Guest Blog: First-time Exhibitor - Stories from the trenches...

First, second or third?

I wonder how I will fair

in summer's parade...

"Things I learned at the 2010 Southern Michigan Daylily Society Exhibition Show"

Guest Blogger: Teresa Dillon | Durand, Michigan 

This was my first time to participate in exhibiting daylilies, unlike my brave friend Nikki; I am not known to be an exhibitionist. I hope that I do not forget what I learned from this show before I have another opportunity to participate in a show. Next year SMDS will not host a show, because we will be playing host to hundreds of folks during the “Great Lakes Gathering” 2011 Region 2 Summer Meeting. Meanwhile, I will have lots of time to ponder over the daylilies I would like to enter in the 2012 show.

This year I learned that you certainly cannot depend on scapes that are cut the night before to produce flowers that are perfectly opened. I cut several scapes just before dark, since it was supposed to rain during the night and early morning on show day. Working with scapes that were so near the end of the bloom season was a real test of grooming skills and patience. I sat for hours grooming them, only to find several of them reluctant to show their pretty faces the next morning because the skies were so dark.

So after 4 hours of sleep, along with my umbrella …. I tracked back to the gardens, to see what flowers awaited me in spite of the inclement weather. Of course there were some lovelies, so I clipped them and headed to the garage to start over. I was anxious to see if a trick I had recently been made aware of, for removing water without leaving spots would work. I took a cotton ball saturated with isopropyl alcohol and very gently touched all the dark sections of my future entries to remove the water. They looked great. Still not convinced that they would not be spotted, I prepared myself to discard them upon arrival at the show, if the spots were evident then. They were not!

Since this was my first time to enter daylilies in the show, I did not have a fancy carrier to transport my scapes. I could not see the point of making one until I was convinced that I would need one for future use. So I scrubbed and sanitized several large buckets of various heights. I taped the handles straight up in the center of the bucket so they would not fall on my scapes, then I added about two inches of fresh water to all the buckets. I used masking tape to secure each scape to the side of the bucket that was appropriate for the height of my scape and loaded them into the car.

The trip to the show usually takes 1 hour. This morning it took two hours, traffic was slow due to the pouring rain, there was an accident that stopped the flow of traffic completely and finally, there was a detour. I asked “Why am I putting this stress on myself?” I was sure all of my efforts were going to be in vain, and I promised myself, should it turn out as such, it would be a sign to me that I should not be bothered with such a waste of time anyway.

Once I arrived on site I had less than forty-five minutes before show time. Thank goodness for daylily show troopers like Martin Kamensky and Kathy Rinke. They soon were at my side and coaching me where to go and what to do. Had I known ahead of time that I could have my entry cards already filled out, that would certainly saved me some time and stress. I also would recommend future shows have a marked area for grooming, or a greeter to guide new participants. I was already stressed when I arrived, then I had to ask around and find someone to tell me where I should go and what I needed to do prior to bringing in daylilies.

Once I arrived at the show and saw so many entries, I tossed several scapes into the trash. Afterwards, I wished that I had not acted so hastily. I cut many flowers that I felt may not be show worthy but I feared that due to the late date of the show and the previous days storms in southern MI, we may need daylilies from farther north to make the show a success. I did not want to disappoint Bordines, or the show visitors expecting to see hundreds of daylilies.

So to sum it up for the things I learned about daylily shows:

1. Get your show entry cards ahead of time and have them filled out.

2. Leave for the show early. You never know how many delays may befall you on your way to the show.

3. Take extra flowers. Petals get broken…etc, etc.

4. Keep a grooming kit stocked: Show entry cards, knife, ink pen, return address labels, cotton balls and swabs, a vial of alcohol, scissors, masking tape, small soft artist type paint brush.  I had my kit with me and was glad I did. I was fortunate enough to be able to share some supplies with a friend. Do I have a claim to any of her wins???

5. Enter as many scapes as you can. The more entries, the more chances to win. After seeing some of the daylilies that the judges awarded ribbons, I wished that I had not trashed any. After all … beauty IS in the eye of the beholder.

6. Seedlings must be totally unique or outstanding.

One of the seedlings I entered in the show received a comment of “not distinctive enough”. I was thrilled with the size of the bloom, the clean clear color, the buds and the branching this plant produced on its first year of bloom. I just knew the judges would be impressed when they saw the scape, otherwise I would have entered the flower in the off scape division. How were they to know that it was a brand new seedling? I was looking into the future, the judges(as it should be) were only seeing the flower that sat before them. Another lesson learned.

I also learned that being a beginner can be lots of fun. At my age, there are not too many things that are “new” to me. I met the challenge and I am so glad I did. I left the show with at least a ribbon to account for every entry I made. I intended to use the show as a learning experience and once I endured the venture I would decide if I ever wanted to enter a show again. I know the judges did not know whose flowers they were judging so they did not give awards just to “suck me in” and get me hooked on daylily shows. However, I am afraid I am hooked.

Now who wants to see my ribbons, my rosette and my crystal?

~Teresa 

(as seen in the photos above, wearing the peach-colored shirt)

More about gardening in 3-D! | Daylily Blog on enjoying all sides!

Despite the crazy hail storm last night, there were still some interesting things happening in early bloom today.  Of the near 400 cultivars, only about 10 are blooming now.  The excitement is mounting, and I truly cannot believe that bloom season is HERE!

This polymerous bloom on H. ' Wild and Wonderful' showed signs of the hail beating, but I still enjoyed its presence.  I remember the first time I saw this cultivar, winning Best In Show somewhere in the blur of my judging memories.  Its green throat was the waxiest I had seen to that point, and I scrambled to find it once I left the show.  I ended up buying it in the Silent Auction at the Long Island National Convention, the first time I also saw Melanie V's memory-evoking, previous-life gardens and met Elliot Turkiew.  It's also where my friends Pam and Lu live, and where Christine Petersen gardens in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been invited to see.  Long Island is near the top of my "Places I Need To Go Back To" list, along with New Orleans, Savannah,  Bay Harbor and Sedona.

I posted last week about my epiphany that I now had the pleasure of gardening in 3-D, and some of you wrote me to ask more about what I meant.  In general, my gardens before had a backdrop of a wall, tree line or fence.  You could walk through the garden and enjoy it on either side of a path, or you could stand in front of it and enjoy the plants.  But you never walked around the garden.  In this set-up, I lost a vantage point of the plantings.  Now, my gardens are much different, and I have gained a WHOLE SIDE to my new islands.  

For example, the garden below can be seen from here:

or here:

or even here.

In my previous garden there would have only been one view, the one of you looking at the bed straight-on.  Like this view, of my old garden in Michigan:

The Schmiths Michigan Garden - circa 2009

While I loved this border garden, notice the fence.  It takes away a whole other side of gardening real estate.  If the fence were not there, think of what you could do with that open dirt!  You could plant a hundred fun things!!  I never really thought of it as a fault in my old gardens until I discovered what else I could have! 

In these new islands (shown in the trio of pics above), you can walk around and enjoy it from all sides.  This allows more people to be in the garden at one time, adds a heck of a lot of gardening real estate, and gives me the opportunity to have multiple dimensions of one part of the garden.  The air circulation that is present (now that walls aren't) is doing wonders, too.    Check out the scapes in this photo on the left, taken three days ago.  Although 100% of these daylilies were planted last fall, the scapes have never been more dense or better budded.

In other daylily happenings, my seedlings are starting to really pop!  As you might remember, all of the daylily seed I made were planted at my mom's here in Illinois and have been growing here for the past six years that I have been hybridizing.  This is the first summer I will get to see them for more than one day at a time and I AM SO EXCITED!  The fourth and fifth year seedlings are really showing off and there are many good things to report.  Ill post tomorrow on the first few interesting babies.

Although the early season is awesome for many reasons, I am a bit worried about the daylily show that is two weeks from this Saturday (June 16.)  At first I worried the show was too early, now I worry that it is scheduled too late.  

Whatever may be, the display of cut daylilies at Alton Square on June 16 from 1:00-4:00pm in JCPenneys Court will be spectacular.  I hope you can make plans to stop by there and say hello.  Bring some of your own daylilies, too!  

We would love to have you.  Email me if you would like a show schedule and other helpful documents to help you be successful at exhibiting daylilies.

Also blooming today (L-R) H. 'Brookwood Lee Causey' and H. 'Bas Relief'

 

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Vive La Difference!

In the moonlight,

the wild honeysuckle

seems so far away.

Spring is slowly giving way to Summer, and the woods around the house are teeming with the scent of wild honeysuckle.  It is intoxicating; the vines fill the air and my nose with the sweet smell of summer vacation.  

The daylilies are starting to bloom, too!  Martin Kamensky's H. 'Shy Pirouette' is a tall spider with lots of grace.  The first bloom opened on it today, 35 days earlier than it last year.  H. 'Spacecoast Color Scheme' and H. 'Bali Watercolor' have opened, too.  Oh, it is going to be a great year for daylilies...

This is stippling.  Or spreckling.  Or spotting.  Or plicata.  Or splattered.  Whatever you call it, it is fun!  There are hybridizers who are breeding for this "polka-dot" characteristic and we are seeing it more prominently in daylily collections.  This is H. "China Veil'.  It was introduced in 1989 and the official description does not mention this "tye-died" characteristic.  It is a 6" bloom.  

To see some other AMAZING examples of patterned daylilies, click here.

The redesign of the AHS Daylily Dictionary is amazing. The photo examples are stunning.  If you ever wanted to take a crash course in daylilies, spend an hour or two just scrolling through and reading the definitions.  It is an outstanding resource and I still cant believe that it is free!  WOW!

In my daylily collection, I look for each plant I choose to be different than something else I own.  If I have a rich yellow double daylily that is spectacular, I dont bother adding many more rich, yellow doubles to the garden.  I let that specimen speak for the group.  

These stippled daylilies are unique and I have a few.  I wasn't sure that I loved this stippling at first because I'm such a sucker for saturation.  But a few started to grow on me and now I'm noticing that I like the whimsy.  I also grow H. 'Spacecoast Freaky Tiki' and H. 'Speckled Trout.'  A friend has promised to share some of her H. 'Drop Cloth', which is very exciting! 

Vive la difference!

H. 'Spacecoast Freaky Tiki'

What a difference 8 months make! | Daylily Blog on Progress...

In August of 2011, this is what my new backyard looked like.  Barren, dusty and full of potted plants waiting for new homes...

As Summer passed, Fall descended on a fledgling lawn, unedged island beds and lots still to do.  

As Winter fell, I made lists.  More lists.  More plans.  Spring appeared and so did 99% of the plants!  There is little to no winter losses in this garden.  Two confirmed daylily deaths have been recorded and mourned.  CAJUN COLLABORATION and ROSE OF SWAN LAKE did not make it through the winter.  <sniff>  I worried about IRISH HALO, RED SAPPHIRE and KENNESAW HORIZON from Bill Waldrop, as they were the last plants to go in last October.  They are prized plants, and ones that I am very anxious to see bloom.  I did not need to worry about them at all...they have survived and thrived, and all three have scapes showing.  Thank you to Bill of Kennesaw Mountain Daylilies.  I already grow his PASTOR LORRIE MOELLER (below) and KENNESAW MOUNTAIN LEMON SORBET - two very photogenic plants.  I still want to add his VARSITY ORANGE and LYDIA'S REGAL ROBE.  

Very rarely do I like one hybridizer's entire catalog of offerings, but Bill is an exception.  Almost everything he has introduced appeals to me.  I plan to visit there next month when I'm in Atlanta judging a daylily show!  Two real big treats - the show and a visit to Bill and Diana's.

Here is what that barren dustbowl looked like as spring 2012 appeared.

The realization that I am now able to garden in 3D hit me!  Visitors can now walk around and see all sides of the garden and not just stand in front of it and look at it.  This is the most awesome discovery every!  In past homes, I was only able to garden with a fence or house as the "fourth wall" of the garden.  There was always a hardscape as a backdrop, preventing visitors to enjoy all sides. 

Two weeks ago, here is what is happening!  

It is quite a change.  Over 300 daylilies planted, stone walls have been added, and the grass is being patched in where it needs help.  Last summer, I promised myself I would get this one island bed done (five more are in the works on paper...) before the bloom season in 2012.  I still have work to do on defining the edges more succinctly, but overall - we did it, and are already seeing tons of scapes and promise from these plants.  There is so much green space left in the yard!  The thought that amazes me the most is all the daylilies in this bed seen above are ALL the daylilies that were scattered and shoehorned in eight beds at my old house- which was filled to the max!  Here, they all fit in one bed, and I have room for at least five more islands about this size - not counting the front yard at all.  We are truly blessed and thank our lucky stars every night for the opportunity to spread our wings.

I still have about 70 daylilies in pots waiting for the next project to start, but in the meantime, we are stopping construction and big projects of any kind and are waiting for bloom season to start...

met with obstacles,

flowers find their quiet way

sprouting up- bringing smiles!

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Daylily Blog on The Maddening Wait

despite impressions

spring is not always so sweet-

the maddening wait!

This week started off with a fabulous breakfast prepared by the teachers at my son's elementary school for the classroom volunteers.  Breakfast tastes so much better when prepared by someone else!  

After eating way too many delicious flapjacks at the special breakfast, I took a stroll around the garden to see what was happening after several days of rain mixed with hot, muggy midwest sunshine.  There are scapes EVERYWHERE!  In Michigan, I rarely saw a scape before mid-May and here I am with some almost 2' tall!  H. 'Bali Watercolor' is the tallest scape out there, already measuring at 22".  I am sure some of the plants are still trying to figure out where they live after last fall's move to Illinois, but I am loving the action out there!

I have been shopping at the Lily Auction these last couple of months, picking up some finds from my wish list!  H. 'Raspberry Ripple Cupcake' will finally grow here, as well as H. 'Art In Heaven' and H. 'Navajo Grey Hills.'  The picture of the latter is at the bottom of this post.  I know you will love it as much as I do!   The neighbors here at our new home are still getting used to what is happening in our backyard.  Many people have not seen a daylily-centric garden and I feel like many of them have been inspired to add some.  They are amazed at the plant markers, diversity and the names of the plants.

Paul Owen's H. 'Running for the Border' has scapes on it that look twice the width of the fans!  I am not surprised that a plant from Slightly Different Nursery is a real performer. I am also very excited about H. 'Bali Watercolor,' which is new to me from last fall and not only has it multiplied and recovered nicely from a late planting, it has two sturdy scapes already!

H. 'Shy Pirouette' a wonderfully early and reliably rebloomer by Michigan's Martin Kamensky has 10 scapes on 8 fans.  This flower looks exactly like its name describes.  I smile every time I see it bloom.  Of the near 400 cultivars growing here, there are about 25 showing scapes right now and that is very exciting! 

Change of topic warning!

I see that the page on the AHS website that displays all the exhibition shows in the country has been updated!  What a beautiful page!  Check it out.  

Soon you will see a listing on June 16 for the Exhibition Show of the Southwestern Illinois Hemerocallis Society!!  The "little club that could" is ready to put on quite a show at Alton Square in Alton, Illinois.  If you are within driving distance, we hope you will consider bringing scapes, or at least come to see the show.  I can email you a copy of the show schedule if you like.  Everyone is encouraged to enter and show the public that our daylily is so much more than they might know...

Come over to my house on June 14 from 4pm-7pm for some conversation about selecting, grooming, transporting and exhibiting daylilies!  There will be some peach lemonade and cookies, if that sweetens the deal for you.  I'd love to see you there.  If you plan to come, email me for the address and more details.

Speaking of Exhibition Shows, if you are a judge, please read the handbook for the scoring and balloting procedures of the Ophelia Taylor Horticulture Award and the AHS Achievement Medal.  DO NOT WAIT UNTIL SHOW DAY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT AND HOW THESE TWO AWARDS ARE SCORED.  (yes, I am yelling, but politely as I can.)  These are two very complicated and coveted awards and if you are not prepared, you are doing the exhibitor a great disservice.  You need the 2012 Handbook and you can get it here.   Pages 26-30 address the two awards mentioned above.  Please, please read those pages BEFORE you show up to judge a show.

If you are an exhibitor, please consider making an entry in these sections.  They are very prestigious and hard to achieve.  Check out the handbook link above for more details on how to do it successfully.

I have yet to win either, but will keep trying!

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Polytepalous...?

Something to ponder...

An hour this week was spent discussing this photo with someone who insisted this was a polymerous bloom on H. 'Brookwood Pink Pinnacle.'

Before I go any further, lets get the pronunciation of polymerous out of the way...according to dictionary.com, it is: [puh-lim-er-uhs]

Fact that should settle the debate with my friend:  the flower on the left has two pistils, which to me indicates a fused bloom.  We scoured the definition and didnt see a reference to pistil disposition, but found the reference in the Judging Daylilies handbook in the section regarding judging polymerous blooms.  

The AHS Dictionary of Terms defines a polymerous bloom as:  an adjective used to designate a daylily with more than the normal number of segments in each floral whorl, i.e., more than the normal three sepals (usually four or five) in the outer whorl and more than three petals (usually the same number as sepals) in the inner whorl. Polymerous daylilies have the extra sepals and petals evenly spaced in their respective whorls, unlike double daylilies in which the extra petals or petaloid stamens are stacked upon or lie above the ordinary petals. Moreover, polymerous daylilies have extra stamens; eight if there are four petals or ten for five petals, rather than the usual six. Most polymerous daylilies have the same number of carpels in the pistil (and therefore the capsule) as there are petals. 

In order to conform to current botanical usage, AHS has adopted this term in place of "polytepalous" and "polytepal".

What do you think?  Is it polymerous or fused?

i'm always learning-

the green garden is a school

blooming in my mind!