this reason I have been especially cautious with my possible registrations, wanting to register only those cultivars that are truly different and make a contribution to the current cultivar pool. I've had several to bloom that seemed to match recent introductions, but when viewed with the critical eye as to whether or not they were truly different or just a repeat of what was already available - they didn't meet the litmus test, and went to the compost heap. 

Several have asked about the status of the Region 10 Daylily Appeal and this was discussed during the MWS business meeting. A Fall/Winter edition was not printed, but it is hoped to post it on the AHS membership portal in the near future.  In the meantime, work has already started on the Spring/Summer edition with a goal of printing it as normally scheduled in the spring. The year 2012 brings to the Region a new slate of officers that are eager to continue the previous growth of Region 10.  Advisory, newsletter, and finance committees have been named, all to provide additional support to the Region 10 Board of Directors and utilize the wealth of experience available from within the ranks of Region 10 members. I am excited about the potential ahead as I hear about the innovative ideas people are tossing around for Region 10 members.

There will be MWS highlights in the upcoming Daylily Appeal, but from a personal perspective, a few stand out. First, there was the enlightening lecture by landscape architect, Duncan Callicott.  Utilizing his previous experience as Executive Director of Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and landscape projects throughout the southeast, we all gained a better insight of how to incorporate our daylilies into an actual garden, and not just line our daylilies up as soldiers in orderly rows as I am prone to do sometimes. And apparently, Duncan was impacted by the MWS also as he was overheard stating that he hoped to add a daylily bed to his gardens this year after seeing the array of new daylily cultivars. Another personal highlight was listening to Mary Fisher talk about the Doorakian introductions.  I have had Hemerocallis  'Emerald Starburst' in my garden for several years and have always been intrigued by this hybridizer.   And of course, I can't end the article without commenting on the Saturday night auction.  I paid much more for H. 'Neon Flamingo' than any sane person should have, but I was a determined bidder after having seen this cultivar in bloom on the Region 10 summer garden tour of 2011 in Louisville. I had no idea who I was bidding against during the auction, but only knew to kept my hand up and stare forward.  Only after it was over, did I find out that I had been bidding against the formidable Brenda Macy, and her insatiable appetite to add another daylily to her renowned 'flamingo theme' daylily bed.

That is all for the month of February - remember - if you want any upcoming club activities added to the blog, please feel free to drop me a line at wcoltharp@comcast.net.

January, 2012

Winter Garden of Duncan and Virginia Callicott 

Happy New Year to Region 10 AHS Members - 2012 has started with a flurry of activity as preparations are underway for the 22nd Annual Mid-Winter Symposium held in Nashville, TN on January 20-January 22, 2012 at the Hotel Preston. I've had an opportunity to review the schedule of speakers and it promises to have something for everyone from hybridizers to landscape architects speaking on daylilies in the landscape. The garden picture on the left was taken in the garden of Duncan and Virginia Callicott just outside Nashville. Duncan is one of our featured speakers and  a landscape architect whose garden has been featured in Southern Living magazine multiple times as well as nationally published garden books. I first met Duncan many years ago at the Tennessee Botanical Gardens at Cheekwood when I did a short stint as the Education Director and Duncan was serving as the Executive Director. He designed many of the gardens at Cheekwood and I remember him working with Virginia Peck, early pioneer of tetraploids at the time, as they incorporated some of her daylilies into the gardens. I've been trying for several years to get him as a guest speaker for MWS and he finally consented this year. During my time at Cheekwood while working with Duncan, I remember actually calling Virginia Peck after seeing her daylilies, not fully understanding her significance in the daylily world or how hectic her schedule was. Unfortunately, my memory of Virginia Peck stops there since when I called and asked if I could visit her garden, she quickly told me that she was much too busy for garden visitors.  But I can truthfully say that I did actually talk to Virginia Peck, even if it was for only a minute !

I hope everyone has registered for the MWS - it's not too late to get the reduced hotel rate since the hotel extended their offer until 1/10/12. If you need to see  schedule of activities, it may be viewed on the AHS website under Conventions/Meetings tab under Region 10 at http://www.daylilies.org/ . Hope to see everyone in a couple of weeks!!

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.

July, 2011



MTDS Best in Show, H. "Nutmeg Elf"
entered by Cullen Merritt

 

Nancy Estes with Best in Show in
Lexington, H. "Little Grapette"



It’s been a very busy last several weeks and I thought I better write before I forget anything. Region 10 Flower Shows have been in full swing – and some of the results are starting to come in. Chattanooga had their show recently and H. “Carousel Princess” won “Best-in-Show”.  In Nashville, MTDS also had a miniature winner, H. "Nutmeg Elf".  And then I heard that H. “Carousel Princess” also won “Best in Show” in the Knoxville Show. I had the opportunity to judge in the Lexington Show and H. “Little Grapette” won “Best-in-Show”.     It’s certainly been a year for miniatures it appears. However, I did hear that the Jackson club went against the trend and their “Best-in-Show” was H. "Boundless Beauty", a large flower. But I think this proves that a "Best-in-Show" does not have to be the newest introduction or the largest flower, but rather one that is well grown and meticulously groomed for the show. Shows are always fun to judge since you have the opportunity to see what other clubs do to make them interesting. Having an AHS Historic Display garden, I was especially excited to see BGHS have a show category entitled "Antiques".  What a wonderful way to encourage folks to grow our older historical cultivars and even seek AHS Historical Garden status. Too many cultivars have already been lost forever and I hope more clubs will consider this as a special club show category. BGHS also had a photography contest for members which I enjoyed viewing.

Garden of Gary & Ellen Carrithers

The Region 10 Summer Meeting was held in Louisville this year and what a meeting!! John Morgan, president of the hosting club, and his team pulled together a wonderful meeting with spectacular tour gardens, warm hospitality, and an informative guest speaker and well-known hybridizer, Jamie Gossard. Garden tours are always a highlight of the summer meeting for me and this year was no exception. We were able to see both small in-town gardens as well as larger sprawling suburban gardens - there was truly something for everyone. I've posted many pictures from the garden tours on the AHS Membership portal and am still slowly adding captions. I also just got back from visiting a beautiful daylily garden in Knoxville that contained a wonderful mix of daylily species, historical cultivars as well as many new introductions mixed with perennials. I will post those soon also on the Membership Portal.

As always at this time of year, I would like to remind everyone to participate in this year's Popularity Poll. This is your opportunity to help select the most popular cultivars in Region 10. Their selection is always a great help to daylily growers, new and old, since it reflects cultivars that perform well in our area. All ballots must be submitted to me by Sepember 1, 2011 and ballots may be found in the most recent 'Daylily Appeal', or on the AHS website.  Voting has never been easier and I would encourage everyone to vote. Please don't let only a few people decide what is most popular in Region 10 !!

Word also comes to me from Hebron Smith in KY that Jimmy Jordan, Region 10 President, has asked him to serve as editor for the Fall/Winter edition of the regional newsletter, The Daylily Appeal.  I'm sure that Hebron would welcome any and all articles and/or pictures for consideration for publication in the newsletter. According to Hebron, he hopes to have the draft ready by the September 1 deadline  - so you still have time to get your articles to him. And don't forget the routine club reports that are also due at that time.  All should be sent to Hebron at : hebrons@bellsouth.net.

I also would like to remind everyone that if you have club news, either past or present, and would like it to appear in the Region 10 News blog, you are welcome to e-mail me at willcol@aol.com.

June, 2011

Wow - I cannot believe that two months have passed since I posted my last blog.  Where did the time go?  It is suddenly early summer, 95 degrees and the daylilies are loaded with scapes after a spring that provided an excess of rain and cooler than normal temperatures. My historical cultivars and species collection kicked the bloom season off several weeks ago, but just in the last few days have I started to see recent introductions and my newer cultivars start to bloom. Pictured at the right is Hemerocallis 'Symphony' (Stout, 1941).  Yes, it's an exciting time of the year for daylily enthusiasts in Region 10. It's not too late to plan to attend the Region 10 Annual Summer Meeting and Garden Tours in Louisville, KY on June 24-25, 2011 which is sponsored this year by the Louisville Area Daylily Society (LADS). Reservations may be made at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (1-877-227-6963). For more details you may contact Andrea King at JasOKing@aol.com.  This is a wonderful way to view other daylily gardens, get landscaping ideas as well as recommendations for new cultivars that you may want to grow in your garden. And don't forget to consider making a donation to the the Plant Auction during the Summer Meeting.  All proceeds go to finance the Regional newsletter, The Daylily Appeal.  Without adequate funding and auction proceeds, the newsletter cannot have color pictures or the wonderful articles that we all enjoy and appreciate. LADS is still requesting plant donations for the auction - they should be  cultivars with a minimum value of approximately 35.00 or more. Cash donations will also be accepted. I've been told of at least one club that will be making a cash donation to the Summer Regional in place of plant donations. Several clubs have contacted me with news of upcoming and recent events. From the Tri-Cities Daylily Society comes news that Maurice Greene of the East Tennessee Daylily Society conducted a grooming class on June 4 in preparation for their upcoming Flower Show. They are also planning garden tours at the homes of Spike and Donna Good, Dennis Marshall and Ingrid Lane. For more information and dates, you may contact Susan Okrasinski at susanokrasinski@charter.net. The Middle Tennessee Daylily Society  has its annual 'Breakfast in the Garden' planned for June 11, 2011 at the residence of Dewayne Roberts in Spring Hill, TN. These two clubs contacted me regarding club events, but for other club meetings and flower show dates, don't forget that you may access the American Hemerocallis Society Membership Portal at the AHS website.  Region 10 has pictures, forums and club events posted for everyone to enjoy. That's all for now -  looking forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming Region 10 Summer Meeting in Louisville !!