The Regional and Our Joint Annual Daylily Show

Hello Daylily Friends,

So much has happened over the past two weeks.  Back on June 1-3, 2012, we went to our Regional Meeting for Region 5 here in Georgia, and the meeting was hosted by our Club in Savannah.  We saw such wonderful gardens, and I really didn't expect much because our winter was "nonexistent."  However, the gardens in Savannah were more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.  Our good friend Scott Elliott did a wonderful work in leading his Club to host the Regional.  Thanks Scott for all that you did.  I must also humbly add that my flower, Seedling 1-408, won the best large seedling award.  There were over fifty entries so I am really pleased that so many friends picked my flower.  Although it has rained today, I took a picture of 1-408 which I am showing.  I'm also showing Diana and myself with Scott when we purchased his introduction, STUNT DOUBLE.  By the way, what do you think of Diana's Green Zebra tennis shoes?

This past Friday evening, 45 members of both the Cobb County Daylily Society and the Greater Atlanta Daylily Society, met for our evening meal at Jocks and Jills at the Galleria Mall.  We always have a supper together on the Friday evening before our joint show on Saturday, and then after supper, we work together to get ready for the show.  I'm showing a picture of Ms. Diana Rae distributing shirts for our members to wear on Saturday at the show.  The Atlanta Club also has the same shirts, but with their own logo sewn onto the shirt.  The shirts were purchased from Gene Perry who is a member of the Daylily Club in Valdosta, Georgia.  Thanks Gene for all you did.  Our joint Clubs looked wonderful in our blue shirts.  I'm also showing Virgil Herndon with the boxes of "Wine Vases" that were filled with water.  We use the Wine Vases to present our flowers at the show.

On Saturday morning there was so much excitement.  Everyone arrived early to prepare their daylilies for entry into the show.  All of the tables were used, and everyone had scissors, small knives, and other utensils to use to make their daylilies look their very best.  Then the daylilies were presented to our team members at "Classification."  Finally the daylilies were set on the display tables for viewing by the Judges.  We were privileged to have 15 Judges who did a wonderful job.  So much credit has to be given to our Judges who do their work only for the purpose of making daylilies more visible to the public.  I particularly noticed one panel looking at four separate entries of my own LYDIA'S REGAL ROBE.  These Judges, from left to right, were Claudia Miller, Rosemary Dixon, and Nikki Schmith.  I am so pleased that others are entering LYDIA into the competition.

There was so much else going on at the show.  There were flowers being sold to the public by members of our Clubs.  There were probably a thousand members of a "National Knife Organization" at the show who were there participating in their own annual meeting.  I took one picture of a member of the Knife Organization, and as you can see he was carrying a long "Samari Sword."  He also had a large tatoo on his right arm, he was wearing shorts, and he had black socks that matched his black shirt.  This young man was from Ohio, but I can't recall his name.  He was purchasing a daylily from our own Brittany Mitchell.  Obviously, citizens from many backgrounds love and adore daylilies!  We also had an "Educational Exhibit" that was prepared by Dennis Calbreath.  Dennis took two old windows, put them together, and made a great exhibit.  I took a picture, but you would just have to see the exhibit to appreciate the incredible work that Dennis accomplished.

The Best in the Show award went to Claude Carpenter's entry of ARTIC TERN.  I am also pleased to note that my own KENNESAW MOUNTAIN HAYRIDE won the Best of the Large Flowers.  It was so, so beautiful.  I'm showing a picture of another HAYRIDE that bloomed this morning.  Just so beautiful.  It is difficult to create a daylily that practically everyone likes, but I think that this has happened with the HAYRIDE.  I can also report that there were 368 entries into the Show, 116 purple ribbons were awarded, 204 Blue Ribbons were awarded, 118 Red Ribbons were awarded, and there were 19 Yellow Ribbons presented.  The Chairperson for our Show was my lovely wife, Diana Rae.  After the show she transferred the leadership for the year 2013 to Bruce Kovick.  We know that Bruce will do a wonderful job for next years show, and the work begins now.

More news soon.

Bill