Region 5 (Georgia) Spring Fling

Hello Daylily Friends,

This past weekend Diana and I attended the Spring Fling held by Region 5 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The person who organized the Spring Fling was my friend Claude Carpenter. I have attended about 10 national conventions, about 6 meetings at the Mid-Winter Conventions, and a number of Region 5 Regional Meetings. Although I thoroughly enjoyed all of the various AHS activities I have attended, I must say, with no hesitation, that the Spring Fling this past weekend was the best AHS activity that I have ever attended.

You might ask me why I would make such a statment. Well, the many speakers at the Spring Fling were just tremendous. We started by hearing from our AHS President, Mr. Kevin Walek. Kevin brought our Region up-to-date on the activities in our AHS, and he challenged each of our members to make every effort during the next year to add another member to AHS. It was very good to personally hear from President Walek.

My good friends David and Camilla Arthur spoke to our Region about how to build and grow a daylily club. They encouraged all in attendance to see that their club meetings are fun. That having fun at daylily club events is a first priority. This includes having fun at meetings, at breakfast gatherings, at picnics, at Christmas gatherings, and at any event organized by our clubs. Tim Bell encouraged those in attendance to organize special gifts and recognition f0r our youth members.

We were so pleased to have the beautiful Nichole Harry to speak about "Hybridizing from a Southern View." Of course, Nichole produces gorgeous daylilies, but Nichole confided to us that she loves to sit in her favorite chair in her Florida garden and simply watch her daylilies grow. Nicole has made such grand strides in her hybridizing that anyone who attends the national convention in Orlando, Florida, in May should make every effort to go and see Nichole's garden. My friend David and I went to visit Nichole this past November and we left with many grand daylilies. I was stunned at the strides Nichole has made in making her garden to be one of the best, not only in Florida, but also in the USA. Nichole's was accompanied to the convention by her mother, Susan. It was a tremendous delight for everyone to get to know Nichole and her adoring mother.

The program that I particularly liked was presented by my friend, Don Eller. Don is an outstanding talent, not only in growing world-class introductions, but also in producing first class conversions. Don prepared a thoroughly complete presentation and showed us all how to convert diploids to tetraploids. Don uses a different method of mixing his "Colchicine." Don mixes one gram of Colchicine to 380 milliliters of distilled water, and then adds 12 milliliters of DMSO. This is a much stronger addition of DMSO than I have seen used by any other hybridizer. Don's results speak volumes about the quality of his work. He very seldom ever loses a plant during his conversion process.

Jan and Royce Joiner spoke about their garden in Savannah, Georgia, and then reported that they are moving their garden to nearby Pembroke, Georgia. This is good news! We will all have much better access to their new garden, and it should be easier for everyone to see their new daylilies. My wife Diana bought Jan's "Sebastian the Crab," at the Saturday night auction. Also, at the auction, "Enman's Big Bag" was sold to my friends, Mark Franklin and David Bishop, for the sum of $1,250.00. There was a lot in "Enman's Big Bag."

As always, Georgia's best gardener, Tim Bell, showed his progress in producing magnificent, gorgeous daylilies. Tim's garden will be on the tour of gardens when the 2010 AHS national convention comes to Valdosta, Georgia.

After listening to Ms. Sue Calbreath speak about "producing digital presentations," I decided to completely swith my method of presentations. I will change from using Picasa to using powerpoint. Sue provided a handout that showed which buttons on the computer to push to achieve the results we want as lovers of daylilies. I might add that Sue is the Editor of Region 5's magazine. Sue does an outstanding job at whatever she does, and she was at her best in showing us how to use powerpoint.

We had planned to have someone from Wolf Camera Productions to come and speak about using digital cameras. However, due to commercial difficulties Wolf had to cancel its participation. Then, we were blessed to have Jeff and Elizabeth Salter to come and speak about their new garden in Gainesville, Florida. What a treat to see their new introductions. I had to take money from my wallet and buy one of Elizabeth's new introductions. They are so talented.

When I was in the military I would "spit-shine" my boots. It took three different spit-shine treatments using Kiwi polish and a wet polishing cloth to have my boots look their very best. It was the last and third treatments that really made the boots glow with beauty. Our final speaker was Ms. Karol Emmerick from Minnesota, and Karol put the glow of my shined military boots on Region 5's Spring Fling. Karol was such a tremendous speaker. She is a grand hybridizer from such a harsh climate and she makes stunning daylilies that glow with beauty like my boots did when I gave them their daylily spit-shine. Indeed, I would say that Karol's HEARTBEAT OF HEAVEN has changed my hybridizing program. In fact, I would say that HEARTBEAT OF HEAVEN is the best daylily that I have purchased from anyone, anywhere, in the past five years. From Karol's program, I was so pleased with her new introduction, DESIRE OF NATIONS, that I wrote her a check for $250.00 for this new daylily.

Karol is truly God's bumble bee. Truly she makes the world to be a more beautiful place.

After the Spring Fling Diana and I were fortunate to have Karol come and visit our Kennesaw Mountain Daylily Garden. Diana prepared lunch, then Camilla and David came over from across the street, and we all walked across the garden and through the greenhouse. Diana took my picture with Karol in the greenhouse and the picture is herewith posted.

I should also add that at the Spring Fling's Saturday night "plant auction," the total paid for daylilies purchased was $10,010.00. Now that is a lot of cash for Region 5. Many thanks go to the members of Region 5 for their purchases, and many thanks as well to the hybridizers who supplied the daylilies that were sold.

Again, thanks Claude for all of your diligent and successful work in making the Spring Fling the best show anyone could want to attend.
Bill