daylilies in the great northeast

Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 1

Connecticut • Maine • Massachusetts • New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador • New Hampshire • New York • Nova Scotia • Ontario • Prince

Edward Island • Québec• Rhode Island • Vermont

Fall 2013in the Great Northeast

American Hemerocallis Society Region 4, Inc.

AHS Award of Merit winner Hemerocallis ‘Rose F. Kennedy’(Doorakian, 2007)

Inside: Region 4 Award of Merit and Honorable Mention winners!Region 4 Photo contestClub reports

2 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013

2013 AHS Region 4 Award Winners

Award of Merit and R.W. Munson AwardHemerocallis ‘Rose F. Kennedy’ (Doorakian, G. 2007)

Honorable MentionH. ‘Barbara White’ (Culver, B. 2007)

Photo credits: H.‘Rose F. Kennedy’ by Julie Covington; ‘Barbara White’ and ‘Sun Panda’ by Brian Culver; ‘Hurricane Bob’, ‘Flying Down To Rio’ and ‘Passion’s Promise’ by Chris Petersen; ‘Vanilla Gorilla’ by Mike Huben; ‘Statuesque’ by Gil Stelter.

Honorable MentionH. ‘Sun Panda’ (Culver, B. 2009)


Honorable MentionH. ‘Hurricane Bob’ (Schwarz, B. 2003)

Honorable MentionH. ‘Flying Down To Rio’ (Schwarz, B. 2002)

Honorable MentionH. ‘Passion’s Promise’ (Sayers, P. 1999)

Honorable MentionH. ‘Vanilla Gorilla’ (Huben, M. 2008)

Honorable Mention H. ‘Statuesque’ (Stout, A.1956)[right]


American Hemerocallis Society OfficersNational President

Julie Covington

4909 Labradore Drive

Roanoke, VA 24012-853

[email protected]

Executive Secretary

Pat Mercer

PO Box 10

Dexter, GA 31019

[email protected]

Editor, The Daylily Journal

Meg McKenzie Ryan

1936 Wensley Avenue

El Centro, CA 92243

[email protected]

AHS Region 4 Director

Melodye Campbell

21 Ambleside Drive

Fairport, NY 14450

[email protected]

Region 4 Officers and LiaisonsRegional President (RP)Kim Walters154 Main St.Sandown, NH [email protected]

Regional Publicity Director (RPD)Dave Mussar4083 Watson Road South,Puslinch, OntarioCanada N0B [email protected]

Regional SecretaryPat Wessling 21 Pinehurst Drive Wareham, MA [email protected]

Regional TreasurerDan PessoniP.O. Box 1083East Orleans, MA [email protected]

Regional EditorAdele Keohan304 Lowell StWakefield, MA [email protected]

Region 4 WebmasterKelly Noel19 Orville Kemp StOttawa, ON K1T [email protected]

Region 4 Garden Judge LiaisonGary Jones40 Woodstock MeadowsWoodstock, CT [email protected]

Region 4 Exhibition Judge LiaisonDr. Robert Stanton4 Brook PathPlainview, NY [email protected]

Region 4 Scientific LiaisonSue BergeronRR3 Almonte OntarioK0A 1A0 [email protected]

AHS Endowment Fund Liaison-open

Youth LiaisonElliot Turkiew11 Edward StreetBethpage, NY [email protected]

American Hemerocallis SocietyMembership RatesIndividual (1 year) $25.00Individual (3 years) $70.00Dual Membership (1 year)* $30.00Dual Membership (3 years)* $83.00Life Membership $500.00Dual life Membership $750.00Youth $10.00

* Dual membership means two persons living in the same household.

Dues are to be paid by January 1 of each year.Make checks payable to the AHS and mail to AHS Secretary, Pat MercerP.O. Box 10Dexter, GA 31019

or pay online at http://www.daylilies.org/AHSmemb.html

The AHS Region 4 Newsletter is presented herein as a ser-vice to Region 4 Members and is not necessarily endorsed by the AHS or by the editor. Rights to material published in this newsletter remain with the author; to reprint or otherwise reproduce material published in this newsletter, please obtain permission from the author.

The American Hemerocallis Society, Inc. is a non-profit organization. Said corporation is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, and especially to pro-mote, encourage and foster the development and improve-ment of the genus Hemerocallis and public interest there-in. The purposes are expressly limited so that AHS qualifies as an exempt organization under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal revenue Code of 1954 or the corresponding provi-sion of any future U.S. Internal Revenue Law.

On the cover: 2013 AHS Award of Merit Winner

ROSE F. KENNEDY (Doorakian, 2007)Photo: Julie Covington

Editorial PolicyThe editorial focus of this publication centers on the genus Hemero-callis, AHS and Region 4 events, Region 4 members and hybridizers.Submissions are encouraged. The editor reserves the right to edit for space, grammar, clarity and content. Submission GuidelinesPlease submit: • High resolution photographs• Reports on Region 4 club news and events• Articles on daylilies• Garden write ups• Non-commercial profiles on Region 4 hybridizersSubmit material via email. Please send text as a file attachment in Word. Send photographs as separate attachments. Obtain copyright/consent form from editor, sign and return.If you have inquiries regarding submissions, articles, photos or correc-tions, please email the Region 4 Newsletter Editor at [email protected] or call 781-245-7551.


Daylilies in the Great Northeast Fall 2013

Connecticut • Maine • Massachusetts • New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador • New Hampshire • New York • Nova Scotia • Ontario • Prince Edward Island • Québec • Rhode Island • Vermont

Deadline for Spring Issue: February 15Out-of -Region Subscriptions:$10 per year in USA$12.50 per year outside of USMake checks payable to AHS Region 4 and mail to Region 4 treasurer:Dan PessoniP.O. Box 1083 East Orleans, MA 02643

Advertising:Rates for inside pages B&W ColorFull page......................................$85 Half Page.....................................$50 $100Quarter Page.............................$30 $50Make checks payable to AHS Region 4 and send it with your

advertising request to the Editor.

2013 Region 4 Award Winners ...............................................................2-3

Contact info: Region 4 Officers and Liaisons.............................................4-5

Reports from the Region 4 Officers..........................................................6-7

2013 Popularity Poll results.......................................................................8

Region 4 Hybridizer Award Winner ............................................................8

Region 4 Meeting Minutes.........................................................................9

Ballot, Election of Region 4 Director ..........................................................9

Region 4 Service Award: Mary Collier Fisher..............................................10

Ask The Ombudsman..........................................................................10-11

2013 Daylily Exhibition reports...........................................................12-13

A New England Gardens Tour by Nick Chase..........................................14-16

Region 4 Summer Meeting by Gene Moglia..........................................16-17

2013 Region 4 Photo Contest results....................................................18-21

Region 4 Club News............................................................................22-29

Tips for Making Your Sale a Great Success by Rebecca Nisley.......................29

Gardening in 3D by David Jewell..........................................................30-31

Youth News............................................................................................31

De Toutes les Couleurs! [All the colors] by Daniel Matton.......................32-33

Understanding Your Garden Soil by Frank Almquist..............................34-36

Hybridizing: Is it for You? by Lori-Ann Jones..........................................36-38

New Members Corner: Josette Ratté of Québec......................................39-40

A National Floral Frenzy...and you’re invited! by Carol Haj ........................41

Welcome New Region 4 Members ............................................................42

Region 4 Local Organizations...................................................................43

In Memoriam..........................................................................................43

Advertisements

Passion Hémérocalles, Québec..................................................................11

Thanks to all who sent submissions for this issue of Daylilies In The Great Northeast as well as those who

offered advice and support!

A special thanks to the following people for their invaluable help and assistance:

Jocelyn Blouin Linda Kozloski Mary Collier Fisher Pat Mercer, AHS SecretaryJulie Covington Chris PetersenWinnie Garabis Meg McKenzie RyanJohn Stahl

and the 2013 Region 4 Photo Contest Judges: Carol Brashear, Linda Keohan, and Liz Mackney.

Thank you!

Proofreaders: Jocelyn Blouin, Mary Collier Fisher.

Table of Contents


AHS Region 4 Officer ReportsDirector’s Report - Melodye CampbellNews from the Board Room

What a whirlwind summer! With the National Convention being during our peak bloom, and then the Region 4 Meeting two weeks after, there just wasn’t enough time in the garden. I’m just now catching my breath! The Long Island Daylily Society, aka the LIDS Kidz, hosted a wonderful meeting. The almost 60 people who attended were treated to great presentations by Carl Harmon, Gene Moglia, Melanie Vassallo, and the three amigos from Ontario, Gil Stelter, Dave Mussar and Bryan Culver. Thank you, LIDS!

A wonderful time was had by all at the National Convention in Minneapolis. Congratulations to all the Region 4 folks who came home with awards:

• Chris Petersen won her 3rd Mildred Schlumpf landscape photography award for her image of the Lucius Garden.

• Debi Kral won the Mildred Schlumpf award, best single bloom, for her image of ‘Samadhi.’

• Marianne Joordens won the Artistic Photo competition for her image of ‘Lucky Streak.’

• Mary Collier Fisher was awarded the 2013 Region 4 Service Award for her years of service to Region 4 and the AHS. Presenting the Regional Service Award is the best perk of my job as Director. Listing all her accomplishments and then seeing the light dawn on her face was great fun for me!

• Melanie Mason won best newsletter article in the Scientific Article category, “Plant Hardiness: Which Way’s North.”

• Melanie Mason also picked up her Award of Merit for ‘Mabou’, in person! It was a great honor to present the award to her! J

• Bobbie Brooks won an Honorable Mention for ‘Sugar Plum Jam.’

• Darlyn Wilkinson won an Honorable Mention for ‘Greywoods Painted Pony.’

FYI, all of the award winning newsletter articles can be downloaded from the Members Only Portal. Just log in and then click on AHS Files in the green bar at the top of the page. Newsletter awards will be one of the options, you can select from 2012 or 2013. Also on the Portal is a National Convention Photo Album with a great collection of images taken by folks at the convention. The link is right on the Portal home page.

Updates from the board meeting:

• Our registrar, Kevin Walek, emphasized that if a hybridizer registers a cultivar in 2013, the registration will not be official until the print checklist comes out in the spring. Therefore, if you search for a 2013 registration in the database, information about that daylily will not show up on until the print checklist is published.

• If you are planning ahead, the 2017 National Convention will be hosted by the Tidewater Daylily Society, June 21-

25, 2017, in the Virginia Beach area.• Have you subscribed to the Daylily E-news, an electronic

newsletter from the AHS? E-news editor, Elizabeth Trotter, publishes the e-news every other month. The E-news offers information, announcements, press releases and the latest news about daylilies and the AHS. Instructions on how to subscribe can be found on the AHS website, http://www.daylilies.org/ENews.html. Breaking news! You can also subscribe to the E-news by texting DAYLILIES to 22828.

• The AHS Board voted to increase the number of garden judges to 20% of each region’s membership. The new percentage was instituted to solve the problem of decreasing membership. Previously, regions could have up to 15% of their members be garden judges.

• AHS Media library: There are many free PowerPoint presentations that can be ordered through the portal and will be electronically delivered. These presentations are a great resource to show at club meetings or daylilies shows and sales. Just go to http://daylilies.site-ym.com/store/ListProducts.aspx?catid=107150 and take a look. Some of the new presentations are:

o Woodhenge Gardens: the daylilies of Margo Reed and Jim Murphy

o Shoestrings on a Budget: the daylilies of Linda Michaels

o Daylilies, the other essential perennial, featuring the photography of Charlie Harper

o Exhibitions for the Enthusiast by Nikki Schmith

o Small Daylilies by Julie Covington and Miniature Daylilies by Julie Covington

o AHS Photography Contest, Top Images from 2013

• Personal information for each member is currently private in the Members Only Portal unless you turn on personal info. Once you login to the Portal, click on the Manage Profile Link under My Profile. This screen shot [opposite page] illustrates where to find the Manage Profile link.


AHS Region 4 Officer Reports

Follow the instructions for editing your Bio so that your contact information will be visible to other AHS members.

That’s all for now! If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail. All the best,Mel

Regional President’s Message - Kim WaltersWhere does the time go? It seems like the season just started,

and now it is time to put the garden to sleep for the winter. Club meetings are starting up again. It is wonderful to meet with other enthusiasts and have a chance to see some great speakers.

A big thank you to the Long Island Daylily Club; they put on a wonderful regional. The speakers were informative and entertaining. It was great to see both old and new friends. I got some great plants, and even managed to plant them right away.

At the business meeting, it was decided not to cancel the 2014 regional, but as no club has stepped up to do the regional for 2014, it will be a one day event at Harmon Hill Farm in New Hampshire. There are some volunteers on the region level that will put together a recommended hotel, and some open gardens. There will be a business meeting, but no banquet. We will do an online auction in the spring. Please contact me if you want to be on the committee to help with the planning. Hopefully we can use this committee to help smaller clubs who want to host a regional.

Region 4 members were presented with awards at this year’s national. Congratulations to:

Melanie Mason for winning a newsletter award for “Plant Hardiness: Which Way’s North?”;

Debi Kral for the Mildred Schlumpf Award (single flower) for her photo of Hemerocallis ‘Samadhi’;

Chris Petersen for the Mildred Schlumpf Award (landscape) for her photo, “Lucius Garden, Ohio”;

Marianne Joordens for the Artistic Photography Award for her photo of H. ‘Lucky Streak’.

It’s not too late to submit your entry for this year’s AHS photo contest. You could be a winner at the next national. The 2014 National is in North Carolina, about day’s drive for most of us (an ever quicker flight) and looks to be a lot of fun.

Editor’s Message - Adele KeohanThank you to all who submitted material to this issue of Daylilies In

The Great Northeast. I hope you enjoy the articles, reports and photos within. Speaking of photos, I wish to thank everyone who supplied me with wonderful photos for use in this issue. I must give a special thank you to my “go to” photographer, Chris Petersen, for supplying excellent photos from the regional meeting, the LIDS exhibition[which you’ll see along with the photos of John Stahl],and for being there for me when I need a photo of a Region 4 cultivar or when I inform her that I can’t use my photos of folks at the regional meeting as the images are so grainy it would be an embarrassment. Thank you, Chris!

Congrats to Chris Petersen, Debi Kral and Marianne Joordens for winning national photography awards this year. Congrats to Mary Collier Fisher, who won the 2013 Region 4 Service Award, and my thanks to her for being a super proofreader.

I was excited to watch the Region 4 Photo Contest results unfold via emails back and forth with the three judges. All photos were labeled only with a number. No other information was supplied to the judges. I kept track of the votes for each photo. The judges quickly chose a winner of the single/multiple bloom category and the artistic [closeup]category as well. It took a little longer for the landscape category. Just for fun, on my own I narrowed each category down to 6 or 7 and could not narrow down any further. To me, all the photo submissions were stunning.

If you’d like to get children more involved in the daylily world, there’s a page on the AHS Portal for anyone interested in daylily activities for youths. The page contains ideas and illustration for games, crafts, worksheets, and many other projects. The link to this page is in the drop down menu of ‘AHS Files’ located in the navigation bar at the top of the Portal page.

I’m on the lookout for more region 4 writers and I invite you to submit your suggestions and ideas for newsletter features and articles. The deadline for submissions to the Spring 2014 issue of the newsletter is February 15. Make sure I have any updated club information (new contact info, new officers, etc.) prior to that deadline. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

If you are wondering what topics to write about, please review the list of Regional Newsletter Awards at http://www.daylilies.org/AHSNewsletterAwards.html. Melanie Mason won the “Best Scientific Article” award for “Plant Hardiness: Which Way’s North?” All articles published in regional newsletters are eligible for the national newsletter awards listed on the webpage mentioned above.

In the next issue I’m looking to feature an AHS Display garden and owner, a Region 4 hybridizer, and other daylily related stories from the US and Canada. This summer I had the pleasure of meeting members of the AAHQ, Association des Amateurs d’Hémérocalles du Québec, and my friend, Jocelyn Blouin who has been kind enough to proofread the French articles for me. One of the AAHQ members is featured in the New Members Corner. Her name is Josette Ratté. A special welcome to the new Region 4 members from AAHQ in Québec and all new members of Region 4.

An upcoming Region 4 event is the Can-Am Classic in Ontario, May 9-10, 2014. I have attended this meeting a few times now, and the speakers are always wonderful, not to mention the auction and the great food. It’s worth getting your passport, if you don’t already have one, in order to attend the Can-Am Classic. The Ontario Daylily Society does a great job running this event. Here is a link to their website: http://ontariodaylily.on.ca/ .

Reminder: January 1st is the deadline for renewing your AHS membership.

I wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season and I hope to see you at a daylily meeting or event next year.


Regional Publicity Director’s Message- Dave MussarRegion 4 - 2013 Popularity Poll

Well it seems like old favourites continue to be close to our hearts but the gaps are closing in. This year 124 Region 4 voters identified their top performing daylilies in their gardens. Members had a ballot that contained 127 cultivars representing all those plants that received 3 or more votes in 2012. They also had the flexibility to write in up to 5 cultivars that were not already listed on the ballot. This process allows newer cultivars, as they become better distributed and become proven performers in more gardens, to get on the basic ballot for future years. In total 352 cultivars were named by the voters.

Perhaps to nobody’s surprise the top two favourites from last year, Hemerocallis ‘Primal Scream’ and H. ‘Ruby Spider’, remained at the top in 2013. ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’ has been moving rapidly up in the polls and reached the third position. ‘Beautiful Edgings’ and ‘Fooled Me’ moved into the top 10 again. Gossard’s Neon Flamingo was new to the top 10 favourites in 2013 and Culver’s Sun Panda moved up in ranking showing that newer cultivars can indeed quickly become recognized by the voters in Region 4.

In 2012 nearly 20% of Region 4 members voted in the annual popularity poll. This year that number dropped to approximately 13%. The more members who vote the more reliable and representative the results will be. Let’s endeavour to have more members express their opinions in 2014.

2013 Total Rank 2012 Total RankPrimal Scream 27 1 Primal Scream 47 1Ruby Spider 26 2 Ruby Spider 36 2Webster’s Pink Wonder 22 3 Red Volunteer 31 3Beautiful Edgings 21 4 King George 29 4Orchid Corsage 20 5 Spirit Zone 28 5Sun Panda 19 6 Webster’s Pink Wonder 27 6Red Volunteer 17 7 Orchid Corsage 26 7Fooled Me 16 8 El Desperado 25 8Neon Flamingo 16 8 Rose F. Kennedy 25 8Mabou 15 10 Mabou 24 10 Peggy Jeffcoat 24 10 Sun Panda 24 10

The 2013 Region 4 Hybridizer Award goes to...Pam Hoffman for Hemerocallis ‘Mystic Avalon’ (Hoffman, P. 2009). Congratulations, Pam!Pam’s daylily nursery, Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm, is located in South Wales, NY. She is an active member and past officer of The Buffalo Area Daylily Society (BADS).Pam grows, sells and hybridizes “daylilies that thrive in a northern climate.”For more information on Pam’s introductions or to contact her, visit the Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm website at http://www.mysticmeadowsdaylily.com/index.html


Saturday, August 10, 2013, Melville, NY

1. Meeting was called to order by Kim Walters at 4:15 pm.

2. Attendance was taken.3. The election of the Region 4 President was

held. Kim Walters was nominated and elected unanimously by those present.

4. A nominating committee was selected to choose nominees for RD. Mary Collier Fisher, Gene Moglia and Debi Chowdhury were elected as the nominating committee.

5. The lack of a club to host the 2014 Regional Meeting was discussed. A motion was made to cancel the 2014 regional meeting. The motion was voted down by those present.

6. New business: It was proposed by the RP that a committee should be organized for the purpose of investigating the planning of future regional meetings at the regional level. The following members volunteered to be part of the regional planning committee: Luanne Madden, Debi Chowdhury, Melodye Campbell, Adele Keohan, Carol Volongus, Pat Salhoff, Kathryn Mohr and Kate Reed.

[A birdhouse donated by Frank Chaloupecky for the Raffle at the 2013 Region 4 Summer Meeting. Photo: Chris Petersen]

Region 4 Mail-In Ballot for Election of Regional Director on

May 10, 2014 Nominating Committee: Mary Collier Fisher (Chair),

Gene Moglia, Debi Chowdhury Nominating Committee Recommended Candidate

for Regional Director:

Melodye Campbell, Fairport, NY, 3-Year Term 1/1/2015 - 12/31/2017

This mail-in ballot is for election of the AHS Regional Director of Region 4 for the term of office indicated above. The ballot must be signed and returned to the Chair of the Nominating Committee hand delivered or postmarked no later than fifteen (15) days prior to the date of the annual Regional Meeting (due on or before May 8, 2014). The Nominating Committee shall count the ballots and ascertain that all ballots are from active members of the Region as certified by the Secretary of AHS. Those members who do not vote by mail shall have the additional opportunity to cast their vote at the annual AHS Region 4 Regional Meeting, and all balloting at the annual Regional Meeting shall be conducted by means of written ballot with space to write in the names of candidates nominated after the floor has been opened for additional nominations. The officer’s term begins January 1, 2015. Only Region 4 AHS members may vote. Mark your choice with an X for officer to be elected by this ballot in the box below.

______ A vote for the nominee for Regional Director recommended by the nominating committee (above)

______ ______________________________________ (Write-in candidate for Regional Director)

Signature: __________________________________________

Date: ________________

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ballot for Second AHS Region 4 Family Member (must be an

AHS member):

______ A vote for the nominee for Regional Director recommended by the nominating committee (above)

______ ______________________________________ (Write-in candidate for Regional Director)

Signature: __________________________________________

Date: ________________

Mail to: Mary Collier Fisher, 32 Mylod St., Walpole, MA 02081

Time to VOTERegion 4 Meeting Minutes


by Donna Peck (AHS Ombudsman)During the past few years I’ve had a num-

ber of people ask me this question. Why does our club need to put on a flower show? I was surprised to learn that many clubs don’t have a flower show because ever since I became a daylily club member, our club has always held a show!

I belong to the Albuquerque Daylily Club in New Mexico, and I think our show is one of the highlights of the year. I joined in 1990 and we automatically put our show on our calen-dar of the year’s activities. We enjoy showing the daylilies to our community, and we have many visitors who come see our show each year. We even give them a voting slip for them to vote on their favorite daylily and arrange-ment. We also hold a plant sale at the same time, and it is always very successful.

Since we are the only club in New Mexico we need to “import” judges from other states such as Arizona and Texas. We have a big potluck for them the night before the show, which is a wonderful way of getting to know them and also socialize with our members. We do give them a free night at a hotel and a stipend to help with traveling expenses. We treat the judges to lunch after they finish judg-ing and some even stay another day at their

own expense for extra sightseeing. Our club members volunteer to pick up the judges at the airport, if needed, and transport them to the dinner and to the show the next day. It is a very special time for our club.

I asked Nikki Schmith (Chair of Photo-graphic Media) from Region 2, Joann Stewart (chair of Exhibition Judges Records) from Region 5,and Gwen Pennington (member of the Ombudsman Committee) from Region 6 for their thoughts on why a club should hold a daylily show.QUESTION: WHY ARE FLOWER SHOWS IM-PORTANT TO OUR CLUB?

Joann says “like an Easter parade, an accredited daylily show gives you the chance to show off your plants, garner admiring looks and comments about your entries, and earn accolades on your grooming and plant culture. Perhaps more importantly this is also the best way to spotlight your club, to show not only that you grow plants which are worthy of garden space, and you’re a group of divergent members with a common interest, but that you’re a group which is congenial, willing to share ‘self,’ information and plants and don’t look down on beginners or strang-ers.”

Nikki feels that those in the club who

resist having a show are a “loud minority”. The theme is generally the same around the country – “we don’t have the money,” “we don’t have the energy/manpower,” or “we don’t like what the competition brings out in the members.” But Nikki encourages those who have the desire to host such an event to MOVE FORWARD WITH YOUR GRAND PLANS DESPITE THE RESISTANCE. Nikki promises that if “you bring scapes to the show and partici-pate with an open mind, you will realize it is WORTH THE EFFORT. You will have connected with the club, you will have connected to the national organization and you will have connected with other daylily fans like yourself. You will have a GREAT TIME.

Nikki hears many negative comments from the members who aren’t personally enthused about a show. Here are a few comments and Nikki’s answer to them.1. “I don’t want to waste a whole scape to

bring it to the show.” If it’s a new culti-var, or one you are using for hybridizing, then don’t cut it. Just bring in one flower for the off scape section. But, on a clump that is surely going to produce multiple scapes, you won’t miss one! Nikki feels that once you cut one, clean it up and bring it in to exhibit you will wonder why

Region 4 Service Award, National Level - Mary Collier FisherThe following is the nomination letter submitted by Melodye Campbell, Region 4 Director:Please accept my nomination of Mary Collier Fisher for the Region 4 Service Award. Since becoming a member of the AHS in 1986, she has truly been an ambassador for daylilies and for people who love them. Here are just a few of Mary’s accomplishments at the Regional level: • She is a Life member of the AHS

• She serves as a garden judge, garden judge instructor and senior exhibition judge

• She served three years as editor of the Region 4 newsletter, Daylilies in the Great Northeast. When she stepped down from the editor’s position to serve as Region 4 Director, she continued to be our champion proof reader!

• Member of New England Daylily Society; worked on the 2000 Regional and the 2001 National held in the Boston area.

• As one of the founding members of the Patriot Daylily Society, she served as the club’s first president. She has served the club in many other capacities and is currently the club treasurer.

• As he is unable to travel, Mary presents George Doorakian’s hybridizing program at daylily functions around the country.

At the National level:• Mary served 2 terms as Region 4 Director

• In that capacity, she served as Chief Financial Officer of the AHS• She also served as AHS Vice President• AHS President from 2010-2011.

During her term as AHS President, she worked diligently to increase membership and succeeded in reversing the downward trend in her second year as President. She challenged us all to recruit new members by giving gift memberships – and gave countless gift memberships herself! To attract younger members, Mary worked very hard with the Technology Committee to develop and implement the Members Only Portal initiative. She continues to volunteer as the Portal General Manager. During her presidency, the coffee table book, Landscaping with Daylilies, was published. In addition, a promotional video was created for youtube.com in order to attract new members, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idehlULGsC4.

Gary Jones, past Region 4 President, stated: “Mary has truly been, since she first saw a daylily, our Region 4 Daylily Ambassador, graciously extending friendship to all she meets, whether she is attending a Region 4 daylily club meeting, or an AHS convention, or talking with folks around the globe on the Internet. Since the start of the daylily email robin, Mary has continually posted welcoming messages to new members. This writer recalls walking with Mary from Melanie Mason’s Saratoga Springs home to the garden of the late Stanley Saxton. Mary asked if I grew Stanley’s ‘Orchid Corsage.’ When I said I did not, she replied, ‘I will see that you will have it.’ I also recall Mary’s first talk to the New England Daylily Society. She was nervous, never having spoken to a large group before. Of course she triumphed, an attribute that brought her to the AHS Presidency. After Mary’s entire lawn had become a daylily garden, I joked she would need to remove her garage to fit more daylilies. Mary no longer has a garage . . . not only has Mary always made room for more daylilies, she has always made room for more daylily people in her life, and we are all the beneficiaries of her personable, unequivocal, and generous dedication to making our daylily world so special.” Ask The Ombudsman

[Photo by Meg McKenzie Ryan]


you never did it more in the past. 2. Another comment one hears is “I don’t

need a ‘judge’ telling me my flowers are pretty. I can see that for myself.” Nikki points out that “exhibiting daylilies isn’t about the ‘prettiest’ flower, it is about STANDARDS. Judges look for traits such as scape height, growing conditions, flower texture, flower color, grooming etc. Judges are judging on a defined set of criteria for each individual flower. The standard the judges use is the hybridiz-er’s registration information. Remember the judges aren’t judging YOU, they are judging flowers by the registered standard.”

3. “I don’t like competition” is another com-ment one hears. You need to remember that the “mission of an accredited AHS Exhibition Show is PUBLIC EDUCATION – not competition.”

4. “I don’t grow any new or expensive daylilies.” This is no excuse!! The year, cost or hybridizer does not matter in ex-hibition shows. Nikki points out that the average year of introduction for section winners in the last decade was 1988. Any daylily can win. And does.

Joann says “that clubs who don’t have

shows have few other ways in which to troll for new members, educate the general public on our wonderful flower, or extend the num-ber of places where modern daylilies can be seen.”Gwen agrees. She says “this is one of the best ways to attract new members. I joined a daylily club after I accidentally stumbled into their annual show that was being held at the city’s botanic gardens. I was totally amazed at the incredible blooms. So many colors and forms…they were unbelievable. The club members were friendly and knowl-edgeable……they obviously were having fun sharing their hobby.”

A show does not have to be accredited in order to be successful in goals which have been discussed. But Joann feels that accred-ited shows give the better chance to educate the public about what criteria are used in judging flowers and why some entries might not win. It is true that one AHS member pointed out that an unsanctioned show is faster and much easier to set up. So your club might start with an unaccredited show for the first time, to see if they enjoy the experience.

After a few years in the club, Gwen has found that the annual show provides great learning opportunities to hone her daylily growing skills. “Exhibiting in a daylily show is

all about the bloom and scape. However, no amount of grooming can produce a winning bloom. This begins with good gardening hab-its. Exhibiting will encourage each gardener to increase his or her knowledge”.

Nikki gets emails from members who are struggling to get their members “enthused about such an old-fashioned thing to do.” She created a new colorful, informative Power-Point presentation. She filled it with photos that are meant to stimulate discussion, enthu-siasm and encouragement around accredited AHS Daylily Shows. She also peppered it with some educational information to get members excited about doing a show. Nikki is offering this presentation to your club if you need more ammunition to get your club to do a daylily show. You can download it here. https://www.box.com’s/9pmgfetjmfufvijllkdm. This is for your private use and not for mass distribution in any other form like Facebook.

The next column will continue this discussion and concentrate on HOW TO MAKE SHOWS MORE FUN FOR THE CLUB MEMBERS….If you have any comments on this article, or something to add about what your club does to make the show more inter-esting for your members, please email Donna Peck [email protected]. I’m hoping these com-ments will help make more clubs host a daylily show. I’m sure your members will enjoy the experience.

Ask The Ombudsman

Josette Ratté


NEDS 2013 DAYLILY EXHIBITION submitted by Dan Pessoni, NEDS Exhibition Chair

On Saturday, July 20th, 2013, the New England Daylily Society’s Accredited Daylily Exhibition was held at Tower Hill Botanical Gardens in Boylston, MA. Due to the extremely hot temperatures, the number of our exhibitors was reduced by about 40%. However, 156 scapes were exhibited and approximately 600 people attended the show, six of whom became new NEDS members.

Thanks to everyone for their assistance, especially Mike Huben for his work as Co-chair; Mike Sczerzen, Chair of the Setup Committee; Leslie Nolan and Adele Keohan, Classification and Tabulation; Richard Blanchard and Kimberly Lipscomb, Placement; and Kim Walters, Awards; and above all to the ladies from Pepperell – Jean Doherty, Denise Pavlovich, and Janet McOsker, who each year offer a gourmet luncheon to the judges and workers. Incidentally, they save NEDS nearly $1,000 by not having the luncheon catered by Tower Hill.

My sincere thanks to those judges who traveled such a long distance in support of our Exhibition.

JudgesFrank Chaloupecky Glen Grove, Long IslandLaura Chaloupecky Glen Grove, Long IslandNick Chase Worcester, MAMary Collier Fisher Walpole, MARachel Flaksman Warwick, RISallyann King Bolton, MAKimberly Lipscomb Berwick, Nova ScotiaLuanne Madden Glen Cove, Long IslandDan Pessoni East Orleans, MAGeorge Rasmussen Farmingdale, Long IslandJoan Rasmussen Farmingdale, Long IslandKatherine Reed Pawtucket, RI

Robert Stanton Plainview, Long IslandElliot Turkiew Bethpage, Long IslandRachel Turkiew Bethpage, Long Island

Congratulations to Susan Stowe for winning the Best In Show and Best Small cultivar for her Baby Moon Café.

AHS Rosette WinnersName Section Cultivar

Susan Stowe Best in Show Baby Moon Café Mike Sczerzen Best Extra Large Embroidery Stitching Adele Keohan Best Large Sun PandaSusan Stowe Best Small Baby Moon CaféKim Walters Best Miniature SC Tiny PerfectionAlan & Marilee Ruuska Double, Multi, Poly Jean SwannSusan Stowe Unusual Form North Wind Dancer

Congratulations to Paul Tarmasewicz for winning the Sweepstake Rosette (most blue ribbons – 14).

Top 10 Ribbon WinnersMember Purple Blue Red Yellow

Paul Tarmasewicz 1 14 3 -Cameron Stern 6 13 1 -Alan & Marilee Ruuska 3 12 6 2Mike Sczerzen 3 11 2 2Steve Green 1 8 8 6Susan Stowe 2 7 4 2Anna Wilken - 5 2 1Kim Walters 1 4 2 -Richard Blanchard 1 4 - 1Adele Keohan 1 3 4 1Thanks to all who contributed their time and efforts to make 2013 another successful year for our exhibition. Dan[Photo of best in show’Baby Moon Cafe’ by Lisa Lipomi, photo at left of Daylily Exhibition at Tower Hill Botanic Garden by Linda Kozloski]

LIDS 2013 Exhibition - A Dream of a Show by Joan Lundin, Show Chairperson and Joan Turano, Co-Chairperson

They say the third time around is a charm and this year our show was an enormous success! Chairperson Joan Lundin and Co-Chairperson Joan Turano presented an Accredited Daylily Show for the Long Island Daylily Society. The show was held on Sunday July 7th at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, New York.

We decided on our theme of “Garden of Dreams” very early on, actually right after the LIDS 2012 Flower Show, on our plane flight home from the AHS National Convention in Columbus, Ohio. We had magnificent dreams to aspire to following the

2013 Daylily Exhibition Reports


convention. Titles for the design categories were: Field of Dreams, Sweet Dreams and Dream a Little Dream. At our March, 2013, meeting, sign-up lists went out to members of LIDS to recruit them to volunteer for the various committees. By speaking directly with new LIDS members we enlisted several people who were very anxious to be of assistance. Many of our steadfast members graciously assisted us as well. This, and lots of TLC, are what create a successful show! This year the weather and growing conditions were in perfect harmony for the show, affording us the opportunity to have a wide variety of cultivars, many not seen in previous shows, for our viewers’ pleasure. We were also treated with many dreams come true seedlings from our local hybridizers. Keep your eyes open for these stunning seedlings as they are introduced in the future.

Luanne Madden, the Judges Chair, recruited two judges outside of our LIDS organization: Dan Pessoni from Massachusetts and Kate Reed from Rhode Island. We certainly appreciate their generosity of travel time and sharing their knowledge of judging with us. Our local judges from LIDS, who shared their proficiency in judging, were: Luanne Madden, Pamela Milliken, Gene Moglia, George Rasmussen, Joan Rasmussen, Christine Petersen, Dr. Robert O. Stanton, Barbara Bruce, Susan Weitzman and Joan Turano. The twelve design entries were meticulously judged by Marion Romeo, Norma Henricksen and Joan Prior. In addition to the judges and the clerks, the committee chair people and members all worked tirelessly to contribute to the success of the show.

We keep learning every year and applying this knowledge for a successful show. The success of our show also belongs to the dedicated LIDS members who brought in over 300 entries to be judged. We appreciate the many compliments and the encouragement we receive to continue our success. Our best advice to new Flower Show chairs: plan early and have fun! We look forward to next year.

The 2013 show winners were:

HORTICULTUREBest-in-Show: ‘Baby Moon Cafe’ (Trimmer, 1998) – Rachel, David, & Elliot Turkiew

Best Large Flower: ‘Jamaican Love’ (Trimmer, 2004) – Rachel, David, & Elliot Turkiew

Best Small Flower: ‘Baby Moon Cafe’ (Trimmer, 1998) – Rachel, David, & Elliot Turkiew

Best Miniature Flower: ‘Little Rainbow’ (Reckamp, 1963) – Irene Bossert

Best Double, Multiform, and Polymerous Flower: ‘Marlene Dietrich’ (Kirchhoff, 2004) – Rachel, David, & Elliot Turkiew

Best Spider: ‘Strider Spider’ (Durio, 1998) – Doug Raimondi

Best Unusual Form: ‘Gold Elephant’ (Reinke, 1994) – Tom and Carol Ramsden

Best Seedling: #7.05 – Pat Sayers

AHS Sweepstakes Rosette: Rachel, David, & Elliot Turkiew

DESIGN Best in Class C: “Dream a Little Dream” (Creative Design): Joan Turano

American Hemerocallis Society Tricolor Rosette: Joan Turano

Exhibition Reports

Top row: Best in Show, ‘Baby Moon Cafe’, photo by John Stahl; Joan Tura-no’s Creative Design and AHS Tricolor Rosette winner, “Dream a Little Dream”, photo by Chris Petersen.Second row: LIDS Exhi-bition, photo Chris Pe-tersen; Best Extra Large, ‘Jamaican Love’, photo by John Stahl. At left, Best

Spider, ‘Strider Spider’, photo by Chris Petersen.Below, left to right, Joan Lundin, Elliot, Rachel and David Turkiew.


JULY & AUGUST 2013 (ORGANIZED BY CDS)by Nick Chase (Massachusetts)

No, I didn’t get to see all of the gardens - only a few of them, as I was unable to visit gardens on all of the available dates. But for every day I was able to see gardens the weather varied from delightful to very hot, and with no rained-out days.

So I took pictures - lots of pictures - and that is the point of this article: To show you what awaits you when you “take the tour” next year.

My longest day was July 27, when I visited gardens in eastern/southern Connecticut, then (being far from home in Worcester) drove four hours directly to Tanglewood (Lenox, Mass.) for the evening concert (Verdi Requiem). I was on the road to Connecticut at 10 AM, finally returning home at 1:30 AM the next day.

Also, for each day I belatedly discovered that I had planned for one or two more gardens than I actually had time to visit. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Because so many gardens were open to view, I never saw a crowded garden and I had plenty of opportunities to talk with their owners.

Above: Golden Skep Farm (Carl and Elaine Wickstrom), Berlin, Mass.

Daylily Open Gardens Tour 2013, a Success!2013 was the second year that Connecticut

Daylily Society sponsored a very extensive open gardens tour - this year, in cooperation with the New England Daylily Society and Patriot Daylily Society - and it included daylily gardens all over New England. Some gardens were hybridizers’ or growers’ commercial operations, but most were simple backyard (or sometimes, front- and side-yard) gardens generally not open to the public.

Gardens in five of the New England states

could be visited, from 13 in Massachusetts to 1 each in Vermont and Maine (The single Rhode Island garden was withdrawn because it was “bloomed out” by its scheduled visiting date).

July 13 - Fields of daylilies await you at Golden Skep Farm in Berlin, Mass (below). This is a commercial operation, but one with a homespun flavor, specializing in both daylilies and hosta.

July 13 - Steve Greene in Sudbury, Mass. raises both daylilies and hosta, with an emphasis in daylilies of New England hybridizers. The centerpiece of his garden is the train set (below).

July 13 - Partridge Hill Gardens (Ellen Laprise) in Dudley, Mass. is a commercial operation which expanded from a residential effort. Ellen specializes in unusual forms and in her own daylily introductions.

Top row left to right at Greene’s: Hemerocallis ‘Tiffany Princess’ (Bob King, 1988), EM-dor-23-5; H.‘Twist of Lemon’ (Howard Brooks, 1984), EM-dor-33-7.Above, left to right, at Golden Skep: ‘Bat Signal’ (Margo Reed, 1996), EM-sev-52-6, at Greene’s: ‘Gina’ (Phil Reilly, 1996), M-dor-34-5.75

At Greene’s: left, ‘Zagora’ (George Pride,1978), M-dor-28-5, Below, left to right, ‘Exotic Love’ (Don Stevens, 1980), M-dor-26-4.5;

‘Meri Gardner’ (Jim Brennan, 2002), EM-dor-26-4.5.

July 17 - Below, Cameron Stern’s (Hollis, New Hampshire) garden, a relatively new planting, spreads outward and downward from the family home situated on the side of a hill. Cameron has many of the latest introductions from hybridizers across the

A NEW ENGLAND GARDENS TOUR


US, which he uses in his own hybridizing. Every plant has a readable label!

July 17 - The daylily collection of Lis Murphy (Princeton, Mass.) is interspersed in a landscape of mixed perennials as erosion control on a steep hillside between the residence (top) and the swimming pool (bottom). This is a garden of classics, both older and newer.

July 27 - Below, Sandra Edens (Storrs, Connecticut) maintains a botanical garden in miniature in which daylilies play a prominent part, along with topiary, perennials and shrubs, statuary, and a woodland pond. Take only a few steps in any direction in her yard, and you enter a different world.

Above left, at Partridge Hill: ‘Zinta’ (Nick Chase, 2005), ML-dor-35-6.25-fr. Above right, at Sheltara: ‘Orchid Corsage’ (Stanley Saxton, 1975), ML-dor-32-7.5.

Above, left to right: at Stern’s, ‘Heavenly

Angel Ice’ (Jamie Gossard, 2004), ML-dor-23-5, at Murphy’s: ‘Don Stevens’ (Stevens-Seawright, 1987), M-dor;-32-5.75.

Above, left to right: at American Landscape and Lawn Science: ‘Fooled Me’ (Phil Reilly, 1990, EM-dor-24-5.5., at Hill Hollow: ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’

(Webster-Cobb, 2003), M--sev-34-13. Above, ‘Fat Albert’ (Reilly, 2007), M-sev-30-5.75.

July 27 - Below, American Landscape and Lawn Science in North Franklin, Connecticut, owned by Steve Bousquet, uses daylilies extensively in its landscape designs. On the premises front-end loaders overlook elegantly-designed mini-gardens bearing different themes.

July 27 - Below, Sheltara (Helene and Frank Ferrari), in Chester, Connecticut, is one of my favorite gardens to visit because of its large selection of daylilies old and new, and

because its landscape is so photogenic. You

can even take a river ferry to get there!

July 31 - Below, Hill Hollow Daylily Farm (Susan Stowe) in Topsfield, Mass. features many newer daylily varieties, with which Susan hybridizes. (You will see plenty of the familiar dangling white tags identifying various crosses.) The rear of the yard has a deer-fenced seedling patch.

July 31 - Carl and Marlene Harmon’s Harmon Hill Farm (Hudson, New Hampshire) is a very-well-known commercial operation which ships daylilies all over the world. Here you will find introductions by Lori-Ann Jones, Mike Maher, Dan Matzek, Mike Huben and Bob Sobek, as well as recent creations by other Region 4 hybridizers.

At Harmon Hill, above, left to right, : ‘Jerry’s Whirligig’ (Jerry Deschenes, 2000), ML-dor- 30-6; ‘Big Honking Flaming Floozy’ (Lori-Ann Jones, 2008), E-ev-27-8. Below, ‘Jody Ann’ (Ron Valente,

2000), M-dor-30-6; ‘Snow Glitter’ (Don Marvin,


1992), EM-dor-30-5.25.

August 3 - Although George Doorakian’s (Bedford, Mass.) open garden date was July 17, I waited for the PDS August 3 picnic to get my pictures. George (below, on right, with Bethany and Zach Hickey) is downsizing and has only a small area of seedlings remaining; most have been given away to nonprofit groups for landscaping.

Above left, at Doorakian’s: Doorakian seedling. Above right, at Nick Chase’s garden, ‘Fire Cup’ (George Pride, 1963), M-dor- 33-5.5.

Anytime - My own garden [below]was not on tour because it is too weedy and lacks identification labels for many of the daylilies. But even on days when there were no open gardens, or I was not able to visit others’ gardens, I could always enjoy my own.

Over 50 intrepid Region 4 members gathered at the Melville Marriott on Long Island for the LIDS Late Summer Fling Regional Meeting. Due to extremely heavy rains on the travel day, several had a most difficult time getting to Long Island; the HADS contingent braved heavy rains coming down from the Albany area and were almost drowned during a cloudburst while visiting the open garden of Chris Petersen. Our editor had vehicular problems and had to prolong her stay for repairs. Despite the ominous beginning, the weekend turned out just fine.

Saturday morning saw several judges workshops, both garden and exhibition, and Region 4 should be adding some new names to both lists, as we need Garden Judges in this region so our hybridizers receive the recognition they deserve and Exhibition Judges to evaluate shows, as that is one of the best ways to get the public to recognize that daylilies aren’t just orange and yellow.

Carl Harmon [below, with his wife, Marlene] started the meeting filling in at the last moment for Bob Schwarz, who was unable to attend due to a family emergency. Carl spoke on the genesis of Harmon Hill Farm in Hudson, New Hampshire, where the number of daylilies

grew like Topsy, numbering in the myriads now. Carl showed us some of the good performers for him, especially those that are often overlooked in the desire for the latest and greatest. Harmon Hill Farms is also known for introducing the hybridizing efforts of a number of Region 4 hybridizers, such as Bob Sobek and Mike Huben.

Gil Stelter of Gryphon Gardens in

Guelph, Ontario, followed next, taking us on a journey to different gardens of the world which were influences on his own garden. We were able to visit Italy, Japan, China to name just a few places, and he showed how they influenced his own garden design. It’s a treat to visit Gryphon Gardens in person, but just as interesting to see it on screen. Gil has a historical outlook in his plantings, starting with some of the earliest hybrids and continuing through the decades to some of the latest introductions. Gil also does some very intriguing hybridizing using a fertile clone of Hemerocallis fulva and his introductions are highly sought by

daylilies aficionados. [Above, left to right, Bryan Culver, Dave Mussar, Pam Milliken and Gil Stelter at Chris Petersen’s garden.]

Bryan Culver of Waterford, Ontario was the next featured speaker. Those of us in the southern part of Region 4 were not as familiar with our Canadian hybridizers and Bryan was able to wow us with his program. As we are one of the largest regions in AHS and part of the Tundra, our own hybridizers tend to work in relative obscurity for years, and an important function of the Regional meetings is to showcase our own. Bryan is starting to receive national recognition, with several of his daylilies on the garden judge’s ballot for Awards of Merit, which is no small accomplishment for a hybridizer out of the mainstream US. And anyone who has visited his farm knows Bryan knows how to grow daylilies! Bryan works on hardiness, garden value and presence and his daylilies shine in the garden.

A short regional meeting followed the

Regional Meeting 2013 Submitted by Gene Moglia

Photos by Chris Petersen


Regional Meeting 2013Friday speakers and one of the problems discussed was finding hosts for the future Regional Meetings. Yes, it’s a daunting task to consider, but it does not have to be an extravagant affair and we have many clubs in the Region we’d all like to visit! Saturday evening was highlighted by the live auction [auctioneer Paul Limmer, below]. LIDS’ own computer

experts, Elliot and Dave Turkiew [Dave, below], put together an auction program

that is second to none. Not only does one see the bids flashed on the screen as they happen, with the final winning bid highlighted, but they are able to print out an invoice immediately after the auction ends, so one knows instantly how much damage has been done to the checkbook. The focus was on daylilies from Region 4, with offerings from Canada, including daylilies from Bryan Culver, Mike Georges, Dave Mussar and Gil Stelter, as well as other Region 4 folks, such as Lori Jones, and LIDS folks, past and present, George Rasmussen, Pat Sayers, Frank and Laura Chaloupecky, Bob Schwarz, Region 4 Alumnus Dan Trimmer, Paul Limmer and the late Isabel Hibbard.

Sunday morning started off with Dave Mussar, the third amigo from Canada. Dave also gardens near Guelph and Hillside Gardens, even though it’s now hill-less, has some fine plants coming down the pike. Dave works on stippled and spotted daylilies and showed us some of the early hybridized daylilies that

showed these traits, as well as his own work in achieving his goal. Dave has had a few introductions so far, including several very early blooming daylilies.

Melanie Vassallo, who co-chaired the AHS National Convention with Joan Rasmussen in 2006, spoke next on garden ornamentation. Though her own garden from the convention no longer exists, she showed us how different items of interest can make a garden go from the mundane to the must-see category. She demonstrated how garden art and whimsical objects can keep interest in the garden even after peak bloom of the daylilies.

A review of the George Rasmussen Program by Gene Moglia ended the day. Starting with his earliest hybrids, the program showed the progress that can be achieved in a small, yet focused program. George also worked in relative obscurity for years but has finally achieved important recognition, winning an Award of Merit for H. ‘Adorable Tiger’ and the Don C. Stevens Award for it as well, after ‘Adorable Tiger’ won the President’s Cup at the 2006 AHS Convention. George has cut back on his hybridizing for a few years but is back in the ‘groove’ and has some great ones coming out in the future.

So the 2013 Region 4 Meeting Late Summer Fling is now history, with the days getting shorter and cooler. Yeah, it’s a bit of work planning and executing, but in the end it was well worth it.

[Above: Kim Walters presents Chris Petersen with her AHS national photography award. Photo, A. Keohan. All other photos by Chris Petersen.At right, top to bottom: Gene Moglia, Joan and George Rasmussen; Anthony and Carol Haj, Mary Ann and Jim Robinowitz; Frank and Laura Chaloupecky; Susan Weitzman and Joan Turano at the raffles table.]

18 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 18 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013

2013 Region 4 Photo Contest Photo Contest

Winner, Single/Multiple Bloom Category‘Divine Inspiration’ (Doorakian, 1999) Photo by Chuck Hubbell

Winner, Artistic Category: Claudia Conway seedling and Hummingbird Moth Photo by Claudia Conway

Winner, Single Multiple Blooms: “Very nice exam-ple of multiple blooms well balanced in composition, depth of field, and use of focus.”- Liz Mackney“Great central view of the grouping.”- Linda Keohan“We only knew it as “Num-ber 28”. But the instant it appeared full screen on my computer, I knew. There were other fantas-tic entries, but this one is rich in color saturation and precisely in focus everywhere you inspect it. With the light appearing to be coming from these blooms rather than shining on them, I believe it was unanimous on the first round. Stunning!”--Carol Brashear

Winner, Artistic Category: “Kudos for capturing the hummingbird moth in flight while still main-taining sharp focus on the closeup details of the flower.” –Liz Mackney“Wonderful nature closeup captured.”- Linda Keohan“As a photographer, it is rare to be in the right place with your camera at the ready. To have captured this hummingbird moth in motion and in focus is just a remarkable feat and a winning photograph.”-Carol Brashear

Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 19 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 19

Winner, Landscape Category“Avalonia Daylilies” Photo by Lanny Morry

Prizes! Thank you to hybridizers Rich Howard, Barry Matthie and Dave Mussar for donating these wonderful daylilies as prizes for the Region 4 Photo Contest winners.

Winner, Landscape Category:“Excellent low perspective, point of view, and framing of shot. Great depth of field maintained throughout the shot. Nice crop to the image as well for good visual bal-ance.” --Liz Mackney“Beautiful vantage point shown.” -Linda Keohan“Many in this category were contenders. This one was the winner by the slimmest of margins after a few rounds of voting. It captured both the exciting colors of the bright daylilies in the foreground and the serenity of the water feature in the background as though recording a moment in time while strolling this garden.” --Carol Brashear

Prize for the Single/Multiple Blooms Category winner:‘Spots Before My Eyes’(Mussar, 2013)

Prize for the Landscape Category winner:‘Miss Mandy Mae’(Howard, 2013)

Prize for the Artistic Category winner: ‘Bonibrae Heartbreaker’(Matthie, 2013)


20 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 20 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013


Single/Multiple Blooms, second place: ‘Alexa Kathryn x Wolverine Eyes’, a Mick Morry future. Photo by Lanny Morry

Third place, ‘Mary Hubbell’ (Doorakian, 2011) Photo by Chuck Hubbell

‘Isabelle Rose’ (Laprise, 2009)Photo by Karin Cooke

[Left] Ellen Laprise seedlingPhoto by Greg Haggett

[Left]‘Vincent & Theo’ (Barnes, C.M., 2004) Photo by Betsy Thompson

Three way tie for second place, Artistic Category!

Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 21 Daylilies In The Great Northeast Fall 2013 21

Landscape Category, second place: “Southwind Farms” Photo by Nick Chase

Landscape Category, third place:“Johnston Estate 2” Photo by Bobbie Brooks

Thank you to all who entered the photo contest. A special thanks to the photo contest judges:

Liz Mackney, Rockport, MAI am a self-taught photographer who enjoys every minute I spend behind the camera. The diversity of my photography reflects the diversity of New England where I now live. What makes this area of the country so special to me are the vast photo ops that continually surround me. From my home on Cape Ann, I have easy access to sandy beaches, rocky ledges and numerous lighthouses. Nearby to the north are the scenic vistas and glorious fall foliage of the White and Green Mountains. Less than an hour to the west is Boston with its historic landmarks and wonderful skyline. Best of all, beautiful gardens and extraordinary wildlife are everywhere I go. As a writer, I love to share the stories behind my photography. I do so as the author of several diverse photography blogs:www.lizmackneyphotography.com/blogwww.theartofmacrophotography.comwww.newenglandphotography.wordpress.com I am also a juried member of the New England Photography Guild.The world is my muse.

You can follow Liz Mackney Photography on Facebook

Carol BrashearI am the Northeast Region Director of the Amer-ican Hosta Society and know many of the daylily members we have in common. I am an avid pho-tographer of hostas and have been enjoying gar-dens through the lens of a camera for nearly 25 years. Many of my photos in the early years were used to start the hosta photo library on the inter-net in the late 9O’s. Since then I have contributed my photos to hosta publications, websites, cata-logs and even for plant labels. I continue to share photos on the hostalibrary.org and I tell friends, I garden so that I can take photographs. I thoroughly enjoyed your daylily photo contest by participating as one of the judges. You have some amazing talents and I hope you enjoy the winning photos in this newsletter. Congratula-tions to all who entered!

Linda KeohanLinda is an artist and art teacher with a BA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Arts and a Masters in Art Education from Notre Dame College, NH.



Region 4 Club News Region 4 Club NewsCDSConnecticut Daylily SocietySubmitted by Russ Allen, President

The Connecticut Daylily Society (CDS) invites all daylily enthusiasts to attend our meetings which are held at the Avon Senior Center, located about 8 miles west of Hartford at 635 West Avon Road in Avon, CT. There are no dues to join us -- just wonderful daylily related events, friendly folks, and great food! Bring some friends with you to our next meeting to enhance their appreciation for daylilies!

May 18 CDS Plant Sale -- Thanks to all those participating in our annual plant sale which was held on May 18th. Thanks to the efforts of so very many volunteers, this event was once more a great success and will once again help fund another year of club activities.

Summer 2013 Open Garden Program The expanded daylily open garden program this past summer enabled daylily enthusiasts to visit lots of new gardens! Special thanks to the 33 garden hosts who opened their gardens throughout the New England area. Plans are to continue and improve the Open Gardens Program during 2014 so if you weren’t able to participate this past summer, be sure to do so next year!

CDS Daylily Garden Bus Tour -- In July an enthusiastic group of CDS members had the joy of going on our summer daylily garden bus tour. The bus itinerary included a wonderful visit to the Harmon Hill Garden, followed by a stop at the Golden Skep Garden and the Tower Hill Botanical Garden Daylily Exhibition. The people, the weather, and the daylilies all cooperated to make this a marvelous summer excursion!

CDS Summer Annual Meeting & Picnic Our summer picnic was held at the Mullen’s

Southwind Farms in Watertown, CT. Attendees got to not only see wonderful daylilies, visit an outstanding alpaca farm, and partake of some great food, but also got to participate in the presentation of an AHS award to the nieces of Augie Krupien [Bottom photo, left to right: sisters Diane Murelli and Penny Mullen. Photo, Linda Kozloski.] for his wonderful Hemerocallis ‘Big George’ which was in bloom for the occasion! At our annual business meeting, the current slate of CDS officers was also re-elected for another two year term. Gary Jones will remain as our VP and Program Chairman, Cheryl Fox as our Secretary, and Philip Douville as our Treasurer.

Sept. 7th Meeting with Mike Grossman Our guest speaker for our Sept. meeting was Mike Grossman [Below, center, with wife Kathleen and CDS president Russ Allen. Photo, A. Keohan] who manages Northern Lights Daylilies in Minnesota. He shared photos and stories about his wide range of

new cultivars which were a joy to behold. We also distributed free door prize plants to over half of our attendees -- what a deal!

Other items of note during the business meeting included: a) the unveiling of spectacular new CDS banners for club use developed by Tina Cotter; b) the announcement that we’re looking for a babysitter for door prize plants to be received from Mike Grossman in the Spring; c)

encouragement to all members to make submissions of favorite cultivar photos from last summer on our new CDS Blog Site (http://ctdaylilysociety.wordpress.com), and d) mention that we are still seriously considering hosting the 2015 Region 4 Regional Meeting.

Upcoming Events -- Key upcoming events include the following:• Nov. 2 Meeting -- Paul Owen from

Slightly Different Nursery located in Shelby, North Carolina will be our nationally recognized guest hybridizer speaker. We also plan to make a final Club decision on being host for the 2015 Regional Meeting and to present the many areas of activity which will need volunteers.

• Jan. 18, 2014 Meeting -- Our localhybridizer Rich Howard, who operates the CTdaylily commercial garden, will be our featured speaker at our annual Soup’s On meeting.

• February 20-23 The Club will again have a CDS Booth at the Connecticut Flower & Garden Show being held at the Convention Center in Hartford with the themes this coming year being “Garden Harmony” and “Cool of the Day”. Please let us know if you’d like to join in on the design of a wonderful booth promoting the Club and daylilies

consistent with the announced themes. We will be signing up volunteers to man our booth throughout the show at our November meeting -- which also earns volunteers a free entry pass to this wonderful flower show!

• Additional upcoming events to note on your calendars include our March 15th meeting and May 17th Plant Sale.

Many thanks to the myriad of volunteers that make our CDS Club work so smoothly!

FieLDSFinger Lakes Daylily SocietySubmitted by Grace CanhamThe calendar of events for FieLDS in 2013:Feb 23rd “Souper” meeting held at


the Church of the Good Shepherd in Canandaigua. Russ Welser of Ontario County Cooperative Extension presented “Growing Grapes In Your Backyard”. This interesting presentation was a prelude to delicious home-made soups, desserts and a mini-tasting of several wines from Sonnenberg Mansion.March 23rd Julie Covington from Ridgeview Gardens in Virginia shared the Columbus National Convention. Her beautiful photographs brought to life the great experience of a National Convention. May 18th Silent Auction Meeting always brings out the daylily fans looking for the excitement of the “hunt”. A great selection of cultivars had something for everyone. July 14th Garden tour – “The Garden Crawl” started at Brent and Debbie Ross’ Cottage Gardens, 2 acres of daylilies in an AHS display garden and retail setting, then the 750 cultivars of Ginny and Darryl Byers in the Floral Corral where we had lunch in the welcome shade of elegant trees. Dishes to share and sandwiches fueled the group for the next stops. Chrissy and Bob Quataert‘s display garden has 350 cultivars grouped by names like “Candy Land” and “Give My Regards to Broadway”. The pond and hardscaping set the plants off to perfection. Last stop provided a view of Braddock Bay along Lake Ontario from the front yard of Pat Williams. Many mature trees, perennials, water features and garden art are the setting for daylilies in the sunny spots. August 3rd- Public Plant Sale held at Bristol’s Garden Center was a successful event. [Photo below: Theresa Schlossnagle on left,

helps a customer choose plants at the public plant sale.] Multiple venues of advertising and beautiful weather brought a steady stream of customers. We added some new

members as well.August 17th Members Auction and Picnic was held at Webster Arboretum, site of our display garden. Several new members and seasoned veterans vied for the great selection of plants. The picnic featured subs and home-made salads and desserts. It was a great time to enjoy the lovely setting and chat with daylily friends new and old.September 28th Banquet is held at Finger Lakes Casino and Racetrack in Farmington, NY. Tom Polston of Pleasant Valley Gardens is our featured speaker. According to the web-site “One of our main hybridizing goals is to put southern faces on Northern hardy Daylilies with great plant habit- specializing in ruffles and teeth.” We are all looking forward to this and the babysitter plants for next May 2014!November 3rd planning meeting.

FieLDS is very happy to welcome new members: Josie and Gene Wolfe, Franklin Bowman and Nancy Ann Barry, Ginger and Tony Simonetti, Sue and Amie Zwecker, Carole and Paul Harvey, John and Suzanne Donaldson, Elizabeth Horrocks, Shirley Logg, Sherry McClain and Peg Drexler.

HADSHudson Adirondack Daylily SocietyFrom the Chair’s Corner by Debi Chowdhury 9/8/2013

August, as usual, has been a busy month but there were multiple adventures on the way. We were on our way to the [Region 4] daylily convention, and our bus driverhad locked himself out of the bus when

I got there in the morning. Everyone else was waiting, as I got there after I had to go back and pick up the case of water that I had forgotten. We picked up two of our members and got back on the thruway and yet to more adventure. The roads on both sides of the thruway were flooded with small, fast moving streams on the side of

the road on both sides going towards NYC. A couple of hours and we survived that

and arrived safely to our first destination of

Chris Petersen’s house. She had been kind enough to leave drinks and snacks and fresh fruit on her covered porch with access to her bathroom. By the time we backed into her driveway which was quite long, and believe me our huge bus wouldn’t have made it but the small van did, the sky had opened up. Chris got us into her house quickly and stayed with us, providing us with lunch as the lightning and thunder took our breath away. She ran late as it finally stopped raining and we got to wander outside to enjoy her garden with the beautiful view of the bay. Her garden had been hit by the last few hurricanes and tropical storms and she had lost a lot. But what few things she had left were beautiful.

As we headed off to the next garden of Paul Limmer he was working at the convention and we enjoyed the many different lilies that were still blooming in his garden. His stone baby elephant kept us company as we walked through his extensive collections. Of course his stoplight was absolutely delightful in his driveway directing traffic. Paul also provided all the garden judges with a daylily from his garden at the convention. We next headed to Pat Sayers garden which consisted of several artistically designed rooms. She had many seedlings (reds) blooming( my favorite) and we got a chance to see her new line of daylilies. We saw a beautiful sunset as we headed to a very nice diner for dinner. Moe, our bus driver, was surprised to be invited to sit with us for dinner and dessert (guess who had the ice cream). We finally made it to the hotel.

As we came in we were greeted by LIDS members and we picked up our packets then headed to our rooms. There were only eight of us including the bus driver and four of us ended up on the other side of the hotel, farthest from the front desk. But we had a delightful view of the pool and a few of us decided to go make a splash. They didn’t have a hot tub but the pool was wonderful. After a long day, relaxing in the pool was the ultimate touch. The hotel décor with all the surrounding plants was like a tropical forest and the pool temperature was perfect. It wasn’t till daylight we noticed how beautiful the hotel insides were with the sunlight peeking through the skylights over the pool and the surroundings. The next morning after breakfast we took off for the Clark Botanical Garden. We went around the block a few times till we finally got there. This is a delightful garden with a huge children’s

Region 4 Club News Region 4 Club News


section which had been massively hit by Sandy and was in the process of getting restored. They had so far done a marvelous job. This is also an AHS display garden.

It was of course hot by the time we made it back just in time to get to the start of the convention. The speakers were delightful and it was wonderful to see old friends and make new friends. The business meeting at the convention was a delightful surprise and discussion from the meeting kept going for days online afterwards.

We had a chance to see one more garden of Louise Peluso [on left, in photo with Debi Chowdhury, photo by Jim Robinowitz] before we were to head home. Her collection of hydrangeas and daylilies there were a few blooms still and

unusual plants made it a lovely garden to tour. She insisted on providing us with lunch and a personal tour. Then she gave us plants to take home. We stopped at Frank and Peggy Almquist’s garden (HADS members) in Kingston. What a lovely, restful and delightful garden. Their garden rooms flowed as we walked around. The massive chimes in their garden gave off a nice sound as the water trickled in the koi pond beside the deck. There’s a creek in the back of the property that provides them with water on hot spells. This garden is also a AHS display garden and they still had a few blooms going. Their cat was a proficient greeter as we stopped at the house. Then we finally headed home from the convention without any more problems. If you didn’t go you missed a good convention and trip.

I headed to Oklahoma city the following week for work and loved going

to Myriad Botanical Gardens with its crystal bridge tropical conservatory which houses over a thousand different tropical plants and orchids, which was across the street from the hotel. Had a chance to visit the Oklahoma ’95 memorial and the peaceful garden of sculpted chairs and the wall of water surrounded by a flat surface pool less than an inch deep. This reflection pool between the two huge black walls with the time of the bombings before and after the event. Had a chance to visit a few gardens of friends and was surprised to see different species growing still though it was August. Due to extensive rain the gardens were thriving this year.

I made it to San Antonio, TX the following week and more tropical gardens. San Antonio’s famous riverwalk is a huge garden in itself, with so much to see and

do surrounded by so many different plants. At the end of the riverwalk is the Rivercenter Mall which has a huge gardening complex right next to my hotel. A trip a few blocks away to the Alamo was of

course necessary. I was lucky enough to be there when a botanical garden lecture was being given. Brackenridge Park with its delightful Japanese tea gardens was a delight. San Antonio Botanical Garden (I had to go) is definitely worth going to. They have a pond with rubber duckies, that are visited by regular ducks. This garden is a must see. I had an adventure coming home being stuck at the Baltimore Airport for seven hours instead of one due to tornado watch and hailstorm back home.

HADS has helped with creating a garden room for Sanford Town Library by donating and planting the main flower bed. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be on September 12th at 4 pm at the Sanford Town Library in Colonie, our winter home.

We have our picnic coming up and this will be held at the home of my friends and mentors Stan and Fern Lee in Scotia. They

have the most amazing gardens. They also have a huge orchid collection since he’s NENYOS [North Eastern New York Orchid Society] chair. If it’s warm, bring a suit, they have a pool. It’s a historical home with many beautiful garden rooms. Please bring a dish to share and get back to Stephanie as soon as possible with how many are coming. If you have extra chairs bring them.

We have marvelous speakers the rest of the year. Our election time is October and I hope some of you are thinking of running. It has been a delight to serve as HADS chair for the last three years and it’s time for someone new to step in. See you at the picnic.

Upcoming Events:November 2nd An English garden tour by Sue Pezzola (Sanford Town Library)December 14th Designer daylilies ( Sanford town library) Holiday PartyJanuary 18th Kerry Mendez, perennials for the gardenFebruary 16th Winter Doldrums (Voohresville)March 16th Preparing the soilMarch 20-23 Capital district flower and garden showApril 19th TBAMay 10 Member’s AuctionJune 21 Babysitter plantsJune 25-29 National Convention, Ashville, North CarolinaJuly 19th regional ConventionAugust 16 Member’s sale – Faddegon’sSeptember 20th Annual picnic

HVIDSHudson Valley Iris and Daylily Society Summer ReportReport and photos submitted by Jim Robinowitz

Thanks to the hard work of VP Georgette Martin, HVIDS had some excellent presenters throughout the 2013 spring. Our season started in March with a slide show of the 2012 AHS National Convention, which was held in Columbus, Ohio.

Next, Mark Adams (Adams Fairacres Farms) was our featured guest speaker, discussing the best new 2013 Plant Intro-



ductions. He provided the group with an interesting insight regarding new plant selections.

Those in attendance at our May meeting were treated to an ongoing commentary on Chrysanthemum Bonsai by John Capobianco. He created a beautiful bonsai from nursery stock, maturing in approximately 1 year. He is the bonsai instructor at the NY Botanical Gardens and the former President of the Bonsai Society of Greater NY.

Later in May HVIDS presented a lovely Iris Show at the Center Court in the Poughkeepsie Galleria [below right]. Once again we had wonderful officiating by Mildred Koscara, Gene Koscara, John Heimke of many lovely cultivars. Our show was visited by many people in the mall.

Once again, we successfully presented our Annual Daylily Exhibit on Saturday July 13. As opposed to May, the following day, we experienced a glorious warm, sunny day which enabled us to visit three wonderful gardens: the Gretchen Hitselberger/ Kevin Cassone Garden, Amenia; the Almquist Garden, Kingston; and the Brockett Garden, Rhinebeck, NY.

HVIDS 2013 IRIS SHOW Our judges [top right]: Mildred Koscara, Gene Koscara, John Heimke accompanied by Georgette Martin, HVIDS VPShow Winners [Bottom photo]: Rosemary Sorbello – Third, Frank Sorbello - First, Jim Robinowitz - SecondHVIDS DAYLILY EXHIBITIONSURVEY RESULTS‏ Here are the results from the daylily public survey:

#1 H. Rose F Kennedy [right]- 18 votes

#2 H. Fireberry [below] - 9 votes

#3 Spanish Party Dress, Moses Fire [below, left to right] - 8 votes each (tie)

#4 All American Chief, Imperial Lemon, Siloam Double Classic - 5 votes

#5 Startling Creation, Destined to See, Heavenly Dragon Fire, Tigger - 4 votes

Rasberry Suede, Jimbo’s Party Girl, Big Bird, King Golden Treasurer, Clarification, Red Tail Fox, Lyrical Ballard, Woodside Romance - 3 votes each

Kathryn’s Black, King George, Custard Candy, Strawberry Candy, Bordello Queen, Double Intrigue, Dankie, Bertie Ferris, Gold Finch, Magic of Oz, Mr. Obvious 2 votes each

Little Golden Nugget, Gelding 3, Lake Midnight Beacon, Tiny Tuxedo, Dance Ballerina Dance, Gentle Sheppard, Hot Embers, See D Ling, Cherry Dip, Mariska, Monachan Trails, Mystical Rainbow, Remember My Joan, Tall Blonde, Cheddar Cheese, Tiger, Monkian, Elegant Candy, Jim’s Big Red, Contigue, All About Columbus each got 1 vote.

LIDSLong Island Daylily SocietySubmitted by Chris Petersen

In June 2013, talented LIDS members gave two great talks. First of all, Mary Ann Robinowitz, certified professor of Ikebana, gave a lecture and demonstration on the modern aspects of this ancient Japanese art form. At the same meeting, Elliot Turkiew, Exhibition Judge Instructor, gave a workshop on preparing for show. Part of his presenta-tion was a very impressive demonstration on grooming a scape that was projected live onto a screen.

2013 - 2014 LIDS CALENDAROctober 19 – 1 PM: John Stahl- “The Birds And The Bees In Your Backyard”Planting Fields Main GreenhouseNovember 16 – 12 PM: Pot-Luck Luncheon, Annual Business Meeting, Photos from Members’ GardensPlanting Fields Main GreenhouseJanuary 18 – Luncheon 12 PM: Melodye Campbell, AHS Region 4 Representative, Fairport, NY, “It Ain’t Over, ‘Til It’s Over!” Holiday Inn, RonkonkomaFebruary – No meetingMarch 15 – 1 PM: Julie Covington, AHS



President, Roanoke, VA, “Gardens of Region 3”Planting Fields Main GreenhouseApril 12 – 10 AM Spring Gardens Spruce-up, 1 PM: Bill Waldrop, Kennesaw Mountain Daylily Gardens, Marietta, GAPlanting Fields Main GreenhouseMay 13 – Tuesday, 7 PM, May Auction Planting Fields Horticultural CenterJune 21 – 12 PM: Member’s Plant Sale, 1PM Flower Show Preparation- Joan Lundin Planting Fields Horticultural CenterJune 25-28 – AHS National Convention, Asheville, NCJuly 12 –10 AM: Flower Show Set-upPlanting Fields Horticultural CenterJuly 13 – 1:30 PM – 4 PM Annual Flower ShowPlanting Fields Horticultural CenterJuly: LIDS Garden Tours, Dates TBAAugust 16 –Public Daylily Sale and Clinic on Growing DayliliesSeptember 20 – 12 PM Annual Picnic- Place TBAOctober 18 – 1 PM: Vinnie Simeone, Director of Planting Fields Arboretum, Oyster Bay, NY, Talk And Walking TourPlanting Fields Main GreenhouseNovember 15 – 12 PM: Pot-Luck Luncheon, Annual Business Meeting, Photos from Members’ GardensPlanting Fields Main GreenhousePlease check the LIDS website for more information: www.lidaylily.org. Planting Fields Arboretum is located in Oyster Bay, NY.

NEDSNew England Daylily Society(www.nedaylily.org)

Submitted by Adele Keohan, presidentNEDS OFFICERS2 year terms (January 2013 - December 2014)Adele Keohan, President - [email protected] Bourret, Vice-President - [email protected] Riccio, Treasurer

Meeting Place - Tower Hill Botanic Garden 11 French Drive Boylston, Ma 01505www.TowerHillBG.org

2013-2014 Calendar of Events

November 9 - Soups On Potluck lunch and speaker Barry Matthie of Bonibrae Daylilies, OntarioDecember 14- NEDS Annual Business MeetingJanuary 11- NEDS Members’ Photo ContestFebruary- no meetingMarch 8- Daylily BINGO and speakers Darlyn Wilkinson and Curt TurnerApril 12- Spring potluck lunch and speaker TBAMay 24 - Public Plant Sale in Wakefield, MAJuly 20- Daylily Exhibition at Tower Hill Botanical GardenAugust 23- Public Plant Sale

Meetings are usually the second Saturday of each month from October to April (with the exception of October when the meeting is the first Saturday so as not to conflict with Columbus Day). Our May and August public sales will be held at the First Parish Congregational Church in Wakefield, MA, where we have had more participation than at the Tower Hill location.

The latest NEDS schedule and newsletters can be found on the NEDS web site (www.nedaylily.org). During the winter months, listen to the weather reports and check the Tower Hill Botanical Gardens web site (www.towerhillbg.org) or contact any one of the officers listed above to verify that the meeting has not been cancelled due to snow.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden is a beautiful facility located in Boylston, Massachusetts and the headquarters of the Worcester County Horticultural Society [WCHS], which is one of the oldest active horticultural societies in the U.S. The WCHS purchased Tower Hill Farm in 1986 and opened it to the public in order to better fulfill its goals of advancing the science and practice of horticulture. Tower Hill has a beautiful court yard with reflecting pool and three buildings housing many plants. The outdoor gardens include an apple orchard, vegetable garden, educational garden, wildlife garden and winter garden. It is well worth the trip to a NEDS meeting just to see the outdoor gardens or indoor plant displays at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. There is no entrance fee for anyone attending the NEDS meetings; just mention the NEDS meeting or say “daylilies” if you are stopped at the gate. We hope you will drop by and attend a meeting. All are welcome.

NSDS Nova Scotia Daylily Society Submitted by Yvonne Chute

December 12 2013 is our Baby-sitting plant meeting, where we vote on what baby-sitting plants we will be bringing into our program in 2014. We are not having meetings in January and February 2014 due to typical winter weather. Many of our members are on Facebook and the NSDS has a Facebook page that can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nova-Scotia-Daylily-Society-NSDS/129889100496214. There are a number of photos from summer events on the page.Current Executive:President: Peggy-Anne PineauVice-President: Mary RidgleySecretary: Louise PlourdeTreasurer: Yvonne ChuteMember-at-Large: Edward KimballPast-President: Carla Heggie

Regular club meetings are at 7:00p the 2nd Thursday of the month at the Hammonds Plains Baptist Church Hall.

A message from Kim Lipscomb: I would like to chime in with the news of our BBQ (in August) with the Roods as presenters. Also Garden Judge I and Garden Judge II by Tom Rood produced 6 new Garden Judges and we will have another next year. Also I became a Garden Judge Instructor.

A good year for daylilies in Nova Scotia, lots of rain and lots of hybridizing.

ODSOntario Daylily SocietySubmitted by Faye Collins [email protected] With just two meetings remaining, The Ontario Daylily 2013 Calendar has been jam packed with events and activities that cater to all aspects of serious daylily addiction... collecting, hybridizing, the latest and greatest, old favorites, diploids, tetraploids, a particular colour, shape or form, themes, daylilies in the landscape, preferences, all of the preceding or in combination and many I’ve missed. I am not going to report



on each and every event and the engaging speakers of the past few months--that information can be easily found elsewhere. Rather, I will highlight what’s coming up in 2014 and encourage you to join us not just for The 18th Annual CAN-AM Classic... a not to be missed weekend for sure... but also for some of the smaller meetings that are held at The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington just a short drive from the border and are in fact more accessible to folks in northern New York than the majority of our members in Ontario, a province that covers a vast geographical area. Each meeting except for one in February and The Baby Sitting Meeting and Plant Sale in June feature one of our own presenting his/her garden, business, hybridizing program, other horticultural interests, etc. An added bonus is discovering a new guest speaker that might be persuaded to travel to one of your club meetings and share his or her expertise and experience. Coming up and sure bets both are the two remaining presenters of 2013. On Saturday, October 19th, it is John Clarke from Barrie ...”A Year in The Life of a Northern Hybridizer’ and on Saturday, November 30 it’s Mike Patterson, Sunderland... ‘Definitely It’s Dips’. Check out their clever profiles and photos on our website...worth it especially if you can’t make your way to Burlington for the meetings. Many of you reading this have made the pilgrimage to The Annual CAN-AM Classic in the spring... by far our largest and best attended meeting and to a lesser extent The Fall Classic. But as yet no one outside of Ontario has discovered our Hybridizers’ Roundtable (Forum) going into its fourth year. It’s a great way to spend a quiet Sunday in March interacting with hybridizers, ranging from experienced to just beginning. It’s an informal exchange of ideas, information and how-tos and is a favorite of our newer members who might be a bit shy approaching well established hybridizers in a larger setting. Everyone is welcome. Not mentioned on the calendar below, but a very important club initiative is the outreach booth at The Peterborough Garden Show, a three day gardening event in mid- April (11, 12& 13). We can daylily proselytize to our hearts content to the hundreds of gardeners who pass by ready to get the jump on spring, so to speak. We also hope to add a public plant sale this year but at this point the only two event less months are August and December and December

would definitely not work. Another change in 2014....we moved our annual picnic to July hoping to capture peak bloom in Mike Georges’ garden. If you haven’t discovered Mike’s hybridizing program you are in for a treat. Check out The ODS Year at a Glance, 2014 below. Visit the website for details, information, reports and photos...everything that’s happening at ODS. And if not before, I hope to see you at our CAN-AM Classic in May or at any of the other 2014 offerings. Everyone is welcome!

Ontario Daylily Society 2014....Year at a Glance Unless indicated otherwise, meetings are held at The Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington, beginning at 10 AM in rooms 3 and/or 4&5. Please check the club website for current and upcoming meeting and event details and information.http//www.ontariodaylily.on.ca Saturday, January 18- The Winter Meeting ‘Chasing The Dream’, Carol and Anthony Haj...Lasting Dreams Daylilies, Orchard Park, New York Saturday, February 22- Escaping The Winter Doldrums Meeting...’ It’s Show Time” Selections from The AHS Media Library and other sources Sunday, March 23- ODS 4th Annual Hybridizer’s Roundtable (Forum) at the RBG , 11AM-5PM or at another location TBA May 9, 10 & 11- The 18th Annual CAN-AM Classic, Delta Toronto Airport West ...check club website for speakers, other details and registration forms Saturday, June 14- The Baby Sitting & Member Plant Sale Meeting, 2014 Collection- Hybridizer(s) to be announced Saturday, July 19- The ODS Annual Daylily Picnic and Games...from 11AM until 4PM, host Mike Georges, Guelph

Saturday, September 20- The 18th Fall Classic, Annual General Meeting and Election, 8AM-5PM , Delta Toronto Airport West, optional dinner at 7PM Saturday, October 25- The Autumn Get Together Meeting...’Showcasing True North Daylilies’, Tim Hobbs, True North Daylilies at Hobbs Hollow, Warkworth Saturday, November 29- The Holiday Meeting- ‘Some Like it Red’, Brian Schram, The Briary, Stevensville

PDSPatriot Daylily Society Fall/Winter 2013-14 ActivitiesSubmitted by Nick Chase, President

Patriot Daylily’s 2013 season continued with our annual early August picnic: Grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, and potluck selections - this year, on August 3 at Paula and George Doorakian’s in Bedford. [Photos by Nick Chase: PDS Picnic below. Bottom, left to right, Bethany and Zachary Hickey with George Doorakian.]

Our October 5 meeting featured Connecticut hybridizer Rich Howard. When Rich began hybridizing, he was having fun, just doing pretty on pretty for a few years to see what would happen. Today he focuses on tet patterns and teeth. Richʼs property is located in an area where a lot of fill material (translation: rocks) was added, and he also has a lot of trees,



so he grows his daylilies mostly in pots.Also in October we elected new officers

and directors for two-year terms (beginning January 1, 2014), as follows: President, Patsy Cunningham; Vice-president, Phillip Warbasse; Secretary, Nick Chase; treasurer, Mary Collier Fisher; Directors, George Doorakian and Bonnie Brown.

For our November 2 meeting we actually broke with recent tradition (of the past two years) and invited out-of-area speakers: Heidi and Charles Douglas, of Browns Ferry Gardens in Georgetown, South Carolina. Charles and his mom, Thelma, got started by buying daylilies from a local nursery. Soon they had too many, and they decided to start a nursery of their own, which opened to the public in 1994. Heidi started growing daylilies in 1999 when she picked out 5 daylilies for her garden. When they bloomed she was hooked and went back to the internet to order more. The couple met in 2003 and started dating. Heidi moved her garden, her dogs and herself to Browns Ferry in 2006, and Heidi and Charles were married in 2007. Now they travel the country speaking to daylily clubs as “The Dynamic Duo”.

The December 7 meeting will be our annual holiday party, at the Bedford Library, where we can all relax, eat, and talk about growing daylilies. And I will be relaxing, too, because this will be my very last meeting as PDS president! Well, I can almost relax…. I’m Secretary for

2014-2015.There will be no January meeting in 2014,

because the first Saturday of the month is

near the New Year’s holiday. For our February 1, 2014 meeting we will have our annual photography contest, in which the winners in each category have their winning photos as picture-of-the-month in the Patriot Daylily Society calendar.

Speaking of which, the 2014 edition of this very popular, always-sold-out calendar (see sample page below, left) is now available for sale. They make great holiday gifts, and during November and December you can order yours on the Internet at: http://patriotdaylilysociety.org/calendar.htm.

Only $10 each plus $5.60 priority mail for up to 4 calendars, with insurance and delivery confirmation. Use Paypal (on PDS website) or send a check payable to Patriot Daylily Society, mailed to Patsy Cunningham, 54 Mt Vernon Blvd, Pawtucket, RI 02861.

A reminder and invitation: Our meetings are the first Saturday of each month, October through December, February through May, at the Bedford (Mass.) Library, noon to 3 PM (or later, sometimes). Do come join us!

SMDHSSouthern Maine Daylily and Hosta Society

Submitted by Paul Bourret, presidentOur second annual SMDHS “Lobstah Classic’”

is now in the books and it was a smashing success. It was a beautiful day on the SMCC campus. Attendees were greeted by special guest, Larry the Lobster [photos above and at right by Paul Bourret], who was singing for his freedom in his trap outside of Jewett Hall.

The first event was a silent auction consisting of hostas and daylilies as well as other wonderful plants, pots and arrangements. It is always interesting to see what great plants the membership and visitors bring to the auction.

After the auction and social time, it was time to hear our guest speakers. Melodye Campbell from Rochester, New York spoke first about extending the daylily season. She described her efforts to hunt down

northern-hardy daylilies that keep the bloom season going into October. Melodye also provided a list of locations where a number of these plants can be purchased.

After a break, Rob “Wild Thang” Mortko of Olethe, Kansas took to the stage to talk to us about species hosta. Rob runs Made in the Shade Gardens. Since all of the hybrid hostas of today are derived from the species, it is important to know what each species brings to the table when you are hybridizing.

Following Rob’s presentation, we held door prize drawings and a live auction featuring plants donated by our speakers, our friends at 5-Acre Farm Daylilies, Rockhaven Dayliles and Harmon Hill Farms. These auctions are always a great place to find great plants at great prices. Mike Shadrack helped with the hosta side of the auction by providing some expert hosta knowledge and his English accent to the

festivities.The day finished with a Maine “Lobstah” bake.

One of the things we locals love to do is to plop a lobster down in front of folks from away and watch them try to figure out how to open it up. It truly was a great day here in Maine and another fun “Lobstah Classic”. Next year’s Classic will feature Jim Murphy and Margo Reed from Woodhenge Gardens. Keep an eye out for details on our web site: www.SMDHS.info

To keep up with our news and activities, you can find us at http://www.smdhs.info or you “Like” us on Facebook.



SMDSSoutheastern Massachusetts Daylily SocietySubmitted by Pat Wessling, PresidentSMDS meetings are held at The Wesley United Methodist Church 462 Main Street, Wareham, MA 025712013-2014 SMDS Calendar of EventsNovember 17, 2013 • 12:30pm – Speaker will be hybridizer Mike Huben, who will tell us all about his current hybridizing program. Mike is well known for his work with northern-bred rebloomers and early bloomers. View his 2013 introductions at www.harmonhillfarm.com/mikehuben.html or read more about Mike on his blog hubendaylilies.blogspot.com.December 2013 • Holiday Party (date TBA)

March 16, 2014 • 12:30pm – Lecturer, horticulturist and garden writer Suzanne Mahler will speak at our first meeting in the spring. We will post more information on her program next year. Suzanne’s garden, Mahler Gardens, is a National Display Garden for the AHS. She exhibits her own hybridized daylilies and over 100 varieties of Iris and Hosta in this garden.

Connecticut Daylily Society’s Tips for Making Your Sale a Great Success!by Rebecca Nisley, Avon, CT

Most clubs support a great deal of their programs with monies from their annual sales. We at the CT Daylily Society (CDS) have found a winning formula, and we would like to share. We hope that some of our techniques might help your club increase its sales. Here are the factors that we think help make our sale a success. As a motivation, we return half of the sale price to those who wish; otherwise the whole take goes to the club. Timing, location, signage, advertising, tents, details, good volunteers, and easy storage---all are important.

1. TIMING: Springtime sale (usually in May, but not on Mothers’ Day). Weather is often gorgeous and people are in the mood to plant.

2. LOCATION: If the site is good, staywith it. We’ve done it so often at the same place that people look for us each year. Our site is easily accessible, visible from the road, and with good parking. It helps that we hold the sale on the lawn of a public facility (Avon Senior Center) that people know about and which has toilet facilities. Location in CT is fairly central as well.

3. SIGNAGE: Nice yard signs andbigger triangle signs (with color daylily pictures on them) at turning points from major roads and in front of the sale place.

4. ADVERTISING: We contact thelocal big paper (Hartford Courant) with announcements for its gardening and bargain columns. Also, we put ads and announcements in freebie papers, the newsletters of garden clubs, and The Connecticut Gardener activities column. We display at the Connecticut Garden Show (the education section is free for garden clubs) in February and sometimes at various garden symposia.

5. TENTS: We have two for covering theplant tables and little tents for the cashier and for the giver of the gift plants (1 fan of extras or unknown but pretties). These tents keep the plants from drying out if it is sunny, keep the buyers and workers

cooler (and dryer) and greatly increase our visibility. [Photo by Linda Kozloski]

6. GUIDANCE FOR BUYERS: Buyerscan look to the colored plastic table cloths for the flower colors; we even found a Halloween spider web cloth for UFOs and spiders! We also have sections for more expensive plants, lates, earlies, and doubles. We also have a poster “explanation chart” to explain the abbreviations written on the plant labels/tags.

7. PICTURES WITH EVERY CULTIVAR:We put all divisions of the same cultivars in a plastic bin, box, or pot with a label that shows a picture of the flower. THIS I THINK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO. Our sales almost doubled when we did this. We hand out the white plastic plant tags

to be labeled with the plant descriptions, price, and donor’s initials. The price part [with donor’s initials on reverse] is cut off by the cashiers and kept for sorting by donor name.

We bought a bunch of those label holders that florists use in bouquets and reuse them. We have a library now of pictures. Anyone bringing a plant for sale MUST bring a photo of it as well.

8. GREAT VOLUNTEERS: It’s sort of “all workers and no boss”. We’ve all fallen into jobs we like and/or are good at, and we just do them. Generally we all pitch in for the big stuff, setting up the tents and tables, then make sure every cultivar is labeled and has a picture. Schmoozing and helping is a big activity. So, we really don’t need a chairperson or leader other than the president, who says around March --- “Here’s the sale date, everyone do what you usually do.”

[Below, left to right, Linda Hunter, Cheryl

Fox, Florence Lane. Photo: A. Keohan]

9. EASY STORAGE: We rent a smallstorage locker for our tents, tables, posters, and the junk we keep. The storage locker is just down the road, and we keep the stuff there until the next sale.

10. RAINY DAYS: As long as it is notpouring buckets, we sell. Occasionally a combination of cold and rain has led us to also sell on Sunday. But once, our treasurer had her dining room covered in drying money and checks!

11. FUN AFTERWARDS: A memberwho lives nearby has us over for food and wine. Often we stay long enough to count the take! Then we can really celebrate!



When I say gardening in 3D, I am sure your mind jumps to height, width and things jumping out at you, like on a movie screen but in this example, it’s not the case. Instead I wanted to talk about something interesting that I have noticed, not only in my gardening life but in many of the gardens that we visit during conventions. What my three “D”s stand for are this: Daylilies, Dogs and as an added touch, Dandelions.

In my often warped perception of reality, I have noticed something that has always interested or intrigued me and that is the connection and mostly the reality of this article which if I titled it properly, would have been called “Gardening in 2D”, but not as catchy. Dogs and daylilies, for some unknown reason, seem to go hand in hand.

From my first foray into daylilies, I noticed this without giving it much thought. I would often visit the gardens of Anne and Don Martin and of course be greeted by their faithful companion who would tour me through the gardens, and I am sure was trained to lead me to the most expensive daylilies available. In the back of their house was a slab of granite with a loving message carved into it in memory of a friend before.

As my circle of gardens grew, so did my new four legged friends. I would often spend as much time with the dogs in the gardens as I would looking at daylilies. I am sure it must have been my animal magnetism at work. Again the circle was not that big so it must have been just my area of the world and nothing really special going on. Of course, I had my best friends too, Damian and Lucy, and I

am sure they were just as excited about my new daylilies when I brought them home, or it could have just been the smell of other dogs. My hybridizing program was fairly new when the unthinkable happened, like a daylily bloom, it seems that our lives with our companions are far too short. In February, after over 15 years together, Damian passed away followed by Lucy three months later. My only recourse to keep them alive was memorializing my closest friends. Three plants were selected and thus, three introductions: “Man’s Best Friend”, “Damian Carlton Jewell” and “Sweet Puppy Kisses,” and after several years wait, Lucy’s plant will be introduced in 2014. I dedicated a small corner of my garden to them, a quiet shady spot with a plaque and a Celtic cross.

As the daylily bug bit harder, I found myself wanting more new and exciting plant, which landed me at my first official daylily meeting, the ODS CAN/AM classic. To my wildest fantasies appeared Melanie Mason and McGee, oh yes and I believe Bob was there too. Enough about Melanie and Bob, right there in the hotel attending the daylily meeting was a dog!! Well, Melanie and Bob were also there. Every meeting I would go to, for me, it was as much the excitement of the four legged friends as the daylilies and those two legged creatures too. McGee stopped coming but in her place came Corie equally as thrilling to see but somewhat aloof unless you have treats. Then I learned of Jamie Gossard’s secret hybridizing program, red poodles. No it’s not a new daylily form or some diploid conversion technique, it’s MORE DOGS. Almost everywhere I went where there were dogs there seemed to be daylilies,

or should that be the other way around? I think I like it here, people would present at our CAN/AM meeting and right smack in the middle of the presentations, there they were- dogs and puppies, well some people like cats too but hey we all can’t be perfect and have great presentations.

This spring was my biggest daylily journey ever and yes even in the far reaches across the border of our continent, believe it or not, there are dogs, errr daylilies, I mean. At Mike and Sandy Holmes garden I met one of Eric Simpsons’ Cavalier introductions “Ferguson” oh yes, and his daylilies are nice too. Along with Ferguson was Kim McCutcheon’s friend, Sheila, and there were people there but I can’t seem to remember who. There seemed to be dogs here and there, however, when I visited Jamie Gossard’s gardens, I am sure that he had them hidden away. I peered through the greenhouse windows trying for a glimpse at the red poodle hybridizing program but they were nowhere to be found. Even with a journey as far south as Kentucky, I found the ever popular daylily dog combo at Daylily World, the home of Ruffeé and Max. Mort Morss and David Kirchhoff are lucky enough to be able to have their daylily program there in exchange for being servants. The daylilies were nice.

One of the most unique Doglilies that I saw was at the home of Tom Polston and Doug Sterling. Pulling up on the bus, I saw a lady standing, holding what I thought was a Siberian Husky puppy. I said to my

Gardening in 3D by David Jewell, Lindsay, Ontario

Man’s Best Friend

Sweet Puppy Kisses

Damian Carlton Jewell


bus mate can you please take a picture of me holding the puppy. I wanted to send it back to my best friend and gardener in Canada. To my surprise, it was a full grown miniature husky. To me, it was the everlasting cute puppy. Tom had nice daylilies too. Dogs and daylilies are a logical combination it would seem.

So, lots of 2D talk so far, but what about that third “D”? Well as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to send the picture of me and the Polston Doglily to my friend and gardener back home. Jim’s life also revolves around two things: his gardening business “My Kawartha Gardener” and his Siberian Husky Misha, who unfortunately suffers from separation anxiety and has to go everywhere with Jim. But Misha is no ordinary garden dog. She is a remarkable gardening dog. I am sure at this point you are saying, “yeah, yeah she digs holes….” but Misha has developed a taste for believe it or not dandelions.

One spring while working in a garden (Jim was), a large pile of dandelions was forming, Misha [with Jim, below] walked over picked one up and gnawed the root to a stub. She ate the flower and dumped the greens. Over time and with the approval of her doctor, the behavior continued. We began to call it dandelion drunk. She would literally eat the flowers of any that were around and pull the plant out of the ground and eat the root to the point that her face was covered in dirt and she had a glazed look from all the treats. Life was good! You pay for a gardener and you get a second one for free, and to boot the weeds are carried away and composted!

My observation is true. There is a connection between dogs, daylilies and dandelions. It’s in the plants we name; it’s in the company we keep; it’s in our garden greeters and the weeds we pull. It’s odd and yet magical and probably not going to change. Dogs and daylilies are a unique combination that are here to stay… and those stupid dandelions, too.

There are scholarships and prizes for AHS youth members! Make sure to mark on your calendars the following award and application submission deadlines.

Youth Awards and Scholarship submission deadlines:

AHS Youth Photography AwardNovember 1, 2013 submission deadline

Christine Erin Stamile Youth Award Bertie Ferris Scholarship Application period January 1 –March

31, 2014

Mabel Matthews Scholarship April 1, 2014 application deadline

Details for awards and scholarships can be found on the AHS web site, www.daylilies.org

Holiday Traditions Contest for all youth members! A special prize will be awarded to the winner. Everyone entering will be included in a drawing to be held January 1, 2014. Pick a holiday in November, December or January. What tradition is practiced by you or your family to commemorate this holiday? To enter, send your name, the name of the holiday and a brief description of the tradition to the AHS Youth Chair[contact info above right] by email or snail mail.

(Entry examples: Jane Doe; Thanksgiving; I help collect and distribute food for needy families OR John Doe; Christmas; every year the children in our family make ornaments to decorate the tree.)

Kathy D’Alessandro, AHS Youth Chair, 2076 Silo Lane, East Greenville, PA, 18041, [email protected]

Youth Group Halloween Contest on the AHS Portal

http://www.daylilynetwork.org

Visit the Youth Group to find the hidden ghosts and goblins for your chance to win HALLOWEEN TRICK, Salter 2005 [photo below from AHS data base.]. Find them all and you will be entered in a drawing to be held November 30, 2013.

Lucy’s Flower for 2014

AHS Region 4 Youth News

Upcoming AHS Regional and National Events

Visit http://ontariodaylily.on.ca/ for details and registrations information on the 18th Annual Can-Am Classic, hosted by the Ontario Daylily Society.

For details and registration information on the 2014 National Convention in North Caro-lina, visithttp://www.daylilies.org/2014convention/index.html


On remarque que toutes les couleurs sont présentes dans les hémérocalles. Les couleurs telles le bleu et le vert font lente-ment leur apparition en hybridation.

We note that all colors are present in daylilies. Colors like blue and green are slowly emerging in hybridization.

[Ci-dessus, l’hybrides de Daniel Matton]

On sait aussi que ce qui donne les couleurs aux fleurs sont les pigments. Il existe plusieurs sortes de pigments, mais ceux que l’on retrouve dans les fleurs et qui leur donnent leurs cou-leurs vives sont les « anthocyanes et flavonoïdes » qui colorent les fleurs en bleu, rouge, mauve, rose ou orange, et on les retrouve aussi dans les fruits et autres parties de la plante. Ces magnifiques couleurs étant là pour attirer les insectes pollinisa-teurs, elles ne manquent pas d’attirer aussi un autre pollinisa-teur... l’amateur d’hémérocalles.

We also know that which gives colors to flowers are pig-ments. Many kinds of pigments exist but those which we find in flowers and which gives them their lively colors are “antho-cyanes and flavonoids” which color flowers in blue, red, mauve, pink or orange, and we also find these pigments in fruits and other parts of the plant. These magnificent colors which are there to attract insect pollinators, do not miss attracting ano-ther pollinator as well... the lover and hybridizer of daylilies.

En hybridant les couleurs saturées (certains pourpres très foncés), j’ai remarqué qu’en les diluant, c’est-à-dire en les croi-sant avec les spécimens plus pâle, j’obtenais dans les hybrides de la nouvelle génération certaines couleurs cachées par la cou-leur dominante; c’est ce que j’ai remarqué en croisant certains appliqués avec un spécimen possédant un filigrane (watermark)

pâle comme par exemple l’hy-bride de Matton à gauche.

By crossing saturated colors (some very dark purples), I noticed by diluting, which is to say by crossing them with paler specimens, I obtained in the seedlings of the new generation certain colors hidden by the do-minant color; this is what I no-ticed by crossing some appliqué

eyes with a specimen possessing a pale watermark for example this Matton seedling [bottom, far left].

Je me suis intéressé à ce phénomène, car c’est précisément ce phénomène qui est à la source de certains oeils à motifs (pattern eyes) comme les dégradés de couleurs ainsi que ceux qui ressemblent à des codes-barres.

I was interested in this phenomenon, because it is exactly this phenomenon which is at the source of certain “pattern eyes” for the gradations of co-lors together with those which look like bar codes.

L’hybride à droite nous montre bien le dégradé de couleurs par bandes dans le sépale.

The Matton seedling (at right) shows us well the gradation of colors by bands in the sepal.

Observons dans la photo de droite [d’autre hybride de Matton] l’apparition du dessin en forme de code-barre quand la tempé-rature est plus chaude.

Let us observe in the photo at right [another Matton seedling]the appearance of a pattern in the form of a bar code when the temperature is warmer.

Matton hybride La même hybride par temps chaud

Dans la photo de droite (ci-haut) nous voyons les bandes s’élargir et le bleu apparaître. In the photo at right (above), we see bands widening and the blue appears.

De toutes les couleurs! [All the colors!] par Daniel Matton, Québec


Remarquons le même phénomène dans la photo de ‘Va-lence’ (Matton, 2010) ci-dessus.

Let us notice the same phenomenon in the photo of ‘Va-lence’ (Matton, 2010) above.

Si l’on veut découvrir les couleurs masquées par d’autres, il faut des moyens pour les mettre à jour. Les conditions de l’environnement comme la lumière, la chaleur, le temps frais, l’humidité sont autant de facteurs qui permettent aussi cette observation. Par temps chaud, les pigments semblent migrer davantage dans les tissus de la fleur, nous laissant entrevoir ces couleurs cachées ainsi que certains dessins comme dans la photo de l’hybride ci-dessous.

If we want to discover the colors masked by another, we need means to reveal them. The conditions of the environment such as light, heat, cool temperatures, and humidity are so many factors which also allow this observation. In hot weather, pigments seem to migrate more in the tissues of the flower and we can get a glimpse of the hidden colors and some patterns as in the photo of the seedling below.

Noter l’augmentation de la distance entre les bandes de ‘Sisik’ (Matton, 2012) par temps chaud.

Note the increase of the distance between the bands of ‘Sisik’ (Matton, 2012) in hot weather.

N’oublions pas qu’en hybridation la règle de base est l’OB-SERVATION!

Let us not forget that in hybridization the basic rule is OB-SERVATION!

Daniel Matton

Garden Swimmingly!

When we moved into our home in 1978, the in-ground swimming pool was already there (although covered with snow, so we only saw it in pictures). We enjoyed the pool for many years. But in the past few years we were spending more time on pool maintenance than swimming. Also, it had reached the point where we would need to replace the liner and frame (a major expense). So in June of this year we decided to fill in the pool and make it into a garden. The work was completed in July and we’ve started planting. The right side of the photo (west side) contains our seedlings, most of which are still under evaluation. We started hybridizing in 2008, just for fun, and have no plans to introduce anything. The east side of the garden is still mostly empty, but does contain some registered daylilies which we moved from other areas in the yard. There is a path down the center of the garden with landscaping fabric covered with mulch. On both sides of the path we’ve planted a row of bearded iris. We will be planting some hyacinths on the north side of the garden. The garden is in our back yard, about 10 feet south of our sunroom, which is attached to the back of our house. The gnomes were gifts from my brother over the years. They were the first thing to go into the garden, before any planting, just to provide some interest.Bonnie and Chris SzarekNewington, CT


Understanding your Garden SoilFrank Almquist - HADSMaster GardenerCornell Cooperative Extension – Ulster County

IntroductionThe interaction between geology and climate

over the millennia has created the soils we use today. Running water, freezing and thawing cycles, and heating and cooling cause rock to disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces. Soil microbes, algae, fungi, chemical interactions and organic matter add into this mixture. Humus, the near end breakdown of organic matter is an important component that ultimately makes what we call “top soil”. Soils are complex biochemical systems in which plants grow. All soils have structural and biological properties that distinguish them from the materials from which they were originated. Most important, soil is a dynamic ecological environment that provides plants with support, water, nutrients and air. All these ingredients are needed for plant growth. In addition, soil supports a large microorganism population that recycles organic matter.

Typical garden soil is a mixture of minerals, decaying organic materials, water, air and many living organisms, from bacteria to larger creatures such as earthworms and beetles. We will discuss what garden soil is, how it supports a plant (both mechanically and with nutrients). We will also cover fertilizers, how to understand the numbers on a bag label, and how the individual nutrients aid your plants.Constituents

Soil is made up of three constituents, sand, silt, and clay. Sand, the type found on a beach, silt from those wooded places un-dug for years, and clay - that hard grey to yellow material that doesn’t seem to break down. Sand is made up of fine particles of stone, primarily silicon dioxide. These particles range in size from the thickness of a piece of paper (0.1 mm) to the thickness of two dimes (2 mm). Clay is found as microscopic particles of aluminum and magnesium based compounds in the structure of microscopic flat plates. Clay is typically 1000 times smaller than the smallest sand particle. Silt fills the space between the clay particles and the smaller sand particles. All plant nutrients come from organic constituent portions of the soil. Biological decomposition of plant material form silt that provides the necessary ingredients for plant growth. Bacterial action on organic material, in conjunction with water and air provides the plants with a solution rich in minerals.

How do these three soil components work together? Imagine you shrink small enough to fit in among these particles. The clay particles would be the size of Lego blocks. The sand will now be the size of a garden tractor. Have you noticed we can still breathe? Air is present in a well-mixed soil provided it is not compacted or saturated. You will see a thin layer of liquid attached to the surface of the particles and what look like large ropes lying against that liquid. These “ropes” are the root hairs from all the plants. The liquid is a “soup” of the nutrients that every plant must have to grow and flourish. The nutrients

in the solution are absorbed though the root hair cell wall and into the interior where they are passed on to other parts of the plant. These nutrients are used to build stems, leaves, and reproductive parts, the fruit. Soil Makeup

Now that we know about the three main parts of soil, we should know how much of each is needed for good plant growth. We know that all clay is not a good growing medium. We cannot even get our hands into that material. All sand is no good either, water will run through it and plants will dry out rapidly. Organic material is required to amend the soil, hold moisture, and provide the home for microorganisms that put soil minerals into forms plants can use. The organic material (humus, loam, silt) is the gap filler between the sand and clay particles. It is this material that makes your soil friable or easy to work. Good soil texture should be such that when it is firmly squeezed in your hand then released, it relaxes into a soft ball. All sand will immediately fall apart and clay will seldom come apart.

Shown on the opposite page is a soil triangle that graphs the percentage of each of the three constituents, clay on the left side, silt on the right and sand across the bottom. The clay percentage increases from 0 to 100% from the lower left to the apex. The silt percentage follows the right side from 0% at the apex to 100% at the lower right. The sand percentage increases from 0% at the right to 100% at the left. On the triangle is an oval that helps locate the components of a good garden soil. The mix should include sand, silt and some clay which all help in the nutritive and physical support of plants. Check your soil

How do you know what your soil is like? Go to each of your garden beds and do this sampling independently or you can mix the soil all together. Dig down four to six inches, the depth of the plant roots and remove a few spoonfuls of soil. Mix the soil thoroughly, removing coarse material. Put the soil mix into a tall jar, like an olive jar, about 2/3rds full, add a few drops of a dishwashing liquid then fill the jar almost full with water. Shake vigorously, and let stand for a few days. The soil will settle out with the sand on the bottom, silt in the middle and clay on the top.

To determine your soil consistency, calculate the percentage of each component and mark the value on the appropriate arm of the soil triangle. Draw a line from the percent of sand number parallel with the right side of the triangle to the other side. Next, draw a second line for the silt number parallel with the left side of the triangle. Now, draw a line parallel to the bottom of the triangle from the point for percent of clay. The intersection


of the three lines indicates your type of soil. Now that the composition of your soil has been determined,

you can add the appropriate amendments to move into the area of better soil consistency. In most cases, more organic material must be added. Typically, one to two inches of compost tilled into the soil will provide a source for the microbes and other bacteria the soil needs to turn the minerals in sand and clay into usable plant nutrients. Soil Nutrients

Compost is a soil amendment. It is NOT a primary source for the three basic elements plants need, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (N-P-K). If one were to test compost for these elements, the results would read well under 1 - 1 - 1. These three are natural materials that must be added to the soil through the use of fertilizers. Inorganic or organic fertilizers do the same thing to improve soil nutrition. Organics have much slower release of the three ingredients than does an inorganic fertilizer. However, most necessary, trace elements found in organic fertilizers are not found in the inorganic materials.

The most-commonly applied nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Plant response to all three elements is quite strong, and it became customary to apply the three together. As a result, all three are still applied even though there are many situations, especially in gardens and landscapes, where plants may not respond to one or more of these nutrients. Nitrogen always evokes a growth response while potassium and phosphorus are slow to affect the plant. Phosphorus stays in the soil, therefore, additional applications may be of little or

no value. Phosphorus is released from the soil to the plants by breakdown of phosphates depending on soil pH. Spring thaw and excessive rain may cause the some nutrients to leach out of the soil so use of a complete fertilizer is still recommended.

Other plant-essential nutrients called macronutrients that are used in smaller quantities are calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S). However, fertilization with these nutrients is not usually necessary because the Ca and Mg contents of soil are generally sufficient for most plant species. Also, large quantities of Ca and Mg are supplied when acidic soil is limed with dolomite. Sulfur is usually present in sufficient quantities from the slow decomposition of soil organic matter, an important reason for composting grass clippings and leaves.

Micronutrients are those elements essential for plant growth which are needed in only very small (micro) quantities. These elements are sometimes called minor elements or trace elements, but use of the term micronutrient is encouraged by the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. The micronutrients are iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and chlorine (Cl). If one of your plant species has a micronutrient deficiency, apply the recommended rate of the deficient nutrient. Recycling organic matter such as grass clippings and tree leaves is an excellent means of providing micronutrients (as well as macronutrients) to growing plants.

Without performing a soil test for the three main components, the best advice is the spring use of a simple well balanced fertilizer, 5-5-5 or 10-10-10. These numbers indicate

the percent of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium by weight in the bag of fertilizer. If you have a fifty pound bag of 10-10-10, there would be five pounds each of available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Keep in mind that many of the liquid organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion or seaweed blends are high in micronutrients but also high in nitrogen, which stimulates strong foliar growth.Plant Nutrition

Eighteen elements are considered essential for plant growth. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are primarily supplied by air and water. Plant roots absorb the remaining elements from the soil. These elements are divided into three groups based on their relative abundance in plants: Primary Nutrients, Secondary Nutrients (or Macro Nutrients), and Micronutrients. Although the Primary Nutrients are needed in the greatest quantities, a deficiency of any nutrient can


limit plant growth. Even though some soils may already contain all nutrients, they may not be in a form available for plant growth. The best way to ensure that all of the nutrients are available in the soil is through regular applications of plant foods. The attached table provides more information on each nutrient, its deficiency symptoms, and possible plant foods to cure the deficiency.

Daylilies

Daylilies will grow acceptably without fertilizer, however, addition of nutrients is highly recommended for optimum growth and flowering. The plants prefer moderate nitrogen and higher rates of potassium. As mentioned earlier, phosphorus is always in the soil. Proper pH (6.0-6.5) and soil moisture are necessary to make P available to the plants. Slow-release or organic fertilizers are best for late spring and summer use. Spring fertilization is done by using a general purpose fertilizer (10-10-10) before the ground thaws. Broadcast the material around the plant crowns while the soil can still be walked on. This feeding provides nutrients as soon as the ground thaws and the plant wakes up. Most of us have seen Brian Culver’s leek size plants at auctions. Early fertilization is his “secret”, as well as loose, silt rich soil. As soon as spring growth is around 4-6 inches, apply a slow-release or an organic fertilizer, then again in midsummer. Never fertilize after mid-August. Late fertilizer applications encourage new foliar growth that will weaken the plant. Water after applying fertilizer or time your applications before a rain.

Mix a generous hand-full of most any organic fertilizer (Espoma is one brand) into the soil when planting a new daylily. If the ground is cold, the material will be there when the soil organisms become active, usually a soil temperature above 50-55F. Topdressing with more organic fertilizer just before blooming will provide the plant with more nutrients to get it through this energy hungry period.

References:

1) SOILS, An Introduction, Singer, Michael J and Munns,Donald N., Macmillan Publishing Co. NY, 1987.

2) Soil Fertility and Fertilizers, Tildale, Samuel L., Nelson,Werner L., Beaton, James D., Havlin, John L., PrenticeHall, Inc. 1993

3) Websites

a. http://blogs.cornell.edu/horticulture/soil-basics/

b. www.espoma.com/

c. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/garden_related.html

d. http://www.swac.umn.edu/classes/soil2125/doc/lecnots.htm

Hybridizing: Is it for you?By Lori-Ann Jones, Region 4, Zone 5

When you love a daylily, there usually comes a time when something or someone inspires you to think about hybridizing yourself. Mine came at a Region 4 meeting when Dan Trimmer was showing a slide of Hemerocallis ‘Rosalinda’s Eyes’ that he had just introduced and I wondered if I could even start daylily seeds. Well, yes I can!

Since I only deal with Tetraploid hybridizing, my remarks, observations and statements do not necessarily apply to Diploid hybridizing.

So how do you get started? First and foremost, you need a direction in which you want to go called a goal. My goal back in 1995 was to produce Tetraploid Unusual Forms with the grace of a Diploid Unusual Form. The seedlings that I wanted to create also needed to be pod fertile because back then, it was hard to purchase a Tetraploid, northern hardy, Unusual Form daylily that would set pod. In the process, I ended up with some very large daylilies, some the size of Dinner Plate Dahlias that were tall and to me are just sensational. That is where the term “Big Honk-ing” came in and it is a prefix for some of my very large daylilies introductions (6 ½” or better).

How do you go about achieving your goal or goals? 1. Produce your own seeds by crossing plants that you

have in your garden already.2. Purchase seeds on line through the Lily Auction.3. The best way, in my opinion, is by first purchasing at

least ten daylilies to start off your program.Years ago I asked the late Rose Gruber, a hybridizer out of

HADS, “How do you know what parent should be the pod par-ent?” She told me, “It was like breeding horses, the filly is the one with all the stamina and the stud has the pretty face.” So if you have chosen to cross daylilies from your daylilies in your yard or if you are going to purchase new daylilies to start your hybrid-izing program, what you are looking for is a pod parent that has the branching and the bud count you want to pass down to your seedlings and a pollen parent that has the pretty face that you are desiring in your next generation. This is especially true when you are just starting to hybridize. Once your program is about five to seven years out, you should have these traits in most of the seedlings you have selected for hybridizing and it should not make a difference as to which seedling is being used as the pod or pollen parent.

Alright, you have chosen a goal. You want big flowers with a ruffled edge. My suggestion is to purchase at least ten (10) great performing daylilies that are hardy to your area that have the traits you are looking for and that you can afford. You need to know that you can only cross a Diploid with a Diploid and a Tetra-ploid with a Tetraploid.

Don’t do like I have done in the past and purchase tender plants that died before I could hybridize with them. It’s import-ant to do your research to ensure the daylilies you purchase do not have the same parents in their background. You want to start your own program and not continue with someone else’s program.

My yard is very small, but you would be surprised as to what you can do as a “Backyard Hybridizer”. Because of my limited yard space, I try not to plant more than four hundred seedlings a year. In the beginning back in the early 1990’s, one of the problems I stumbled upon was that when my seedlings bloomed,


I loved every one of them. Twenty years later, I still have that problem, but I have learned to cut down from all my seedlings that I want to keep to between fifty to seventy-five seedlings of any given year’s seed crop. You have no idea as to how quickly you can run out of room. If you have acres, then this will not be a problem for you.

Now to get started, you will be crossing with half of these beauties you have purchased.

POD PARENT POLLEN PARENT

1 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

2 1 – 3 – 4 – 5

3 1 – 2 – 4 – 5

4 1 – 2 – 3 – 5

5 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

You can make sixteen pods without using the same pod and pollen parent twice. Assuming the pods give you ten seeds each, could be more and it could be less, you could have roughly one hundred and sixty seeds. Now take the second half of the plants you purchased and cross them the same way as you did the first half. Hopefully, you will get another one hundred and sixty seeds. This will be a combined total of over three hundred seeds. In your mind’s eye, I would like you to envision two beds running side by side like railroad tracks with a path between the beds. The first one hundred and sixty seedlings are planted in one bed and the other one hundred and sixty seedlings are planted in the other. Now you have two programs started and these two programs will enable you to cross back and forth be-tween the two beds without using the same parents twice.

While you are making these original crosses, don’t forget to mark a tag as to who the pod parent is and who the pollen par-ent is. These seedlings will be your F1 generation when they are planted out the following spring. The pod parent always goes on the top of the tag with the pollen parent underneath. Example: ( H. Destined to See X H. Greywoods Bill Chambers )

Make it easier on yourself and abbreviate the names.

I like to use the green tags that I can get from Staples that have a coating.

The coating will help the tag last through the summer till the pod has ripened. Also, I use a uni-ball pen that is waterproof.

I have found that a pod will ripen between four (4) to eight (8) weeks upon forming. A ripening pod will start turning brown or shrivel and crack open. I will also give a pod a very gentle squeeze with my fingers and if the pod gives just a little, I

know that pod is ready to harvest. Mark Labbe, a very good friend and knowledgeable hybridiz-

er has shared this information with me and I now put each seed cross in a plastic ketchup holder used in takeout. Mark said, “Leave the seeds in the cup for four (4) hours to dry because I prefer my seeds as fresh out of the pod as possible as I get the best germination that way.” “I let them dry for 4 hours because I found that I do not get much mold in the seeds in the refrigera-tor and I am able to quickly identify the bad seed (that probably starts the mold growing).” So far I have allowed my seeds to dry

overnight. With the emphasis Mark has put on seed germina-tion and his seeds do germinate very well, I have decided to com-mence preparing my seeds for the refrigerator in the manner he recommends.

I like to put seeds in small zip lock bag, 2x3, 2 Mil with a white block that I purchased on line.

Place a small piece of a coffee filter in the bag to absorb any moisture. I pull the string off the tag and just tape the tag to the bag. This saves me the time of

writing everything twice.I then write in red on the tag with how many seeds are in the

bag. Now when I go to record them on my Excel Spreadsheet, I have all my information at my fingertips. Keeping excellent re-cords on your crosses is very beneficial. When you have a good seedling, you need to know the parents to that cross so that you

can see who is giving you the trait you are admiring in that seedling for future hybridiz-ing.

The seeds need to be stored for at least 4 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator for stratification purposes. This process simulates planting your seeds outside in late November. My seeds are kept in the refrigerator from harvest to usually the middle of February when I start them. Some hybridizers do


not store their seeds in the refrigerator and when I was given some of these seeds to start, I have found poor germination. One or two seeds out of ten seeds germinating is not what I call excellent results. I believe it is because Tetraploids produce seeds that have a thicker and harder shell.

Now what to do with the seeds? You can read: The Daylily Journal Vol. 66 No. 4 Winter 2011 page 47, ‘The northern quest’ ‘From seeds to blooms in just over a year’ or you can go to my Blog: http://knollcottagedaylilies.blogspot.com and read the article with just a little more added information.

Time flies when you are having fun and a little over a year has passed since you planted those seeds. Many seedlings will bloom if you have followed my instructions. A friend of mine, Lindy Ryer, said to me one day, “It must be wonderful seeing a flower for the first time and knowing that no one else has ever seen it.” It can be wonderful when the flower is beautiful and that is when you want someone to stop by your garden just so that you can share in the exhilaration of that moment. Not every seed that you plant will produce a beautiful seedling. Be prepared to be very selective.

Now what do you do with your seedlings that are blooming? Do you line breed or do you out cross?

Line breeding is when the two seedlings you are crossing have the same parents or you cross back to one of the parents or you put the parent back onto the seedling. You do this if you are trying to pull out a recessive trait. For an example, I have heard that teeth are a recessive trait. My best luck ever in hybridizing has been to use half-sister and half-brother. I refer to them as “kissing cousins”. That means that one parent is in both seed-lings to be crossed, but the other parents are different.

An example would be: ((Heir to the Throne x August Wed-ding) X (Jim Baker x Heir To The Throne)). Heir to the Throne is represented in two different seedlings.

Out crossing is when you add other genes by using plants you have not used before. You do this when you are trying to add a trait that is not present in the parents or the seedlings growing in your garden. This would require a few more daylilies to be purchased or if you are lucky, a fellow hybridizer will share pollen with you.

It boils down to this: Cross an eye with an eye and you should get an eye or cross an edge with an edge and you should get an edge but that is not what always happens when dealing with Tetraploids because of the variables and the number of chromo-somes involved in any given cross. It can be like playing Russian roulette, you can never be sure of the outcome because Tetra-ploids are not predictable due to the fact that you are dealing with forty-four chromosomes verses a Diploid with only twen-ty-two chromosomes. Years ago the late Ron Valente, a talented hybridizer of Tetraploids from Maine and a protégé of the late Steve Moldovan, spoke at a HADS meeting explaining the odds of repeating a Tetraploid cross and getting the exact results. I do not remember the exact numbers but Ron’s figures were mind boggling making an exact cross almost impossible to accomplish even if you did a long cross which would consist of loading up a plant with pods attained using the same pollen parent.

Select seedlings for possible introduction and for your hybrid-izing program. Choose your next generation wisely by crossing back and forth to the seedlings that already show you some traits of what you want to achieve. This is where you would use

my term “kissing cousins”. Cross the related sibs back to each other to pull out the trait or traits you are looking for in your next generation. Other things to consider are bud count, vigor, overall plant appearance and of course a pretty face to that daylily.

Make sure you purchase a good camera to take pictures of those seedlings. I purchased a Canon Rebel XT back in 2005. The camera shoots excellent pictures and has 8 megapixels. In my opinion, the colors are true so the only thing I do is crop a picture but I will add the name of the daylily or seedling number when needed for a power point or for some other application.

I like to select seedlings the first two years from their bed, dig and move them to their permanent home. The remainder of the seedlings in that bed are tossed or given away on that second year. Now I can watch, hybridize and evaluate those chosen seedlings. After you have moved a seedling, allow it two years to look like it did the year you moved it. By then if the seedling has not multiplied, has a low bud count, or you are still asking yourself why you selected that seedling, it is time to be dis-carded. If after about five years, or more, the plant shows nice increase, bud count, nice foliage and of course that pretty face, I will then line it out to be registered and introduced. In that time frame of evaluating your seedlings, one year is forgiven for bad performance due to the elements. Steve Moldovan allowed his seedlings such a reprieve and I defer to his knowledge and expertise.

Make sure that you take measurements of the seedlings that you have chosen to introduce by year four, before you line out the plant. When it comes time to register your seedling for intro-duction, you will need to fill out the form provided by the AHS. Go to their website and see what information you will need at: http://www.daylilies.org/ I would also recommend that you go into the dictionary at the AHS website to familiarize yourself with the terminology so when you describe your introduction, your language is correct. Example: Do you know the difference between an eye, a band and a watermark?

You’re going to want to show your introductions and if you are a smart cookie and you feel that you can do a website by yourself then by all means go for it, but if you feel that you can-not, you will need a webmaster who will build your site for you. You will be responsible for putting together all the descriptions of your introductions and anything else you want on your site. An example would be a history of yourself and your garden.

For a final thought, remember, hybridizing can be hard work involving disappointment but the rewards can be fulfilling, satisfying, gratifying and totally enjoyable. Maybe someday I’ll see your seedlings up on screen at a hybridizers meeting. If you decide hybridizing is for you, bon voyage, enjoy the trip!

[At right, Lori-Ann Jones marking hybridizing tags in her garden.]


New Members Corner Josette Ratté of Neuville, Québec

Bonjour, mon nom est Josette Ratté. J’ai 53 ans et après 23 ans comme horticultrice, je viens de prendre ma retraite. Je vais enfin pouvoir me consacrer à ma passion.

Comment ma passion pour l’hybridation est-elle arrivée?

Eh bien, par une belle journée d’août 2005 en allant à mon chalet, j’ai remarqué une maison où il y avait une affiche « Les Jardins Fer-Jean ».

Comme j’adore découvrir de nouvelles fleurs pour mon travail comme acheteuse dans un centre jardin, je me suis dit : « J’arrête voir si je ne pourrais pas dénicher une nouvelle vivace que je ne connais pas encore ». À ma très grande surprise, j’ai découvert des milliers d’hémérocalles de toutes les couleurs inimaginables. J’aurais passé la semaine dans ce magnifique jardin, mais malheureusement le temps me pressait. Mme Martel m’invita à

revenir la voir un autre jour. Donc moi, la grande passionnée, c’est avec plaisir que j’ai toute de suite accepté son invitation.

À ma deuxième visite, j’étais toute excitée. J’avais un paquet de questions; comment fait-on pour hybrider? Lesquelles avec lesquelles? Etc.

Elle a pris le temps de m’expliquer le procédé, et de répondre à toutes mes questions avec une patience et une gentillesse remarquable. Elle m’a donné un cours sur l’hybridation. J’écoutais, je prenais des notes. Elle ne savait pas encore, mais elle venait de me transmettre sa passion, et je crois encore plus forte que la sienne.

Depuis j’ai acheté plein de nouveaux plants pour produire des hybrides de plus en plus recherchés. Ma passion est devenue plus grande de jour en jour, et voir le résultat de mes hybridations est un pur bonheur.

Ma rencontre avec cette femme extraordinaire est un des plus beaux jours de ma vie, je m’en souviendrai toujours. Mon plus bel hybride de 2009 est enregistré à son nom, FERNANDE MARTEL.

Depuis 2005, l’hybridation me passionne. Mon goût pour les hémérocalles a évolué d’année en année pour en arriver enfin à me spécialiser dans l’hybridation des sculptées en crête, des doubles et, mes préférés, les code barres.

Je commence enfin à avoir des résultats intéressants avec mes hybrides. Afin d’améliorer mon programme d’hybridations, j’utilise beaucoup mes futurs enregistrements 2014 comme par exemple Déesse de Neuville, Déesse du Firmament, Déesse du Paradis. Pour les code barres, j’utilise Get Jiggy , Barcode, Aztec Headdress et Geneva After Burner.

En 2013, j’ai enregistré à l’AHS quinze nouveaux cultivars. Mon jardin est ouvert à tous du 15 juillet au 20 août de chaque année. Maintenant à la retraite, j`aurai enfin le temps d’aller visiter les grands hybrideurs comme David Kirchhoff, Dan Hansen, James Gossard, Pat Stamile et cie. Vive la retraite et les hémérocalles.

Pour en savoir plus sur mes cultivars, visitez mon site:http://passionhemerocalles.blogspot.com

[email protected]

English translation: Hello, my name is Josette Ratté. I am 53 years old and after 23 years as a horticulturist I am taking my retirement and then I’ll finally be able to pursue my passion. How did my passion for

Above, Josette Ratté and her husband Louis Gauthier. Photo by Marius Chouinard. Below, three of Josette’s future introductions. Photos by Josette Ratté.


hybridizing arrive? Well, on a beautiful day in August 2005 as I returned to my cottage, I noticed a house where there was a sign “Les Jardins Fer-Jean.” As I love discovering new flowers for my work as a buyer in a garden center, I said: “I’ll stop to see if I couldn’t find a new perennial that I do not know yet.” To my surprise, I discovered thousands of daylilies in every imaginable color. I would have spent a week in this beautiful garden, but unfortunately I was pressed for time so Ms. Martel invited me to come back another day. So with my great passion started, I quickly accepted her invitation with pleasure. On my second visit, I was so excited. I had a bunch of questions : How do you hybridize? Which with whom? Etc. She took the time to explain the process and answer all my questions. With patience and remarkable kindness, she gave me a lecture on hybridization. I listened and took notes. She did not know it then, but she had given me this new passion, and I think perhaps even a stronger passion than her own. Since then I’ve bought lots of new plants to produce distinctive hybrids. My passion has truly become bigger by the day, and to see the result of my daylily hybridizing is pure bliss. My encounter with this extraordinary woman is one of the happiest days of my life which I’ll always remember. My best hybrid seedling in 2009 is recorded in her name, FERNANDE MARTEL.

Since 2005, the hybridizing has fascinated me and my taste for daylilies has changed from year to year to finally specialize on the hybridizing of the sculpted cristate form, doubles and my favorite, patterns.

I’m finally starting to get interesting results with my hybrids to improve my hybridization program. I am using a lot of my future 2014 registrations in my program : Déesse de Neuville (Neuville Goddess), Déesse du Firmament (Goddess of the Firmament), Déesse du Paradis (Goddess of Heaven). For patterns, I am using Hemerocallis ‘Get Jiggy’, H. ‘Barcode’, ‘Aztec Headdress’ and ‘Geneva After Burner’. In 2013 I registered fifteen new cultivars with the AHS. My garden is open to all from July 15 to August 15 of each year. Now that I’m retired I will finally have time to go visit the big hybridizers like David Kirchhoff, Dan Hansen, James Gossard, Pat Stamile

and co. and enjoy living retirement and daylilies. To learn more about my cultivars, visit my site:http://passionhemerocalles.blogspot.com

email: [email protected]

[Below, two views of Josette’s garden: the entrance, marked by a sign with the garden name, “Passion Hémérocalles” /passion [for] Daylilies; the “jardin verrière”/ canopy garden. Bottom left, a patterned seedling. Photos by Josette Ratté.]


Imagine how fortunate you would feel as a gardener, if your metro area could claim that it hosts the largest National Garden Festival in the nation. Now imagine that the same event coincides with Peak Bloom Season of our favorite perennial. Well here in Western New York State, we are very fortunate indeed, as the City of Buffalo is the centerpiece of a Seven Week long garden party, highlighting not only a city wide park system designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead, encompassing the grounds of the 1901 PanAm Exhibition, and capped off by a majestic Botanical Gardens designed by Lord & Burnham. What makes this event special is not simply the fact that you can tour open gardens; what makes it special is that there are over 380 of them to tour…and that is just within the city itself, not counting the hundreds of others in the surrounding towns and villages of the Buffalo/Niagara Region. Every year this event plays host to up to 90,000 visitors from throughout the USA and Canada. One can find everything from the small backyard venue, to large sprawling country gardens, and everything in between. Equally interesting, and somewhat unique to our region, is the collection of “Yart” you will find throughout your garden travels. Yes, that’s short for “Yard Art”; not only have we moved way beyond pink flamingos (but still proudly displayed), the creative minds of ordinary folks like you and I have taken this art form to a whole new creative level that often defies description or explanation, and can be found proudly on display throughout the festival; showing not only that we have made the quirky and artistic a mainstay in the garden, but also that creativity abounds during those long Buffalo winters. During the festival, you can find any number of private open gardens during the week, with the weekend filled with a garden walk hosted by one of the surrounding communities, highlighted by “Garden Walk Buffalo” the last week of July. While the event is designed to allow people to drive to visit different venues and walk their own pace, there are guided motorcoach and biking tours available. Additionally you will find symposia throughout the event, hosted by local,

regional, and internationally known speakers on a range of garden topics. The kickoff event for the National Garden Festival is the “Buffalo Style Garden Art Sale”, scheduled the last Sunday in June. Here you find over 30 vendors of diverse and creative handmade items for your home and garden, situated on a half acre site in the beautiful Parkside Neighborhood of Buffalo, which runs concurrent with the Parkside Garden Tour. Not only will you find items ranging from butterfly houses to woodcarving for purchase, you will find a wealth of free knowledge and information along “Plant Society Avenue”. Plant Society Avenue, located within the event grounds brings together a representation of every plant society, and garden related organization in the region. As such, our own BADS (Buffalo Area Daylily Society) is a mainstay at this event and has hosted a display where we have the opportunity to not only meet and greet fellow gardeners, but to reach out to the general public and introduce them to the beauty of Daylilies. With Peak Bloom just days away, we are able to put on a fabulous display of bloom, featuring the work of hybridizers from throughout North America. In addition, we feature educational live displays showing people the structure of the plant, as well as the beauty of the flower. This complements our information table and staff of members, who interact with visitors to our booth; and are able to promote the advantages of BADS and AHS memberships, as well as promote club members who are growers/hybridizers, and also those who have open gardens. In all, the National Gardening Festival has been seen, written about, photographed, videoed, and blogged about by garden lovers; both amateur and professional, local and international…and it is an event you don’t want to miss. Come for the gardens, stay for the architecture, enjoy the food…oh the food!!! If you want to learn more, check out the links [above right]. A good start is the book “Garden Walk Buffalo” (ISBN 097884760-1) published by Buffalo Heritage Unlimited. A beautiful pictorial with DVD, it provides the reader a good overview of the premier event of the festival, and justifies the fact that a

summer trip to the Buffalo/Niagara region can certainly be a delight for the eyes. LINKS: http://www.nationalgardenfestival.com http://www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com https://www.bfloparks.org/ http://www.buffalogardens.com/ http://www.buffaloheritage.com/gardenwalk2.html

http://www.buffalo-niagaragardening.com/2013/07/23/theres-a-9-foot-cactus-in-a-bathtub-thats-just-the-beginning/

http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/2012/3/15/buffalo-style-gardens-an-american-phenomenon.html

The table display (below) is just part of our 10 X10 booth, which includes another table full of information for visitors, as well as club

members to answer questions as well. Top photo: I floated blooms in bowls of water, then stacked the bowls as a display. I placed a bareroot daylily clump into a clear vase of water (above, at left) showing people (much to their amazement) that daylilies have roots, and are not a bulb like liliums.

A National Floral Frenzy...and you’re invited! by Carol Haj


Welcome New Members to AHS and Region 4Connecticut

ROGER ADAMS JR., SUFFIELDGREG HAGGETT, SUFFIELDJANE HERBST, TORRINGTONMARGERY LaPOINTE, BROOKLYNJANICE McCUE, WATERFORDKEN MOSHER, ANDOVERPATRICIA NIMCHEK, TORRINGTONROBERT OLEJARCZYK, BRADFORDROSEMARY PAUL, ROXBURYJANE RICCI, SUFFIELDASHLEY SAYLOR, MIDDLETOWN

Massachusetts IAN ACWORTH, MELROSERUTH ANDERSON, LANCASTERJOANNE ARNOLD, WILLIAMSBURGPAUL BEEMAN, REVERECAROL A. BROWN, WAKEFIELDCYNTHIA BRUNELLI, NORWOODSHARON DEVINE, FRAMINGHAMGERALD GANTAR, LITTLETONKATHY GRONOKOWSKI, CHELMSFORDJACK HICKEY, MARLBOROUGHJOAN HUTCHEON, BRAINTREEJOAN KIRSCHNER, HOLYOKELYNNE MILLER, AMHERSTANNE MORSE, AMHERSTKAY NELSON, NATICKMARY NEWTH, WORCESTERRICHARD NICHOLS, HAMPDENBARRY O’CONNELL, AMHERSTYVETTE and RENE RAMEAU, WESTMINISTERGERRIT TICHELAAR, TEWKSBURYANN DEE YURICK, PEMBROKE

MaineRONALD DOW, BELFASTALISON BIELLI, NICHOLS, AUGUSTADOROTHY TURCOTTE, WINTHROPRICHARD A.WARREN, WINTEROIRTPETER YOUNG, BUCKFIELD

New Brunswick

IRMGARD REIST, ROLLINGDAM

New Hampshire PATRICIA ANDERSON, MARLOWCHRISTINE BROWN, WINCHESTERCATHY COE, HOLLISAMY MASON, KEENE

New York

JAMES AVERY, LIVERPOOLDAVID BALFOORT, SYRACUSECHERYL CANTION, CLARENCE CENTERSUSAN CINQUEMANI, HOLTSVILLEANDREA CLANCY, BAY SHOREJOSH CONOVER, AFTONMARIANNE CRAVEN, HUNTINGTON

ELIZABETH DIERKING, EAST NORTHPORTSHARON DORETSKY and JOEL STERN, PLAINVIEWPETER EHLINGER, ORCHARD PARKSUSAN FIEHL, ALBANYBARBARA GOLDSTEIN, RIDGEBRUCE HAMBRECHT, FARMINGDALEJOHN HICKEY, ANN HICKEY, LEVITTOWNKAREN HOLMES, FARMINGVILLEJOHN and DAWN HUETHER, LAKE GROVEJESSICA JOSH, ROCHESTERPAMELA and STEPHEN KALISTA, BAYSHAREROSS KENYON, CORFUMARINA KUZINA, BROOKLYNMICHAEL McCABE, NAPLESGORDON REILLING, LEVITTOWNADAM SCHELDT, KENMOREANITA SHEEHAN, HOLLANDNEIL and ROBERTA SIMON, OLD BETHPAGEFRANK SOCCI, WEST BABYLONMARC WHINSTON and BLAIR COHEN, JAMICA

Nova ScotiaNANCY BEZANSO, BERWICKNELSON HUBLEY, TANTALLON JANE JOHNSON, CARIBOU RIVER CATHERINE NEILY, FALMOUTH

Ontario GILES BOYNOWSKI, BLENHEIM KELLY OLSON, LONDON FRANK SAUER, STRATHROYKEN YARDLEY, STONEY CREEK

QuébecJULIE BOUCHARD, PONT-ROUGE ALBERT BOUCHER and MARLAYNE HUDSON, STAMSTEAD LOUISE BOUDREAULT, QUEBECDENISE et DENIS CHAMPAGNE, QUEBECSYLVIE CHAMPAGNE, STE-BRIGITLE DE LAVALMARIUS CHOUINARD, QUEBEC DIANE DOUTRE, BROSSARDMARIE ANDREE GUENETTE, ST PAUL OF D’ABBOTSFORDDANIEL LIPPE et RENEE THIBAULT, ST AUGUSTINFERNANDE MARTEL, NOTRE-DAME DE MONTAUBANCHANTAL NADEAU, ST EDOUARD DE LOTBINIERE JOSETTE RATTE et LOUIS GAUTHIER, NEUVILLELAURENT SAVOIE, QUEBECDENISE SIMARD et ROLAND DUFOUR, ANCIENNE-LORETTEMICHELLE VACHON et PIERRE FAGIOLO, WENDAKEYERGEAU MATHIEU, CHAMBLY

Rhode IslandLAWRENCE ASHLEY, BARRINGTONROSEMARY HALLORAN and ALAN HARRIS, BARRINGTON

Vermont RICHARD FARLEY, EAST DORSETROGER SHULTZ, BROWNINGTONSUSAN SKELLY, UNDERHILL


Association des Amateurs d’Hémérocalles du Québec (l’AAHQ)Judith Mercier458 2e avenuePortneufQuébec, CanadaG0A 2Y0

Buffalo Area Daylily Society (BADS)Paula Burkhard 60 Crosby BlvdAmherst, NY [email protected]

Canadian Hemerocallis Society (CHS)John Peat16 Douville Ct. Toronto, OntarioM5A 4E7 [email protected]

Connecticut Daylily Society (CDS)Russ Allen18 Point Arrowhead RoadGuilford, CT [email protected]

Finger Lakes Daylily Society (FIELDS)David Schlossnagle96 State St.Manchester, NY [email protected]

Hudson-Adirondack Daylily Society (HADS)Debi Chowdhury4 Derby Ct.Loudonville, NY [email protected]

Hudson Valley Iris & Daylily Society (HVIDS)Jim Robinowitz10 Baldwin RoadPoughkeepsie, NY 12603 845-454-6415 [email protected]

Long Island Daylily Society (LIDS)Luanne Madden19 Bryce AvenueGlen Cove, NY [email protected]

Maine Daylily SocietySusan Shaw13 Mill St.Camden, ME [email protected]

New England Daylily Society (NEDS)Adele Keohan304 Lowell StreetWakefield, MA [email protected]

Nova Scotia Daylily Society (NSDS)Peggy-Anne PineauPO Box 9106Halifax, NS B3K 5M7 Canada902-832-2832 [email protected]

Ontario Daylily Society (ODS)Faye Collins4745 Country Lane Rd. RR #2Whitby, Ontario L1P [email protected]

Patriot Daylily Society (PDS)Nick Chase132 Moreland Street Worcester, MA [email protected]

Société Québécoise des Hostas et des Hémérocalles/ Quebec Hostas & Hemerocal-lis Society (SQHH/QHHS) Reggie D. Millette62 7th AvenueSt-Ambroise De KildareQuebec JOK ICOCanada 450-756-4893 [email protected]

Rochester Area Daylily Society (RADS) Ginny Byers1459 Norway RoadKendall, NY [email protected]

Southern Maine Daylily & Hosta Society (SMDHS)Paul Bourret11 Keepaway LaneWest Newfield, Maine [email protected]

Southeastern Massachusetts Daylily Society (SMDS)Pat Wessling320 Mendall RoadAcushnet, MA [email protected]

AHS Region 4 Local Organizations

In Memoriam

We acknowledge the loss of the following Region 4 members. Please keep the family and friends of these members in your thoughts.

Lisa Noelle Lockhart, Maine Member of Southern Maine Daylily and Hosta Society

Isabel Hibbard, New York [passed away in 2012]Member of Long Island Daylily Society

Please notify the Region 4 editor to include a memorial tribute in a future issue. Please include club affiliations. Thank you.

Scan the QR (Quick Response) Code at right with your smartphone and you’ll be taken directly to the AHS Region 4 Website!

Visit the Region 4 WebsiteFor: information and links to all Region 4 Daylily Clubs, Garden and Exhibition Judges, Popularity Poll ballots and results, AHS Official Display Gardens, Daylily Sellers, Hybridizers, National and Regional Awards, and much more! Webmaster: Kelly Noel of Ottawa, Ontario

http://www.ahsregion4.org/

Daylilies in the Great Northeast is printed by Arvest Press, Inc., Waltham, MA

American Hemerocallis Society

Adele Keohan, Region 4 Editor

304 Lowell Street

Wakefield, MA 01880-1761

Region 4 Photo Contest Winner, Artistic Category: Seedling and Hummingbird Moth. Photo: Claudia Conway

daylilies in the great northeast

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