Our Joint "Annual Daylily Show."

Hello Daylily Friends,

This past Saturday morning, June 18, 2011, the Greater Atlanta Daylily Society, and the Cobb County Daylily Society, held their joint "Annual Daylily Show" at the Galleria Mall.  It was a wonderful, delightful affair, and we had 392 daylilies entered for display.  There were just gorgeous blooms of spiders, minatures, and doubles of every type and description.  The daylily that won the "Best in Show" was VARSITY ORANGE, and it was entered by my good friend, Mr. Harold Verner.  You may not know VARSITY ORANGE.  I introduced this beauty back in 2008, and I always thought that it was one of the best that I had.  However, I only had about 20 plants to sell, so I thought that not many people had it available.  Wrong.  A number of friends are growing VARSITY ORANGE.  I'm happy that it is being noticed, particularly as the Best in Show out of 392 daylilies.  Thanks to Harold for bringing and showing VARSITY ORANGE, and congratulations to Harold for his magnificent award.

I was so pleased that we had so many flowers entered because I thought that we would be limited by the number of flowers that would be of "show quality."  Wrong again.  The flowers that were entered were of very, very high quality.  I'm showing a picture of the Judges as they walked through the daylilies making their decisions in the course of their work.  There were 12 Judges, and we thank each and every Judge who gave of their time to make the show a success.  Without good Judges there is no show!  While the show was in progress guests were greeted by Dennis Calbreath at his display of how to "grow daylilies."  Just a wonderful display, particularly with the blue vase filled with daylilies. 

Ordinarily we would have had our Show on the week-end of June 11-12, 2011, but as you know from my last post, our Cobb County Daylily Society was hosting the Georgia Regional Conference.  When we hosted the Conference one of our responsibilities was to have daylilies available for purchase by those who attended the Conference.  We had a number of daylilies left after the Conference, and so these were sold at our Show.  I'm showing a picture of Steven Verner and Brittany Mitchell as they sold all the remaining daylilies to those who were at the Show.  A job well done!

One of the best treats at our Annual Day Show is the Luncheon that our Clubs Provide.  This year we had 92 members and Judges get together to enjoy what  was a delicious meal.  Our two members who make all of the arrangements for our Luncheon are Jack and Cynthia Rigsby.  They meet with the Chef at the Galleria Mall, and always choose the best lunch that can be had anywhere in the City of Atlanta.  The Luncheon is always this good!  Our Judges are each personally introduced, they are thanked for their service, and we tell them they are appreciated.  We also name the winner of the Best in Show at the Luncheon, and our Show Chairman, Mr. Claude Carpenter, personally thanks those who worked to make the Show a success.  We also thank Claude for his service.  Claude is a wonderful leader, and we are fortunate that he is a member of both of our Clubs. 

Our Show was open to the public until 4:00 p.m.  During this time we had many pictures taken, and much more conversation, but I particularly noted my good friend, Ms. Cynthia Rigsby.  Yes, Cynthia did work very much to make the Luncheon a success, but she has also been working in her garden.  In fact, she won the blue and purple ribbons for her entry of RED SQUIRREL.  Then, RED SQUIRREL was chosen as the best small daylily.  After Cynthia gathered all of her ribbons and awards, she had more than she could carry.  Congratulations Cynthia!

When we arrived home after a wonderful two weeks of daylilies, I must say that Diana and I were exhaused.  I can't think of a better way to spend two weeks.

Bill