2011 Region 2 Summer Meeting Tour Gardens - First Look!

As an early Christmas present from the 2011 Region 2 Summer Meeting Planning Committee, here is the first look at the eight beautiful tour gardens that guests will enjoy during the July 15-17 event.

The folks from the Southern Michigan Daylily Society hope you enjoy the tease and mark your calendars for a “Great Lakes Gathering” in the Detroit suburbs.

If these gardens were not enough to entice you to run to your calendars and mark the date (July 15-17, 2011), I would guess telling you that we will have Jamie Gossard as the keynote speaker will. The Southern Michigan Daylily Society was your host for the 2002 AHS National Convention, and they sure haven’t forgotten how to throw a daylily shindig. They can’t wait to see you again!

Registration forms, detailed schedule of events and more special announcements regarding this ultimate Summer meeting coming in January.

Popularity Poll 2011

The American Hemerocallis Society's annual Popularity Poll is official! It has been posted to the AHS website. You can find Region 2 full results here!

Joyce Hersh, our wonderfully efficient (and retiring) Regional Publicity Director provided the following report:

H. 'Primal Scream' ran away with the lead this year!!   But, you can see, there was very close competition in other groupings.

In 2010, 24% (306 ballots) of the 1298 members participated in this poll.

With the prescribed ballot, voting took a bit of a turn this year. We started with 101 cultivars and had 581 in the end. A total of 372 cultivars received only one vote and 76 received only two votes. Thus, only 23% of the cultivars received three or more votes.

There was some very dramatic movement:

• H. 'Persian Ruby' went from 31 last year to number 7 this year!
• H. 'Shores of Time' went from 17 to 9 this year.
• The number 15 spot was shared by three cultivars that made pretty dramatic movement to get there: H. 'Michael Bennet' moved up from 35 the previous year; H. 'Peggy Jeffcoat' moved from 26; and H. 'Lavender Blue Baby' moved from 23 last year.  

Here are the TOP TEN for Region 2 (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio:)

1. Primal Scream (101 votes)

2. Webster's Pink Wonder (73 votes)

3. All American Chief (72 votes)

4. Ruby Spider (67 votes)

5. Bela Lugosi (60 votes)

6. Heavenly Angel Ice (55 votes)

7. Persian Ruby (49 votes)

8. Swallow Tail Kite (46 votes)

9. Shores of Time (45 votes)

10. Beautiful Edgings and South Seas (tie) (41 votes)

Thank you for the awesome report, Joyce!

I am almost embarrassed to admit I only grow two of our regional winners, but they are the "top two" so I get some slack for that!  I have grown others from this list in the past, but for one reason or another, chose to move them out in favor of new and different daylilies.  Here is our winner, H. 'Primal Scream' in my Michigan garden this summer.  It is a past Stout Silver Medal winner, introduced by the amazing Curt Hanson from northern Ohio.  This is the first unusual form daylily to be awarded the societies highest individual cultivar award.

From the AHS Website:  As a service to its members and to the general public, each year the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) conducts a popularity poll among its members to determine the favorite daylilies from each region. It is the hope of the AHS that this Popularity Poll presents a true picture of which daylilies perform well in a given area and which are best liked by the membership. Popularity polls are important to daylily growers -- both AHS members and nonmembers -- who make daylily selections for purchase.

Thanks to all who participated in the poll!

September Update from the President...

Hello and Happy September, Region 2-ers!

THE REAL STORY

Contrary to recent rumors, I am returning as the President of Region 2 for 2011-12. Detailed in the upcoming Region 2 newsletter, the elections to select a Regional President and AHS Director at the 2010 Summer Meeting were invalid. The procedures as outlined in the newly ratified regional bylaws was not followed and the result was a voided election. However, AHS has a procedure to insure the continuity of officers should anything out of the ordinary occur, and thanks to the help of the AHS President and AHS Counsel, the candidates selected by the Region 2 Nominating Committee will continue to serve into 2011. This procedure does require the resignation of current officers so that they may be reappointed by the AHS Board. At the request of the AHS President, I did provide this "procedural resignation" last week, and somehow the nature of the resignation was discovered by others and subsequently misinterpreted and miscommunicated. It has been an honor to serve as the President of the largest region in the AHS, and I intend to continue on in the office for a final two-year term. Bottom line- you're stuck with me!

REGIONAL PUBLICITY DIRECTOR SEARCH

I have a possible candidate for a new Regional Publicity Director, and I am waiting for them to finish "noodling" on taking over the job from Joyce Hersh. Joyce voiced her intent to move to Florida to be with her extended family (including grandbaby #2 coming this January) and we have been looking for a suitable replacement for her. Hopefully we can fill this position very soon.

REGIONAL NEWSLETTER EDITOR SEARCH

Narda Jones, our award-winning editor will retire at the end of this year as well, and a successor has not been named. Hopefully final decisions can be made in the coming months and the new editor can work with Narda on our winter edition- getting their feet wet and learning from the best in the process.

POPULARITY POLL RESULTS

Our Popularity Poll results are tabulated and are awaiting final approval from the AHS Popularity Poll chair. Once again, I believe the new way of voting and adding cultivars to the list is working! A few cultivars have dropped off our list for 2011, and several were added from write-in votes. Check the AHS website in the coming months for updates and announcements on this topic!

2011 WINTER SYMPOSIUM

The dates for the 2011 Region 2 Winter Symposium are February 25-27 and the location will once again be Blue Ash, Ohio (just outside Cincinnati, Ohio.) Plans are in the works as I write this, and registration forms and agendas will be posted to the regional website before the end of this year. Dan Bachman and JR Blanton are the co-chairs for the event, Mandy McMahon is the auction chair, Kimberly McCutcheon is handling the seedling/introduction slide show, and Diane Pruden is the new registrar. Any questions on the event can be directed to me or any one of those individuals. The speaker line-up is shaping up to be the best ever, so this is a perfect way to chase the winter blues away and get inspired to garden in 2011!

2011 SUMMER MEETING AND GARDEN TOURS

Speaking of 2011, our Region 2 Summer Meeting is hosted by the Southern Michigan Daylily Society and will be headquartered in Troy, Michigan (a northern suburb of Detroit.) The dates of this event are July 15-17. Mark you calendars. Eight tour gardens, many open gardens, an unprecedented boutique, FIVE meals, a massive live auction, unbelievable raffles, superb gift / bus plants, and Jamie Gossard as the keynote speaker make this the event of the year for Region 2. Please plan to attend.

As summer blows away in the autumn breeze, I hope you breathe a sigh of satisfaction in your gardens this year. Don't make your "to-buy" or "to-do" lists for 2011 too big - yet.

Wishing you blue skies and beautiful blooms,

~

Nikki

It couldn't be easier... | AHS Popularity Poll Deadline...

IT COULDN'T BE EASIER TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

The deadline for this year's AHS Popularity Poll is in one week. The deadline to cast your ballot is SEPTEMBER 1. You have less than seven days to vote, and it couldn't be easier.

Visit this link and vote. There is nothing to mail, no need to find just the right pen, and no paper ballot to find in that stack of to-do's on your desk.

Just visit the above link and cast YOUR vote for YOUR favorite daylilies.

Our regional publicity director has let us know that only 210 Region 2 members have voted so far. That number is down from last year and is only a small percentage of our membership. She says that our number one selection for "most popular" daylily is a runaway (so far) but the battle for the second through fifth spot is a tight race.

Here are our results from last year:

As a service to its members and to the general public, each year the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) conducts a popularity poll among its members to determine the favorite daylilies from each region. It is the hope of the AHS that this Popularity Poll presents a true picture of which daylilies perform well in a given area and which are best liked by the membership.

At their Fall 2008 Meeting, the AHS Board of Directors voted to make several changes to the Popularity Poll to improve the quality of the results and to emphasize the regional nature of those results. Each Region will now have its own ballot based on past regional favorites. Each member will still have 10 votes, and up to 5 of these may still be write-ins. Garden Judges in particular are encouraged to use those write-ins to keep the ballot fresh with newer cultivars that have been observed to perform well in their region.

Will you please (pretty please with sugar on it) visit the AHS website here and vote in this year's AHS Popularity Poll?

End of Season Reminders...

Hello friends and fans of Region 2!

There are many important deadlines coming up that you should be aware of...

1.)  Club Presidents and regional members who donate money to the AHS Endowment funds (Memorial or To Honor) should send these checks to Mary Lou Lundblade at the following address:

Mary Lou Lundblade

Endowments Chair

511 W. Ness St.

Valley Center, KS 67147-4920

2.)  We've almost reached August, so the September 1st deadline for receiving your nomination letters for Service and Personal Awards is just around the corner. I encourage each of you to consider those worthy individuals who have performed outstanding service in Region 2 to take a moment to write a letter supporting their nomination for the Regional Service Award. Or perhaps you know of those who deserve to be nominated for either the Helen Field Fischer Award, the Bertrand Farr Medal or the Moldovan Mentoring Award. The specific requirements for all of these awards can be found on the AHS website and in the 'Judging Daylilies' Handbook. A list of previous winners is also available on the website.

3.)  If you are an AHS Garden Judge, your ballot is due in just a few weeks.  If you lost yours, you can get a new one here.  Get it mailed to the AHS ASAP.  To date, only 19 of our 158 Garden Judges in Region 2 have returned their ballots.

4.)  Popularity Poll voting is going on right now.  As a service to its members and to the general public, each year the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) conducts a popularity poll among its members to determine the favorite daylilies from each region. It is the hope of the AHS that this Popularity Poll presents a true picture of which daylilies perform well in a given area and which are best liked by the membership. Popularity polls are important to daylily growers -- both AHS members and nonmembers -- who make daylily selections for purchase.

Although our blooms are waning, there is still lots going on in our daylily community!  Dont miss the deadlines!

Picture above is H. 'Granite City Belle,' bybridized by Region 2 hybridizer and resident from my hometown in southern Illinois, Agnes Miller.

Spotlight on the Wisconsin Daylily Society | Daylily Club in Action!

In past years, the Wisconsin Daylily Society (based in Madison, Wisconsin) has been a leader in financially supporting Region 2. 2010 is no exception. Ed Kraus, our regional treasurer recently received two donations from this group totaling $1600.00!

This brings many thoughts to mind: 

• How thoughtful. In the current economic times, when memberships and plant sale revenues are reportedly down, WDS still writes the region into its yearly budget and faithfully donates to the regional cause. Could they do other things with the money? Of course, but they choose to fund color in the regional newsletter, and allow us to more comfortably explore creative ways to get our membership engaged in regional and national activities.
   
• WOW- this is a lot of money. Some clubs do not have $1600.00 in their treasury, let alone that much to willingly donate to the region. This says a lot about their dedication to the overall educational mission of the AHS.
   
• Why don’t other societies donate to Region 2? Well, probably for many sensible and realistic reasons. It takes a focused budget to make donations like this possible. It also takes the support of the whole membership to raise the funds so the budget can be executed as planned.

Their website is colorful and well-thought out. It features some interesting content, including a picture gallery of WDS Top Ten Daylilies of 2009 and galleries of past photo contest winners. All of their newsletters are also available as PDF documents, as far back as 2005. At this link, visitors can find some awesome resources to picture galleries and scientific articles.

This group also has become known as the planners of the "Wisconsin Bus" at regional meetings. They often charter their own bus for trips to regional meetings and subsidize much of the cost for its members. The calendar of events is full of colorful, diverse programs for all levels of interest.

Thank you to the members of the Wisconsin Daylily Society! You should be very proud and the region appreciates your financial support!

 

A little more self promotion, please...

There are a plethora of awards for daylilies through the American Hemerocallis Society. You might wonder what these awards are, or how some daylilies get nominated and some others do not. Here is my interpretation of the AHS "Pyramid of Awards."  (click picture to see larger version)

I wanted to take a moment to explain the fact that the first step in path to a Stout Silver Medal is the Honorable Mention.

I was talking with Greg Schindler, hybridizer of H. 'Matchless Fire' and H. 'Morningcloud Marmalade,' and mentioned to him that he should definitely consider nominating H. 'Matchless Fire' for an HM next year. He asked me what the process was, and was unaware of one key fact:

Hybridizers nominate their own cultivars for both the Honorable Mention section of the ballot as well as the Specialty Awards.

Julie Covington, chair of AHS Awards and Honors sends out letters to hybridizers each November, asking them for nominations for the Honorable Mention and Specialty Awards. Anyone who wants to be added to the hybridizer's list may contact her to have their names added to the list. Approximately 10-15 new hybridizers are added each year. Once the letter goes out, it is also available on the AHS website and can be downloaded from there.

There are two items that are super important to note if you are a hybridizer considering nominating your own cultivars for an Honorable Mention (126 were awarded in 2009) or a Specialty Award. First, note that cultivars nominated for the HM section must have been registered for a minimum of three years. The date that you see for eligibility on the 2010 ballot will be moved back one year for the 2011 ballot. Many hybridizers (except for those perhaps in the Deep South) will actually wait 4-5 years before nominating cultivars to allow ample time for distribution. So first, you must have been registering cultivars for several years in order to have some cultivars which meet the time requirements. For the Special Awards, note that those must have been registered a minimum of 5 years before they can be placed on the ballot.

The second item - which I can't emphasize enough - is that anyone who nominates cultivars for the ballot should know that those nominated have fairly good distribution to OTHER regions of the country besides one's home region. For a daylily to win an HM Award, garden judges in at least 4 AHS regions must see it growing and be impressed enough to vote on it! Julie urges those who are nominating for the first time to start out small - perhaps only nominate two or three the first year to see how they will do.

So, in summary, if you are a hybridizer and think you'd like to get your daylilies on the ballot for Garden Judges to consider awarding an Honorable Mention to, you must nominate them yourself.

A little self-promotion never hurt anyone – that I know of!

Thank you to Julie Covington who provided some of the content for this post.  She does a thankless and hectic job managing Awards and Honors.  THANK YOU, JULIE!