H. "Rooty Tooty" (Pickles, 2011)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

June Show News

The last few weeks have been a flurry of visiting gardens and nearby shows.  A couple of weeks ago, I visited the show in Louisville sponsored by the the Daylily Society of Louisville.  With 332 entries, the show was held in a new location this year and contained many wonderful cultivars. Winning "Best-in-Show" was an older cultivar, Hemerocallis 'Woodland Spider' (Simpers, 1979), a large yellow unusual form cultivar that won favor from all the judges.  Exhibited and photographed by Summer Dawn Marks, there was some discussion surrounding it's classification, but as with many of the older cultivars, there was no Unusual Form category at the time of its registration. Consequently, it was in the Large Section for judging purposes for this show. The next day was the  "Blue Grass Daylily Derby" Show and Sale in Lexington presented by the Blue Grass Hemerocallis Society. Again, another older miniature cultivar was exhibited by Kris and Jody Hodge and won "Best-in-Show - H. 'Toyland' (Reckamp, 1965).  A special thanks goes to Elizabeth Trotter from the Lexington club for the below picture. Having an interest in older cultivars, it's always gratifying to me to see older cultivars win awards.   It means that an entry does not have to be the latest introduction in order to win recognition, but that any cultivar has the potential to win an award as long as it is grown well, true to form, and groomed appropriately. This opens up the experience of daylily shows to all daylily enthusiasts, no matter what the size of their pocketbook.
The weekend following my trip to Kentucky found me traveling across Tennessee to visit friends in Knoxville who have just joined AHS. I have been sharing daylilies with them for several years and they have created a beautiful garden combining perennials, daylilies and other shrubs. On the way to Knoxville, I stopped off in Crossville to visit MTDS members, Sam and Linda Hassler and tour their garden.  The Crossville area is known for it's cooler than average temperatures and the cooler temperatures had certainly helped the daylilies hang onto their blooms a little longer despite the June heat. And hoping to squeeze the last breath out of the daylily season in Region 10, I hope to get back to the Lexington area this coming weekend to visit a few more gardens. 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, 2010 and ballots may be found in the most recent 'Daylily Appeal', or on the AHS website.
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.