Anticipation

April is one of the busiest gardening months of the year and my garden is no exception. Everything is growing exponentially it seems and the daylilies are no exception. The below picture of Hemerocallis 'Judge Orr' (Orr, 1939) was taken in my garden this year on April 8.  'Judge Orr' is like every daylily enthusiast - always wanting to rush the season a little, and for me, consistently throws up the first scape announcing the beginning of the daylily season. That's not to say that in some years he doesn't get hit by a late frost, but it never keeps him from trying. At 26 inches in height, and orange-yellow in color, he's always a welcome sight early in the season.

I've heard from several clubs this month about April events and it sounds as if  each club has something exciting planned. Elizabeth Trotter reports that the Blue Grass Hemerocallis Society has Daylily Bingo planned for April where members play Bingo and the winners get their choice of special daylilies that have been donated by club members for the event. The Middle Tennessee Daylily Society just had a meeting featuring hybridizer Tom Polston of Pleasant Valley Gardens and their annual Plant Swap event where members bring plants from their garden to swap with others. Perennials, houseplants, bulbs - you are apt to find anything available at this event.  Over in the Tri-Cities Daylily Society, Susan Okrasinski sends a note that the club had their own member and hybridizer, Bob Hale, speak on April 17 with program of local wildflower photographs. Thank You plants were also be distributed to club members from a special purchase of plants of the nursery of Memory Jordan. And last but not least, the club will begin plans to rent a van to attend the Region 10 Summer Meeting in Jackson, Tennessee. That is a wonderful segue to remind everyone to make plans now to attend the Region 10 Summer Meeting in Jackson, TN.  I received an e-mail from Jimmy and Glenda Jordan in Jackson and they advised me that everything is running smoothly and on schedule for a wonderful meeting.  And don't forget that if you have an opportunity to donate a plant for the auction, to let Jimmy and Glenda know. All proceeds from the auction go to the Region 10 treasury for future events and publicaton of the Daylily Appeal. Just as a reminder, if you want your club's events featured in the Region 10 news blog, just send me a note at wcoltharp@comcast.net.

March Post

Well, it's the first week in March, and winter just won't turn loose of it's snowy grip of Tennessee and Kentucky. I wish I could say that this photograph of the miniature Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete"  was taken in my garden this week.  Two years ago at this time, it was.  But not this year.  Though I have hundreds that have have naturalized in my garden, they still are only 2-3 inches tall. Nashville had a snow dusting this morning and the high was still only around 40 degrees.  I saw Janice Wood's post on the Robin earlier this week, and couldn't agree with her more - spring is going to be late this year! On the positive side though, it should make it just that much more exciting and wonderful. Nevertheless, the planning for the upcoming Region 10 Summer Regional in Jackson, TN is continuing at full speed.  I spoke with Jimmy Jordan, our Regional President,  last night, and he said that everything is progressing smoothly and on schedule. He did request that I let everyone know that anyone that registers for the Summer Regional will receive a new introduction from either Jack Forrester, Bill Reinke, or Richard Burke.  Margo Reed is the scheduled speaker and I'm sure will hold everyone's attention with talk of her hybridizing program of tall, spider/unusual forms. I heard her several years ago at the MWS in Chattanooga and am anxious to hear about the new advances in her program. Jimmy also wanted me to remind everyone that donations are needed for the Summer Regional Auction. All proceeds go to support the Region 10 activities and finance the publication of the Daylily Appeal, the regional newsletter.
I received my edition of the AHS E-Mail News last week.  If you do not subscribe, you are truly missing a nice publication which is edited by Elizabeth Trotter.   The top picture of H. ' Webster's Pink Wonder' is one of the best that I have seen and reminds me of why I drove to Knoxville from Nashville two years ago in a daylily frenzy to pick up a plant because I didn't want to wait for the postal service to deliver it. Elizabeth has done a wonderful job of collecting AHS news and links with a lot of daylily news for this publication. If you are interested in subscribing, please see the AHS website.

I have received several positive comments about the blog's first posting as well as some good suggestions regading content. One idea in particular submitted by Elizabeth Trotter caught my attention, and that was to provide links to all the Region 10 club websites. If you would like your club's link listed on the blog, please forward to me your website address.
I've had occassion to talk several times to Sandra Merritt recently, the region's new Exhibition Judge Liaison.  If you need assistance finding judges for upcoming shows, please feel free to contact her at sesmerritt@comcast.net.  She has been very busy this spring working with Joann Stewart, AHS Chairman of the Exhibition Judges Records, to update the Region 10 list of available judges and is ready to help any club in need of judges.
That's about all for now - remember, if you have any newsworthy club events or news coming up, I will be glad include them in the monthly blog if you forward them to me.

Welcome

Welcome to the new Region 10 News Blog. As your new Regional Publicity Director, I am charged with facilitiating the publicity for AHS, the daylily and significant regional events. After listening to Nikki Schmith at the recent Mid-Winter Symposium talk about her Region 2 blog, I thought that Region 10 deserved one also.  However, I must admit, for me, it was not QUITE as easy as Nikki suggested. After spending a couple of hours designing it, I feel that I probably looked a little bit like the dragon below in my garden. But a quick e-mail to Nikki and everything was set up 

and ready to go.  To Joann Stewart who at the MWS won a bid for a blogging "how to" package from Nikki - you got a bargain!!! Now going forward, everyone will need to remember that I am from the south, so I move a little more slowly than Nikki.  You will not see the boundless energy that Nikki exhibts, but a slower approach, much like Nikki without coffee and with lead weights tied to her ankles.  Nevertheless I will use this blog to distribute news about happenings in Region 10 and try to keep everyone up to date on upcoming events. At this point I plan on blogging at the beginning of each month and more often during busier times of the year. And  I welcome comments regarding newsworthy items of interest for members of Region 10.

 If you were at the MWS a couple of weeks ago, you probably got to hear and meet Mary Collier Fisher, the new AHS president.  She has already proven to be readily available to us by assisting Jimmy Jordan, Region 10 President, and me with resources for updating Region 10 club officers on the AHS website. We look forward to working with her to facilitate further growth of AHS as well as Region 10. Going foward, don't forget the upcoming Summer Regional Meeting in Jackson, Tennessee, June 11-12, 2010.  It's not too early to start making reservations and thinking about what you would like to donate to the auction. All proceeds of the auction go to the Region 10 coffers and to fund publication of the Region 10 Daylily Appeal. Special thanks to Susan Okrasinski for the picture of Mary taken at the MWS.

And in the spirit of the purpose of this blog, if you know of important regional or club news events that you would like publicized, please feel free to e-mail me at willcol@aol.com  and I will be glad to include them in my montly posting. Please keep them brief and to the point so that I can accomodate as many people as possible.