Keep Calm and Exhibit On... | Daylily Blog about Daylily Shows

<posted March 11, 2013>

Many clubs have met for the first time of the year and plans have started formulating for the year’s activities.  A topic of much discussion at the local level must be an accredited AHS Exhibition Show, as I have received three emails from three different states in the last 10 days.  Generally, their emails all ask the same question – how can I get my club fired up about having an AHS-accredited show?

The theme is generally the same around the country – “we don’t have the money”, “we don’t have the energy/manpower”, or “we don’t like what the competition brings out in our members.” 

Often the “WE” is a loud minority, who has been-there-and-done-that and isn't interested in going there again.   

I could write a novel about jaded, controlling, bullying behaviors in hobby clubs, but I won’t go there today. Where I will go is to tell those who are just discovering daylily shows, and those who have the desire to host such an event – MOVE FORWARD WITH YOUR GRAND PLANS DESPITE THE RESISTANCE.

One club in my region is struggling with how to get enthused about such an “old-fashioned” thing to do.  I created a new colorful, informative PowerPoint presentation for that club.  

It is filled with my photos that are meant to stimulate discussion, enthusiasm and encouragement around accredited AHS Daylily Shows.  It is also peppered with some educational information to get folks excited about doing a show.  I’m offering it here to you as well – just in case you need a bit of ammunition to get your club talking.  And smiling.  And having a good time bringing in new daylily fans.

Click here to download the presentation. This presentation and the photos contained within remain my personal property, for your private use and not for mass distribution by you to any other forum such as Facebook.  Mind your sharing manners, please.

I was also asked a bit ago to provide my personal perspective to some frequently mentioned ideas around why folks aren't personally enthused about a show:

1.)  "I don't want to waste a whole scape to bring it to the show."
That's a common feeling.  If it’s a new cultivar, or its one you are using for hybridizing, then don’t cut it.  But, on a clump that is surely going to produce multiple scapes, you won’t miss one - I promise.  The feeling of contributing to the public education of daylilies is much greater.  There are over 70,000 registered daylilies.  You have plenty that no one has ever seen before.  Cut one, clean it up and bring it in.  Once you try it, you will wonder why you never did it more in the past.

2.)  "I don't need a 'judge' telling me my flowers are pretty.  I can see that for myself."
Exhibiting daylilies isn't about the 'prettiest' flower, it is about STANDARDS.  Judges look for traits such as scape height, flower texture, flower substance, grooming, flower color, flower size, growing conditions, etc.  Pretty only goes so far.  Judges are judging on a defined set of criteria for each individual flower.  The standard the judge’s use is the hybridizers registration information.  For example:  EL DESPERADO is registered at a certain size.  If an exhibit is shown growing smaller than the registered size, points are deducted.  If it is registered as a bright yellow and is shown as a muddy cream, points are deducted, etc.  Remember, the judges aren’t judging YOU, they are judging flowers to the registered standard.

3.)  "I don't like competition."
That's okay.  The mission of an accredited American Hemerocallis Society Exhibition Show is PUBLIC EDUCATION - not competition.  There are only about 70 shows held each year and being a part of that is a great thing.  Not too many clubs can say they hold an accredited show!

4.)  "I don't grow any new or expensive daylilies." Year, cost or hybridizer does not matter in exhibition shows.  The average year of introduction for section winners in the last decade+ is 1988.  Any daylily can win.  And does.

(H. 'Brookwood Black Kitten' - one of my favorite flowers to exhibit.  This is a very tiny flower.)

I also gave some ideas about how to get exhibitors enthused about exhibiting in the show:

1.)  Get tags early from AHS and distribute.  Have a quick learning session on how to fill them out correctly and completely.

2.)  Offer a raffle prize of good value (a new introduction, AHS coffee table book, 3-year memberships in AHS, etc.) to all exhibitors.  Offer them one chance to win for every scape they enter. 

3.)  Have a grooming clinic given by an AHS judge a couple of weeks before the show.  Groom real scapes.  Bring real tools and let folks use them in this clinic. 

4.)  Add a Photography Contest.

5.)  Add an off-scape section. 

6.)  Add a design section.

7.)  Add a novice section that allows "first-timers" to enter without too much fear. 

8.)  Carpool to nearby shows to see what's being done.  The AHS website contains a list of all accredited shows in the country! 

9.)  Provide a clear picture to your members about what to expect on show day and what the procedures will be.  Informed folks are happy folks.  

The purpose of a daylily show is to get people inspired about daylilies, and we can’t do that if our members don’t bring in a few to share.  I promise, if you bring scapes to the show and participate with an open mind, you will have a GREAT TIME.  How long has it been since you HAD A GREAT TIME doing something different?  You will have connected with the club, you will have connected to the national organization, and you will have connected with other daylily fans like yourself.  

(L-R: a seedling of mine and H. 'Worthy One' - both my exhibits)

(L-R: H. 'Mexican Magic' and H. 'Threshold of a Dream' - both my exhibits)

Having a show for your local gardening public IS WORTH THE EFFORT.  It’s your responsibility to take the daylily to them – to the nurseries, to the libraries, to the malls, to the state fairs, to the farmers markets – in a way they have never seen them.  Getting them to the show will get them to your gardens, and will get them to your club meetings.

Who is hosting a show this year and what are you doing to get your less-than-thrilled members fired up about it?

Keep calm and exhibit on.  This is a tradition worth the effort.

All photos taken at the 2012 Southwestern Illinois Hemerocallis Society Exhibition Show in Alton, Illinois

Click here for some great resources for exhibitors and clubs.

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Long Day's Journey... | Daylily Blog Archive Stroll

This is H. 'Laura Harwood' showing off an abundance of bloom.  The registration information is as follows:  (Harwood, 1997)  height 23", bloom 7", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Fragrant,  Burgundy purple with a yellow cream halo and a very green throat. ((Blue Lustre × Really Lizzie) × Regal Finale)

This year she is a contender for the AHS' Stout Silver Medal and we will find out if she won in just about a month.  Garden Judges all over the country have cast their votes for the single winner and I am very anxious to see which daylily will win the highest award given to an individual cultivar.  

While looking for a post I had written on judging seedlings a few years ago, I was pleasantly distracted (for about 3 hours) reading through the archives of past blog posts.  Statistics say I have posted 266 times over the past three years and have over a quarter of a million page views in that same time frame.  That is a lot of reading done by a lot of readers.

thinking of the past

remembering crisp flowers

curling in the sun

Anyhoo, while crawling around in the "blog attic" looking for something else, I found a few past posts that I found interesting and meaty.  Maybe you'll enjoy a stroll in the past, too.

Skin In the Game - A post on "getting better."

Speak Up! - A post on presentations and the audiences who sleep through them.

Eliminating the Mediocre - A post on collections.

Collection of (for) me - Another post on collections.

A Little Bit of Strategy - A post on getting your seedlings considered for AHS awards.

What's Overrated - A post on keeping up (or not) with the Joneses.

Here is more of H. 'Laura Harwood.'  She has her quirks, but when she's good, sh's reallllly good.  Color is sunfast, which means it stays purple all day here and doesnt "melt" in the heat.  Bright, wide, green throat is just enough.  

These four photos were taken in three different states in three different zones and have not been retouched at all.  I really like this flower.  I hope it did well in the Stout Medal competition; we will find out in mid-October when the AHS Board of Directors meets and announces the winner.  Here is a list of past winners...  Last years winner was the first daylily introduced in the 21st century to win this prize.  It's on my wish list....

Til next time!

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I am still an exhibitionist! | Daylily Blog on beating slim odds

I cut the scape the night before (as you know I grow all my seedlings about 30 miles from my house) and I was worried that it wouldnt open.  Even if it did open, the chances of the bloom being perfect was slim.  Seedlings hardly ever win a purple or a blue ribbon, as 25 points of the 100 they are allowed goes for distinction.  If the judges do not think the seedling "speaks" to them, shows some qualities superior to other observed daylilies, or contributes to the daylily landscape in general...then the chances of winning 90 of those 100 points aren't great.  

But, knowing that seedlings are a tough section, I needed to bring this scape.  

She towers over everything else in the bed, and for a red, the surface and hue are flawless.  You know red is not my color.  Red in the daylily garden rattles my rhythm.  It is so hard to mess up red.  Its browny-red, or purple-red, or brick-red, or tomato-red.  I like crayon red.  Real, rosy, radiant red.  And I think this daylily has that color in spades.  It is clear and clean and I wanted judges to comment on it.  I cut it 13 hours before the show, immediately plunged the cut scape into cold water and left it outside to soak up the moonlight.

5am came early, and I thought about this scape before my feet hit the floor.  I shuffled outside, still shaking the dreams from my hair and the sleep from my eyes, to see how she faired.

Oh.  My.

I ran back inside.  I wanted to scream.  But the house was still silent, gentle snoring coming from two bedrooms and no one awake to celebrate.  I did a solo happy dance anyway.  

None of the other exhibits in my buckets compared with the screaming red one on the left.  She not only opened well, but was perfect.   I packed the car carefully...knowing that if I was going to lose this flower, it would be in transport.  

I took 39 scapes.  Many seedlings, since this is the first opportunity I have had to really show anyone what Ive been doing the last five or six years in hybridizing.  Until this summer, I have only seen these daylilies once or twice a season, and for only a day or two even then.  I think I took 12 seedling scapes and entered 8.  

The big red one stared at me in the rearview mirror the whole way to the show.  I watched it bounce up and down as I seemed to hit every big bump on the road there.  In the picture above, its the one on the far left.  You can't miss her.  With my favorite tunes blaring, I enjoyed the 45 minute ride in...  

She was the first scape I entered with classification.  I wanted the exhibit on the table as soon as possible to avoid any accidents near grooming and placement. 

The rest of the morning is a blur.  Grooming questions and placement questions and computer database questions and wi-fi issues kept me busy.  Keep in mind hardly ANY of these volunteers have been to a show, let alone WORKED at one, so we had lots of teamwork and patience in play.  Everyone rocked.  Seriously rocked.  I am so proud. (On a side note, 16 people came to my gardens the week before the show to learn how to select, transport and groom daylilies.  They were serious about doing this right!)

There was a nice representation of daylilies in the show except for unusual forms and spiders.  In those two sections, there were only 4 entries.  I thought about my own garden and was disappointed I hadn't looked more closely for some of those.

H. 'Dyna Girl' and H. 'Threshold of a Dream' - both by Paul Owen of Slightly Different Nursery

I took Paul Owen's H. 'Threshold of a Dream' and his H. 'Dyna Girl' and scored purples with both!  It is the first time I have used his cultivars in a show and they really rocked!  The branching on TOAD was bananas.  Had it not been for a tiny color break on a petal, I think that one would have won the section.  Sigh.  H. 'Dyna Girl' had two well-spaced blooms open and was a contender as well. They are both great garden plants and translated very well inside, too!

When the dust settled, 13 exhibitors won blue ribbons!  Almost half of the 111 scapes were awarded first place honors!  I won 22 blue ribbons, which made me the Sweepstakes Winner!  I have never won that award before, so I am so excited to check that one off the list!  

And, as the Best In Show ballots were tabulated, it was revealed that this seedling had won Best In Show!  

Are you kidding me?  

I almost cried.  

Seriously.  

I did.  

WHO CRIES AT A DAYLILY SHOW?   

Had it not been for the existence of Facebook and YouTube, I may have broke out in that happy dance again, but I was not risking an appearance on America's Funniest Home Videos, or worse, someone else's blog doing a really bad macarena.  Thank God I have the threat of social media to help curb my outbursts in public...

So, that's it.  We did it.  A third Best In Show, and a real boost of encouragement for our daylily eye in the seedling bed.  A big shout out goes to my dad, who first saw this seedling in 2008 and told me that there was  a red daylily I would finally like.  And he was right.  I love it.  

We will divide up this huge clump once it is finished blooming, and if it does well next summer after the dividing, we will introduce it next year.  The name is already reserved, and was suggested by my darling husband, Steve.  If he has to admit to liking daylilies at all, he says he loves the red ones.  

Here she is in the garden, standing on a 45" scape with a consistently extra large 8" bloom.

Congratulations to all the winners of the first AHS-accredited daylily show for the Southwestern Illinois Hemerocallis Society.  

Way to go, folks!  WE DID IT!

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2012 Daylily Shows: Atlanta/Cobb County Georgia

On June 9th, I arrived at the Cobb Galleria Centre early in the morning to soak in the atmosphere of potentially the largest daylily show in the country, and find some zen before starting to serve as a judge for this show.  

Two clubs in the Atlanta area come together to put of this event, and I am happy to report that they did not disappoint in 2012.  368 scapes were judged, and scads of purple ribbons (flowers that scored at least 95 of 100 points) were awarded!

In this same mall, as if the largest daylily show wasn't enough, they were also hosting a very large knife show, which made the parking lots and entrances very colorful places to overhear curious conversation, read t-shirt slogans and hear politicians stump for support.  I passed by a conference room holding a seminar entitled "Surviving Civil Unrest."   A title that could very well be related to the daylily show!  (I kid.)  A very interesting mini-study in political science and sociology nonetheless.  Many of the knife-wielders also seemed to have green thumbs!  Many patrons to the daylily sale put on at this show were from the knife group!
You never know where the next daylily addict will come from...

The mall location provided natural light, which allowed the daylilies to sparkle and show off their substance and texture.  This view below is of all the large flowers (registered 4.5" and up to 7").  My panel judged only a piece of this section.  The winner of all these flowers ended up being H. 'Kennesaw Mountain Hayride.'  It was a tough decision.

Below is the sale/education/social area of the show.  These members sold daylilies and talked about our favorite flower all day and I think they made good money doing it!  

Two tables butted up against each other provided for deep displays.  The clear bottles serving as the perfect foil for dripping color above.  Clear containers and white tablecloths brought out the color clarity - as there were no competing colors to distract the judges eye from the bloom...

What I enjoy about judging out of state is the different mix of flowers exhibited.  In Michigan and Ohio, I would have never seen the majority of the flowers exhibited in Georgia.  Each region has its "ringers" that can always be counted on to show up and place at exhibitions.  In Georgia, those stand-bys are different than other places.  That is an awesome aspect of the daylily show in a public place- exposure for daylilies growing well in that geographic area.  I saw many show visitors writing down names and addresses to contact exhibitors about flowers they saw at the show.  I am sure many sales are made after a great exhibit at a show.  (another benefit for hybridizers to show...increased sales!)

The two clubs also planned a wonderful sit-down lunch for about 100 people, complete with the announcements of the award winners and a great kudo fest.  These two clubs really did a wonderful job under the leadership of Diana Waldrop.  I didn't get any shots of the lunch because I was too busy trying to steal another piece of that delicious strawberry cake. 

What is even more spectacular about this show is I got to meet Beth, the writer from Daylily Soup.  She and her husband (an engineer who is drafting plans for the best daylily transporter ever) drove in almost 4 hours just to see the show!   She is just a joy and full of enthusiasm for all things daylilies.  Ill keep blogging as long as there are people like Beth to meet.  Her excitement fuels mine, and I was thankful she came to chat.  Here we are cheesing for the paparazzi:

Here are the winners...RED ICICLE, AT JACK'S, HEAVENLY UNITED WE STAND, BROOKWOOD BLACK KITTEN, KENNESAW MOUNTAIN HAYRIDE and ORANGE VELVET.

 

The Best In Show award went to Claude Carpenter's exhibit of H. 'Artic Tern.'  He also took home the Sweepstakes award, and that is also his exhibit of H. 'Heavenly United We Stand.'  What a great competitor!

H. 'Artic Tern' - the Best In Show Winner

Thank you to both clubs for inviting me to judge and for all the hospitality during my stay!  See you this Fall, Georgia!

   

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Do you see what I see? | Daylily Blog on "the eye."..

That's me.  Third from the left in the white jacket - smiling at a very entertaining and unique sight as a judge of an Atlanta-area daylily show.  

Along with fourteen other judges, I saw some amazing exhibits.  Many hybridizers were represented, and many blue ribbons were won.  Someone sent me the above photo on Facebook.  Bill Waldrop might have taken it, and I love it and distinctly remember the moment it was shot.

Now here is my own photo of what I was looking at in the above photo...

4 near perfect exhibits of H 'Lydia's Regal Robe' entered by 4 different exhibitors!  

What a treat for the hybridizer and the judges to see it represented so well.  We lamented over the awarding of the Purple Ribbon winner.  See, in shows, if  more than one of the same cultivar is entered in the show (in this case 4 scapes of the same cultivar were brought) the rules only allow one of them to receive a purple, only one can win blue, only one can win red.  Even if they all score enough points to win a purple, only one of them can win it.  So, all of these were near perfect, so we had to choose one winner, and leave one with nothing at all.  What a rip off for the third runner-up in this case, but that is the rule.  You can tell in the picture above which flower won which award...

I love that we caught both sides of this quandary on film and I could capture it here to remember.  

This was a great competition among 4 great competitors.  It really caused my panel to use concise measurements and detailed judging.  

Every grain of pollen out of place counted negatively!  

Every blemish on an otherwise black-velvety surface subtracted points!  

What a race!

flowers do what they do

despite our moods and motions

to be something else!

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Show me your wits! | Daylily Haiku Thursday and Caption Contest...

evaluating, 

we swoon over endless rows

of blooms on parade!

It is show season, folks!  I can hardly contain my excitement as I will be at daylily shows for three straight Saturdays, starting this weekend!  I am judging this Saturday in Georgia, next weekend I'm competing in Illinois and on the 23rd I'm judging my first show west of the Mississippi in Columbia, Missouri.

Three shows, three states, and three days to soak up rows and rows of scapes at their finest.  What I love most about daylily shows is the "collection" that they present.  All the gardeners who participate bring the best from their yards, and their best is much different than mine.  As they all assemble in the parade of blooms, a new collection is created.  I still remember visiting my first daylily show, and if you have never been to one, you are missing out.  Forget the competition aspect, forget the few overzealous exhibitors, forget the occasional drama.  Just go, soak in the smell and sight of blooms inside!

If you would like to find out where the Daylily Shows are in your area, click here.  If you are reading this from within driving distance of Atlanta, I hope to see you at the Cobb Galleria Center this Saturday.  It was the largest show in the country last year (almost 400 scapes on display) and I am very excited to be going this year for the first time.

I thought it would be fun to have a "Caption Contest" in honor of the start of my show season.  Email me your caption or leave it as a comment.  Show me your wits!

What would YOUR caption be for this photo?  

all photos taken at the 2006 Bluegrass Daylily Society Show in Kentucky

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