AHS Region 4

Won't be long!

2011-05-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
It won't be long before bloom begins - there are already scapes on some of my early bloomers!

The National is now a fond memory for many of us. Region 4 had quite a nice contingent of members in attendance at the Baton Rouge National. I would like to announce some of awards that went to Region 4 members.
The Mildred Schlumpf Photography award for a single bloom went to Chris Petersen (LIDS) for her photo of JULIE NEWMAR. Chris won a beautiful silver tray that will be presented to her at the Regional this summer. The Schlumpf award for best landscape photograph went to Bobbie Brooks (PDS).
Rosemary Deen won a best newsletter article award for her article on Virginia Peck in the fall 2010/winter 2011 newsletter.
I am tremendous humbled and honored to receive the AHS Regional Service Award for Region 4. I couldn't accomplish anything without the help and support of all the Region 4 members. Thank you!

If you haven't already registered for the Region 4 meeting, 4ever Daylilies, this summer in Guelph, Ontario, please do it now as it will help the Ontario Daylily Society with their planning. The deadline for early discounted registration is June 15. Your region 4 newsletters should be arriving with details about the meeting and color photographs of the gardens. The URL for the ODS website is http://www.ontariodaylily.on.ca/pages/region4meeting.html. It's super easy to register by using Paypal. If you don't have a Paypal account you can still register by using a credit card. As I get more details about the activities, I will let you know.

2011-04-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Are we there yet? Is it spring? Will the rain ever stop?

I know I'll be moaning over lack of rain by midsummer, but right now, it sure would be nice if the sun would shine more than just a few hours each day!

Kudoes to Susan Shaw who has put her second Region 4 newsletter to bed. It was sent to the printers a week or so ago and should be arriving in your mailboxes soon.

Be sure to vote for the Region 4 Hybridizer Award and the Popularity Poll. Also mail in your Region 4 officers ballot - you will be voting for RP and Director.

Club presidents, please take advantage of Region 4's Display Garden Assistance program. Region 4 has set aside $1000. I have previously e-mailed you all the guidelines. Last year 4 clubs took advantage of the program and received $250 each. This money can be used for updating signage, purchasing newer plants, buying mulch, etc. Proposals should be e-mailed to Carl Harmon by May 1, harmonhillfarm@comcast.net.

Hope to see many of you at the CanAm Classic in a couple of weeks!

Spring newsletter deadlines

2011-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Debi Chowdhury, who joins Jim Healey as a co-chair of HADS for 2011.
We may be buried in snow, but it's not too early to start thinking about spring and the deadline for the spring R4 newsletter. Club updates, club events, registration forms for ODS regional, etc. should be e-mailed to Susan by March 15. Howard and Brian - please send garden write ups for the summer regional garden tours.
There will be an election for RP and Director at the summer meeting. Gary Jones, Melanie Mason and Dan Pessoni are the nominating committee and will be putting together the ballot for the newsletter. Our bylaws state that votes can be submitted by mail and in person at the summer business meeting.

15 Region 4 hybridizers submitted their nominations for the Region 4 hybridizer award! The list and photos will be in the spring newsletter so we'll all know what to look for as we tour gardens.

May 1 is the deadline to submit a proposal to the Display Garden Assistance Program. The guidelines are attached. Carl Harmon as agreed to chair the committee again. Pat Boissoneault is also on the committee and I would like one or two more to serve. Last year 4 awards of $250 were given out: FieLDS, Southern Maine, HADS, and Maine Daylily Society. Region 4 has allocated $1000 for this program.

that's all for now! think spring!

Members Only Portal!

2011-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the following members who have volunteered to be the AHS Portal rep, responsible for presenting the portal to their clubs.
Kim Walters NEDS
Pat Boissoneault Southern Maine
Brian Jones, Ontario
Laura Chaloupecky, Long Island
Coral Kincaid, Nova Scotia,
Jim Robinowitz, Hudson Valley Iris

There are still a number of clubs who aren't represented yet, please let me know. Tech Chair, Mike Holmes, will be e-mailing a PowerPoint presentation and talking points that you can follow. Brian is starting us off by presenting the members portal at the Feb. 19 ODS meeting.

Paul Bourret has volunteered to be our Group/Region Leader. In this position, he will be able to manage our Region 4 page and add regional events, club events and news, etc.
Susan Shaw is our Forum Manager and Mary Collier Fisher is our General Manager.
Check it out, https://daylilies.site-ym.com/. Once you register you can go to the Region 4 page by clicking on Member Groups (left hand column) and then Region.

AHS Members Portal is coming soon!

2011-01-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

2011 is going to bring some exciting changes to the AHS' web presence.

The AHS technology committee, headed by Mike Holmes, is requesting your help:

Within a short time the AHS will launch an online Members only portal. In plain English this is an area in a website where our membership can interact with members and a place our membership records will be stored and be viewable for those persons who choose to be viewed. Mike is requesting your help in recruiting volunteers to present the website through a power point presentation at Regional and Club meetings. He will have the PowerPoint Presentation available for download along with talking points by early February. Potential candidates to fill this role should be an AHS member, have basic social networking computer skills along with presentation skills. The skill level required to do this is rated easy.

So, the upshot is that I am looking for a volunteer from each club to present the portal at their club meetings. As Mike said in his
statement, he will have a prepared PowerPoint presentation available for the volunteers.

Thank you for your help - let me know the name of your candidate as soon as possible.

Future Region 4 Meetings . . .

2010-12-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

2010 is winding to a close and it may seem premature to talk about 2013, but it really is time to start thinking about the host club for the 2013 R4 meeting.

ODS is hosting the summer meeting in 2011, FieLDS is the host in 2012, but 2013 is open. It was decided several years ago that when the National Convention is in July, we have the option of having an off peak bloom meeting. In 2012, since the National is in July in Columbus, FieLDS will be holding the meeting in September with a variety of speakers and activities. In 2013, the National will be in Minnesota, so once again, we have the option of having an off peak bloom meeting. If your club does not have the gardens to support a regional tour, this could prove to be an opportunity to step up and host a Regional without the buses.

Region 4 has a number of clubs who have never hosted a Regional, come on, you guys . . . it's a lot of work, but it's also a tremendous amount of fun! Worried about money? if a club has a small treasury and does not have the funds for upfront costs/hotel deposits etc, Region 4 gives the host club an advance of $2000 plus $500 to purchase auction plants from Region 4 hybridizers.

Think about it! :-)

Mel

Let's not miss the next deadline . . .

2010-12-15T11:04:00.000-08:00

The December 1st deadline has passed and it's very disappointing that the Awards Committee received no nominations for the Region 4 Service Award. In 2009, George Riehle from FieLDS was the recipient and in 2010, Barbara and Nick White from ODS were honored.

Let's try not to miss the next deadline . . . January 15th is the last day for Region 4 hybridizers to nominate a cultivar for the R4 Hybridizer Award. In 2009, the winner was Bryan Culver for SPIRIT ZONE. In 2010, the winner is Ellen Laprise for ISABELLE ROSE.

Every eligible hybridizer in Region 4 may submit the name of one of his/her registrations. In addition, the hybridizer should e-mail a photo of their submission to the Chair of the Awards Committee (that's me). The ballot, along with the photographs will be published in the spring issue of Daylilies in the Great Northeast. This will make our members aware of what they should be looking as they visit gardens during the upcoming bloom season. Region 4 has many extremely talented hybridizers, so please consider nominated one of your introductions. It's a great way to garner well-deserved recognition.

2010-11-18T04:09:00.000-08:00

December is right around the corner and there are two deadlines on December 1. At the Region 4 level, December 1 is the deadline for club presidents to submit their nomination for the Region 4 service award. In 2009, the recipient was George Riehle from FieLDS and in 2010, it was Barbara and Nick White. This award is for service at the local club level, so I implore you to consider the hard working volunteers in your club. Certainly one person stands out for their years of service to your club.

The official description of the award is :The Region 4 Service Award is awarded for service to one’s local daylily community. Service should require a variety of activities and should reflect service over a period of time, not just for one or two years. Club Presidents may nominate an individual (or individual and his/her partner) that he/she deems worthy. The final decision is made by a committee composed of the Director, RP, RPD, and immediate past RP. This year the committee members are Mary Collier Fisher, Melodye Campbell, Maureen Strong and Gary Jones. Committee members are not eligible nor are previous recipients. A one page letter of nomination should be e-mailed or mailed to the RP by December 1 and the award will be presented at the following Region 4 summer meeting.

At the National level, December 1 is deadline for submitting entries for the photography awards. We have some super photographers in our region so please encourage them to submit their work. Contest rules and the image consent forms are on the AHS website: http://www.daylilies.org/ahsphotoawrds.html. IMAGES for the contest go to Andrea Weaver : photographyawards@daylilies.org. Image Consent Forms which are being required for the first time with this year's contest, go to Julie Covington, the Awards and Honors Chair, awards@daylilies.org.

January 15th is the deadline for Region 4 hybridizers to nominate a cultivar for the Region 4 Hybridizer Award. In 2009, it was awarded to Bryan Culver for SPIRIT ZONE and in 2010, the winner is . . . actually I can't tell you. It will be a officially announced in the Region 4 newsletter that should be arriving in your mailboxes very soon! Every eligible hybridizer in Region 4 may submit the name of one of his/her registrations. In addition, the hybridizer should e-mail a photo of their submitted registration to the Chair of the Awards Committee (that's me). The ballot, along with photographs, will be published in the spring issue of Daylilies in the Great Northeast. This will make our members aware of what they should be looking as they visit gardens during the upcoming bloom season.

As usual, if you have any questions, just shoot me an e-mail.

Back to the newsletter, kudoes to Susan Shaw, our newsletter editor, for producing a super newsletter! I got to see the electronic version and I know you all will be pleased. Many thanks to Coral Kincaid for helping Susan through the process of producing a newsletter. :-)

R4 Awards!

2010-11-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Whoa, where has the time gone! Can't believe I haven't posted any Region 4 news since August! Last weekend I attended the AHS Board meeting because of my job as Popularity Poll Special Chair. The most fun part about the meeting is being the first to know the AHS award winners. Our own Region 4 hybridizers, Melanie Mason, Bryan Culver, George Doorakian, and John Peat won HMs!
Bryan won for SPIRIT ZONE
George won for ROSE F. KENNEDY
Melanie won for LONGLESSON SUMMER GIFT, TIGER ON STILTS, MANGO CHUTNEY and THE FULL MONTY.
John won for SPOONS FOR ESCARGOTS.

The other big news from the AHS Board meeting is that the Yourmembership.com portal was approved by the Board. It will be rolled out in the next few months so there will be more information forthcoming. I am thrilled that it was approved and am positive that we will all benefit from it.

Deadlines coming up? December 1 is the deadline for club presidents to submit their nomination for the Region 4 Service Award at the local club level. Last year the winners were Barbara and Nick White of ODS.

Susan Shaw is working feverishly on her first issue of the R4 newsletter. It should be in your mailboxes later this fall.

We have a new club president to welcome to the group, Faye Collins is the new pres of ODS. Dave Mussar is stepping down after many years of service to ODS, but he will still be chairing the CanAm Classic. Speaking of which, the 15th CanAm Classic is coming up in 2011!
If there are other changes in club leadership, please let me know so I can update my roster.

AHS Members Only Portal Proposal

2010-08-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

From AHS Pres, Mary Collier Fisher:
Membership has been declining over the past 8 years. We have tried the voucher program to serve as an incentive to get new or upgraded members. It has slowed the decline but not eliminated it. The average age of our membership, like society in general, is aging, with many over 70 years of age according to the informal survey run by Meg in The Daylily Journal. We haven't been able to grow our membership in the 30-55 year range, a group that is highly computer savvy. Both Membership and Technology Committees have been researching "Members Only" options for our Website to attract more members from all age groups. Therefore, I would appreciate your reading the draft proposal below, which will give you the background and details about a global provider of web based member communities and membership management software, YourMembership.com. Then when you are ready I would appreciate your taking the time to view a recorded webinar at Yourmembership.com by clicking on this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/869969377

AHS "MEMBERS ONLY" PORTAL PROPOSAL
In regard to multiple requests from the AHS President, Membership, Publications, Exhibitions, and Popularity Poll Chairs and others, the Technology Committee was asked to investigate multiple solutions for a “"Members Only"” area for our website. This location, on the internet and in conjunction with our current website can be used for a variety of activities. These include:

membership management (including notifications of expiring dues, the ability to easily pay dues, etc.),
rosters,
tie-in to existing social networking tools such as Twitter and Face book,
unlimited interest groups (forums, chats, etc) can be created,
blogs,
regional events,
newsletters,
photographs (leading solution has unlimited bandwidth for photo upload),
downloadable PowerPoint Programs and educational materials,
publicity and membership materials for local clubs,
survey capabilities,
an online storefront to sell publications, goods and event registrations,
online testing and certification for Exhibition and Garden Judges training
balloting for Popularity Poll and Garden Judges,
and many, many others.

After you view the webinar, I would love your feedback.

End of season deadlines!

2010-08-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

The daylily bloom season may be winding down, but there's lots going on in Region 4!

Julie Covington, AHS Awards and Honors Chair sent out an e-mail reminder about the deadline for Service and Personal Awards: "The Sept. 1st deadline for receiving your nomination letters for Service and Personal Awards is just around the corner. I encourage each of you to consider those worthy individuals who have performed outstanding service in your various regions to take a moment to write a letter supporting their nomination for the Regional Service Award. Or perhaps you know of those who deserve to be nominated for either the Helen Field Fischer Award, the Bertrand Farr Medal or the Moldovan Mentoring Award. The specific requirements for all of these awards can be found on the AHS website, http://daylilies.org/AHSPersonal.html, and in the 'Judging Daylilies' Handbook. A list of previous winners is also available on the website. It is perfectly fine to send via e-mail. An e-mail attachment in word format is preferred, but I will take e-mail nominations. I look forward to receiving your nomination letters on or before September 1, 2010." All letters of nomination should be sent to Julie: awards@daylilies.org

September 1st is also the deadline for garden judge ballots! If you are an AHS Garden Judge, your ballot is due in just a few weeks. If you lost yours, you can get a new one on the AHS website. Be sure to sign it before you mail it to the AHS! Remember, your votes are important to Region 4!

September 1st is also the deadline for voting in the AHS Popularity Poll. As a service to its members and to the general public, each year the AHS conducts a popularity poll among its members to determine the favorite daylilies from each region. It is the hope of the AHS that this Popularity Poll presents a true picture of which daylilies perform well in a given area and which are best liked by the membership. Popularity polls are important to daylily growers -- both AHS members and nonmembers -- who make daylily selections for purchase. Voting by Region can be done online, http://www.daylilies.org/PopPoll/ballot.html. It's simple and easy, just select Region 4 from the drop down menu and then click the Select Your Region button.

Finally, September 1st is the deadline to vote for the 2010 Region 4 Hybridizer Award. Check the spring/summer issue of the Region 4 newsletter for photos of the nominations and for the ballot. You can snail mail it to me or you can simply e-mail me your choice. Bryan Culver was the winner in 2009 for SPIRIT ZONE.

Saxton Award and Nesmith Award winners!

2010-07-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

The top photo is of Darlyn Wilkinson's seedling that won the Saxton Award.

Bottom photo is of Melanie Mason's GYPSY ROSE in John Randall's garden. He and his wife, Avis, won the Nesmith Award.

What a Capital Affair it was!

2010-07-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a daylily weekend we had! The Region 4 meeting, hosted by HADS, was truly a Capital Affair. Despite the heat and drought, the gardens were impeccable! Friday night's Focus on Four auction was quite exciting and there is clamoring to make this a tradition. :-) Did you know that Mike Shadrack was a stand up comedian? He had everyone roaring with his description of the horticultural terrorist! Saturday night's auction was super exciting with lots of tense bidding. I managed to come away with three daylilies that are now happily potted in the shade in my garden.
There was something for everyone at the meeting - the Potting Shed boutique with inexpensive plants, pottery, art and more; Chinese auction, Silent auctions and much more. It was a great weekend - thank you, HADS!

Next year, onto Guelph, Ontario! Co-chair Maureen Strong and Howard Hansford have come up with all sort of creative ideas. I am so impressed! At the Sat. night banquet we all had bookmarks at our places to remind us of R4 2011. Howard designed them and they are fabulous. He also gave club presidents packets of the bookmarks to hand out at meetings. Howard also showed an excellent PowerPoint presentation that highlighted the gardens we will be touring in 2011. More about that later!

The Stanley Saxton Seedling Award went to Darlyn Wilkinson.
The Elizabeth Nesmith Clump Award went to John and Avis Randall for their impeccably grown clump of Melanie Mason's GYPSY ROSE.

Guest plants for 2011 R4 meeting

2010-07-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

I know the R4 2010 meeting is right around the corner, but our hosts for 2011, ODS, are thinking ahead to next summer.

This message is from ODS member, Howard Hansford:
Would you like to have your introductions as part of the Tour Gardens for the Region 4 Peak Bloom Meeting in 2011 and don't want the hassle of shipping these plants to Canada?

Well I'm coming to Albany for the Region 4 Summer Meeting July 16, 2010 and am able to pick up any Guest Plants. Just drop me an email, hhansford@rogers.com, that you are bringing plants and I will be sure to connect with you. If you are not attending the meeting but still want to have your introductions in the Tour Gardens, well why not ship your plants to the Hotel.

For shipping plants, please send me an email that you will be shipping plants. The hotel is willing to receive these plants but only for three days prior to the meeting date, so you would need to ship the plants so that they arrive no earlier than July 13 and no later than July 16th.

Please address the plants as follows:

Ship to:

Howard Hansford

C/O Region 4 Summer Daylily Meeting

Best Western Sovereign Hotel
1228 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203

I hope you will take this opportunity to get your introductions into Ontario gardens.

Melanie Mason is throwing a Capital Affair!

2010-06-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Melanie Mason, co-chair of this summer's R4 meeting recently posted to the e-mail robin:

I realize that I have been neglecting my duties as chairman of this year's region 4 meeting, hosted by the Hudson Adirondack Daylily Society. The gardens are growing by leaps and bounds thanks to a recent bounty of wetness from the skies. Scapes are EVERYWHERE! It looks to be a wonderful bloom season here in the northeast. Which brings me to why you should be coming to Albany, NY for this year's Region 4 Meeting.

As our club as titled it, "We're having an Affair!" Actually "A Capital Affair." The Best Western hotel is located centrally in the NY capital, Albany, and has free transportation to both the train station (Amtrak) and the airport, so if you don't feel like driving, just settle back and enjoy the ride and be chauferred to the hotel. The hotel has a full breakfast every morning and the GOOD NEWS is that since the tour gardens are close, you will have time to actually eat it before boarding the buses!

We have five excellent gardens on tour, including the Cornell Cooperative Extension gardens, where we will have lunch. These include HADS' AHS display garden which features a special bed of Region 4 hybridized daylilies, as well as a boat load of other specialty gardens featuring all types of garden structures and a huge range of perennials, annuals, and shrubs. This garden definitely has something for everyone.

Registration is very reasonable... only $99 a person, and that includes two dinners! But the deadline is Wednesday, June 16th, so please mail in your registrations TODAY! The hotel is extraordinarily reasonable as well... only $89 a night, which includes a full breakfast each morning. Phone for the hotel is 518-489-2981. You can find all the details as well as info on the tour gardens and open gardens on our web-site at www.ahsregion4.org. Just click on the Region 4 meeting on the opening page for all the details and registration page.

Region 4's newsletter editor

2010-06-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted about Region 4's job opening for a newsletter editor. Coral Kincaid, NSDS, has done a fabulous job with our newsletter for nearly 5 years and has decided to retire. Susan Shaw from the Maine Daylily Society, has stepped up and volunteered to fill Coral's shoes. Thank you, Susan! Region 4 will continue to fund an additional 4 color pages in 2011, so Susan should have a blast picking out photos for the newsletter!

Awards at the National!

2010-05-31T04:35:00.001-07:00

Region 4 members were celebrated with several awards at the National Convention. Way to go, guys!
George and Joan Rasmussen were awarded the AHS Region 4 Service Award.
Three of our members won Regional newsletter awards! John Stahl won Best Article about Cultivars, Sue Bergeron won Best Scientific Article and Chrissy Quataert won Best Article on a Non listed Topic. Chrissy attended the National for the first time last year with me and wrote about her experiences.
Elliot Turkiew from LIDS won the Mabel Matthews Scholarship. Elliot is Region 4's Youth Liaison and is headed off to college next year.
Honorable Mentions went to George Doorakian (EMERALD STARBURST), Melanie Mason (MRS. LONDON'S APRICOT TART), Linda Michaels (SCRAMBLED LEGS) and Paul Limmer (SANDRA'S SMILE).

Job Opening ~ R4 newsletter editor

2010-05-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Even though I have already put the word out to Club Presidents and other Regional officers, I figured the information also needed to be on the R4 Blog. After 5 years of producing beautiful newsletters, Coral Kincaid is retiring.

Region 4 publishes 2 newsletters each year. We have added 4 more color pages this year, so there is more room for creative layout than in the past.

The next editor should:
Be able to work with Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign. InDesign, in particular, requires a large amount of computer memory.
Be systematic and well organized.
The next editor does not have to write the articles but rather be able to work with our members to recruit writers for articles and also photographers.
Be a good proof reader with good grammar and spelling skills. As we know, spell check doesn't catch everything!
Be able to attend the Region 4 summer meeting, the CanAm Classic and the AHS National Convention, if possible. Region 4 provides a stipend for expenses.
The position will start with the Fall 2010 newsletter. Coral is already collecting material for the next issue and is willing to work with the next editor and advise him/her about the ins and outs of publishing the newsletter. The next editor will also receive lots of support and encouragement from the RP, RPD and the R4 officers!

If this position sounds exciting to you or someone you know in Region 4, you know where to find me! The official job description can be found on the AHS site, http://daylilies.org/AHSAdmin/ROG.pdf.

Region 4 Service Award

2010-05-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

To recognize club members who volunteer above and beyond, Region 4 instituted a Service Award for service at the club level. This award is different from the AHS Regional Service award in that it is for service at the local club level. Club members are nominated by club presidents. It is so important to recognize our volunteers who make our clubs run - everyone loves an "atta boy" and "atta girl!" :-)

The 2010 Region 4 Service Award goes to Barbara & Nick White who have been Ontario Daylily Society members since 1999 and have been integral to the success of the club. Following are excerpts from Dave Mussar's nomination letter.
Barbara and Nick served as the registrars for every Can-Am and the Fall ODS meeting for many years. In this role they 'touched' the hundreds of attendees from all over the Region to these many meetings with personal communications, preparation of meeting packages and welcoming every one to the event.

Barbara has been an active member of the ODS Executive, currently serving as Director at Large She is also the Membership Chair so maintains contact with all new members and gently reminds all current and expiring members that their dues are due!

While Nick is more the silent partner type, he is heavily relied upon. Nick developed a computer program to not only create the meeting rosters but also prints out name tags and other components. Nick has computerized the cash out process following the meeting auctions and emailed receipts to all purchasers out of the same program. For several years he has been the unofficial meeting photographer and has prepared many collages that can still be seen on the ODS website. Several times Nick has been called upon to assemble the plant auction PowerPoint presentation and auction list which is no small feat as it often not known which plants will be
arriving for the auction until the last minute!

The Whites maintain an AHS display garden in Beeton Ontario and were one of the featured gardens on the Region 4 Tour in 2004.

Barbara & Nick have given willingly of themselves to promote and develop the Ontario Daylily Society and are worthy recipients of the Region 4 Service Award for 2010.

2010 Summer Events for NEDS

2010-04-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

The New England Daylily Society has some great events planned for this summer.
Saturday, July 10: Show and judged daylily exhibition at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA.
Saturday, August 28: NEDS will be holding their plant sale and auction, also at Tower Hill. This is NEDS' major daylily selling event. The bargain table of $5 daylilies is open for sales at 11 am. The live auction, which includes plants from Jamie Gossard, begins at noon.

As part of their publicity, NEDS has created a flyer that includes info about the summer events at Tower Hill, info about the club, their website address AND a coupon for two free $5 daylilies. This coupon can be used at the NEDS August sale and is only for the general public. What a great way to entice new members.

Time for Region 4 Hybridizers to strut their stuff!

2010-04-08T11:19:00.001-07:00

2010 is the second year for the Region 4 Hybridizer Award. The purpose of this award is to encourage and promote our talented Region 4 hybridizers. In 2009 the award was won by Bryan Culver for his wonderful SPIRIT ZONE (image taken by Dave Mussar).

Fourteen Region 4 hybridizers have nominated one of their introductions for the 2010 award. Photos and descriptions of the nominees will be in the Region 4 spring/summer newsletter, which should be arriving in your mailboxes next month. When you're out and about this summer, visiting gardens, be on the look out for the nominees. :-) Instructions about voting will also be in the newsletter; deadline for mailing it in is Sept. 1, just like the Popularity Poll! You can also e-mail your vote to me or your RPD, Maureen Strong.

Focus on 4 Auction!

2010-03-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

When I first started growing daylilies, I was enamored with the southern belles. After a few years making excuses for their poor performance got to be pretty tiresome. When I started attending peak bloom meetings in Region 4, my eyes were opened to the possibilities of great bud count, branching and beautiful Yankee faces! If you visit my garden, you will see beds filled with northern daylilies - many from Region 4.

I am positively tickled that the host of the 2010 R4 meeting (July 16-18 in Albany, NY), Hudson Adirondack Daylily Society, is holding an auction on Friday evening titled 'Focus on Four.' For this auction, ONLY plants hybridized AND grown in Region 4 will be featured. I am so excited about this auction as it is a super way to promote our home grown hybridizers plus get plants growing throughout R4. I'm not a hybridizer, but I do have some great donations for this auction - a very late bloomer from Henry Lefkovitz and two from Bryan Culver. :-)

If R4 hybridizers would like to donate one, two, or more of their recent introductions for the auction, please contact Frank Almquist, falmquist@hvc.rr.com. Registration date should be between 2000 and 2010.

Check out the HADS informational site about the summer meeting. It's going to be a Capital Affair! http://ahsregion4.org/hads_2010_fof.htm

Club news and announcements

2010-03-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that some of our club program chairs/club presidents post club announcements to the e-mail robin. In addition, I would like to post them to my blog. So, if you have important club news events that you would like publicized, please feel free to e-mail me at melodyec@gmail.com and I will be happy to post them. I can also link to your club websites from the blog. If that's OK with you, let me know.

Time for clubs to start thinking about their display gardens!

2010-03-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

At the 2009 Region 4 summer meeting, members voted to establish a fund of $1,000 to help clubs with their club display gardens (not private display gardens). For example, clubs may need financial help with purchasing newer daylilies, updating signage, purchasing fertilizer, mulch, etc. The year 2010 is the first year of this new program and the following guidelines have been established to review Region 4 club applications for this grant funding.
1. This funding is for clubs that could use financial help in creating, updating or maintenance of their club sponsored display gardens. This program is not for private display gardens. The types of gardens that can be supported are located at public locations such as (but not limited to) botanical societies, municipal properties, universities, etc…
2. Clubs that wish to apply for this funding shall have their club president or club designated display garden chair submit a brief 1-2 page description of their existing or planned display garden and the items that they would like the Display Garden Assistance Program Committee to review for grant funding. It would be helpful if the application would provide the amount of the clubs budget for its 2010 Display bed efforts to give the committee a feel for the magnitude of your planned 2010 efforts to assist in the evaluation of your application. The applications should indicate the amount of their requested grant application not to exceed $1,000. It is likely that multiple grants in the range of $250 each would be awarded dependant upon the number of applications.
3. The applications are due no later than 1 May of each year and should be sent to the Display Garden Assistance Program Chairman. The Display Garden Assistance Program Committee will review all applications by mid May and will make their recommendations for disbursement to the RP for final approval. The Committee may make single, multiple or no awards. The RP shall notify the club(s) that have been selected and the Committee Chair will notify those that were not selected on or about 30 May. The applications should contain point of contact information, email and phone number in the event the committee has questions during the application review.

The current Committee Chairman is Carl Harmon, 49 Ledge Road, Hudson, NH 03051 harmonhill25@comcast.net 603 880-6228. The other members on the committee are Linda Bennett (Buffalo), Pat Boissonneault (Maine) and Conrad Thibault (Maine).

Start the daylily season off with the CanAm Classic!

2010-03-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

The CanAm Classic is traditionally my way of starting the daylily season - hope that you all will consider starting the same tradition! President Dave Mussar and the ODS bunch have assembled an exciting group of speakers: Bret Clement, Julie Covington, David Kirchhoff, Charmaine Rich, Melanie Mason, Annette Rice and Kris Weitz. Most of us are familiar with Bret, Annette, Julie, the David and Melanie so I'd like to tell you a bit about Charmaine and Kris. Charmaine wrote some very interesting articles about sculpting in daylilies for the Daylily Journal, so I'm looking forward to hearing her presentation. Keep your eye on Charmaine's hybridizing program ~ I grow several of her introductions and they are great! If you attended the BADS regional last summer, you were treated to Kris Weitz's garden. Her KRISTINA'S KURLS got a lot of attention from attendees as did her seedling bed.

The link to the ODS website is http://www.ontariodaylily.on.ca/.

Make R4's Spring newsletter the best ever!

2010-03-03T07:19:00.001-08:00

Coral Kincaid, our illustrious newsletter editor, does a fabulous job putting together our newsletter twice a year. The spring deadline is mid March, so all you club presidents out there - remind your club reporters to send her club updates! This newsletter will have 4 extra color pages to showcase tour gardens for the upcoming summer Regional and the nominations for the 2010 R4 hybridizer award.

Keeping up with Region 4!

2010-03-02T10:42:00.000-08:00

It's time for Region 4 to enter the blogosphere! After following the blog of Nikki Schmith, the Region 2 RP and Mary Collier Fisher's new AHS blog, I've decided that a blog is a great way for all the Region 4 movers and shakers to keep up on what's going on in the Great Northeast!