Ask The Ombudsman

Donna Peck is the Ombudsman for the American Hemerocallis Society.

• The AHS Voucher Program
• AHS Display Gardens
• Why Join the American Hemerocallis Society?
• The AHS Popularity Polls
• The AHS Registration process
• Photography Exhibits
• Round Robins
• Ideas for Local Club Meetings and Ideas for Local Club Meetings, Pt 2.
  
• Tasty Daylilies
• Exhibition and Garden Judges
• What is the For Members Only Portal? - Part 1

PROBLEM: We understand that AHS has introduced a new voucher program that allows new members free daylilies. Our club does not fully understand just what they need to do to join this program. Can you help us?

SOLUTION: It is really a very simple process that your club needs to do. As soon as you have a new member, send in their name/s with the membership check/s to Pat Mercer (Executive Secretary-Membership) P.O. Box 10, Dexter, GA 31019. The member will soon receive a letter from Pat explaining the program, the voucher that entitles the member to obtain the daylily, and the list of hybridizers who will honor the voucher. Some hybridizers require you to order a certain amount before they honor the voucher, while others will just send you the daylily which can be worth $25.00 and in some cases more. You will probably be required to pay shipping. An important note on the voucher program is that it applies to all new AHS members as well as current members with a one-year membership who upgrade to a three-year membership.

For more detailed information check the membership information page on the AHS website www.daylilies.org or contact AHS Executive Secretary Pat Mercer through email: secretary@daylilies.org.

This question came from Kathy Figueroa from Region 4 in Bancroft, Ontario. When she knew Donna was going to use her question in the column, Kathy contacted other members to help make this column helpful to those who have display gardens. I think we found many good ideas and hope they help those of you with display gardens. Any further questions should be addressed to Mary Lou Lundblade, who is chairman of Display gardens (displaygardens@daylilies.org).

QUESTION: I've heard members talk about "display gardens." Can you explain just what a display garden is?

RESPONSE: According to the AHS website, this is the explanation. "An AHS Display Garden is established to display the very best daylily cultivars to the general public. Its purpose is to educate the visitor about modern daylilies and how they can be used effectively in landscapes."

If it is an approved AHS Display Garden, it has to meet certain criteria. Again, check on the AHS website (www.daylilies.org) for a complete list. But here are a few of the criteria:

• The owner must be a member of AHS for at least 2 years
• The garden must include a wide variety of daylilies
• The garden must be well maintained
• Plant markers should have the name of both cultivar and hybridizer
• The garden should be open to the public

The RP of each region or a designated representative should visit each Display Garden in the region at least once every 2 years.

QUESTION: Now that I have a display garden, are there any pointers that people could provide me with about what do with it?

RESPONSE: Kathy Figueroa (who as this is written has applied to be a display garden, but hasn't received the final notice) holds a big annual open garden "flower festival" on the first long weekend in August. She is also hoping that her garden will be included in a local art studies tour where her photography, which, of course, features mainly daylilies, would be on display. Sometimes she provides her visitors with a small gift perennial in a 4 inch peat moss pot. During this open garden, she sets out patio tables and chairs, has a musician or two at the garden and invites people to bring their cameras to photograph the flowers. She also gives an informal talk on daylilies. Her garden is "pet friendly'. She offers water for the pets and the welcoming committee consists of three very sociable cats! She is hoping to officially become a display garden soon.

Kathy d'Alessandro from Pennsylvania says she also has an open house and has a table on her covered patio with the following materials: Daylily photo albums for anyone unable to walk about the large garden, AHS and local club pamphlets with membership information, and her business cards. Providing food isn't necessary but a nice gesture and of course water is essential.

Elizabeth Trotter says "I love having an AHS garden. Having an official sign out front designating our garden is a great incentive." When she knows she is having visitors she has cold water, lemonade or tea, some goodies like cookies or scones. If someone visits who is totally new to daylilies she sends them home with one. She says, "I usually have daylilies potted up for the club events and perennials also so I can use those for gifts to visitors." When Elizabeth was doing PR for the Blue Grass Hemerocallis Society last year, she gave the reporter a potted daylily as a thank you. The Society got a front page spread in the Garden Section! She also tried to promote their local club and AHS by showing visitors a copy of the Daylily Journal and their Daylily Appeal (region 10 newsletter). Elizabeth says, "When I show visitors such quality, attractive publications, it's not hard to convince them to join."

Another comment from Judy in Mechanicville, Virginia was that she has an annual plant swap which draws over a hundred people (each bringing a minimum of 5 plants – most bring 10) who love to swap any type of plant. She provides lots of homemade refreshments and since her home was built in 1820, she gives a tour of her home as well as her gardens. A local garden club also held their meeting during bloom season in her garden and her daughter catered a luncheon for them. They paid $10.00 and Judy said "they certainly got their money's worth." The other thing that Judy does is to put a sign beside her road during bloom season, just is case someone wants to drop by.

Rozanne Tuffnell, owner of the only display garden in New Mexico, has had a variety of experiences. The local garden clubs love to meet in her garden, and then Rozanne gives a talk about daylilies, how to grow them and on various companion plants. She, along with her husband, Alan, was part of a fund raising tour for local gardens. She gets many phone calls from a variety of people, who just want to come over, see the garden and "talk about daylilies.

One bit of trivia. Did you know that there are more than 330 AHS Display Gardens throughout the US and parts of Canada?

This was written by Eloise Koonce, a member of the Ombudsman committee and, a lifetime member since 1982, along with her daughter Ann, a new member, to offer insight to this question. They are members of the Desert Daylily Society in Scottsdale, Arizona.

QUESTION: Why join the American Hemerocallis Society?

"Half of my buds dry up before they bloom? How can I stop this?"
"What fertilizer works best in this area, and when and how do I apply it?"
"I moved from across the country. What daylilies grow best here and where can I buy them"?
"I have a gorgeous seedling. How can I register it?"
"How do I get my blooms ready for a daylily show?"

You can find answers to these questions – and thousands more - inside the friendly world of the American Hemerocallis Society.

My local club members say they take advantage of different parts of AHS. One gardener new to daylilies likes the quarterly Daylily Journal, with its photos of new cultivars and how-to articles on daylily care. Others say they enjoy selecting new daylilies from the catalogs sent to members by hybridizers as well as taking advantage of the $25.00 plant voucher offered by some hybridizers for first time membership. They also love the low prices and high quality of the plants offered at club sales and regional auctions.

One local hybridizer can't do without the daily posts of daylily-growing information on the AHS e-mail robin. Another joined AHS to exchange information with other national and international hybridizers, and so he can place his new "babies" in other regions to see how they perform in different climates.

Then, of course, there is the fun of putting on and entering daylily shows with other AHS members. Everyone gets a chance to show off the beauty and variety of daylilies to their neighbors. (Winning a ribbon, they say, is not their primary motive…but it helps!)

Most important, everyone says, are the long-lasting friendships, sometimes with people in other states and countries. AHS members are the most interesting, friendliest people around…willing to listen, to visit your garden to cheer you on and to pitch in to get big jobs done.

Of course, you miss all this…if you're not a member.

By Eloise and Ann Koonce
members of The Desert Daylily Society
in Scottsdale Arizona

Written by Melodye Campbell – Chair of the Popularity Poll

QUESTION:  What is the AHS Popularity Poll?

RESPONSE: Very simply, the Popularity Poll is a record of the most popular/favorite plants in each AHS region for a given year.  To find out when it originated, I asked the AHS archivist and historian, Ken Cobb. He said that “some believe that the Pop Poll began in 1961 with the David Hall Medal. Not so! Some believe it began in 1950 with the AHS Awards System.  Not so!  It did not even begin with the formation of the Midwest Hemerocallis Society.  It began in the min-1930s and was published annually in Herbertia, the journal of the American Amaryllis Society.”

QUESTION: How do the results help the members?

RESPONSE: Results from the popularity poll present a picture of which daylilies perform well in a given region and which cultivars are best liked by the AHS members. The results are extremely useful in recommending cultivars to those new to growing daylilies. The winners are also important as a category in Daylily Exhibitions.

QUESTION: Why was there a change in the voting of the Popularity Poll in 2009?

RESPONSE: During my years as an AHS member, there has always been dismal participation in popularity poll voting. On average, a region is fortunate if 20% of the membership participates. From our archivist, I learned that there is mention of the poor voting percentage as far back as the 1930s. The old format was a “fill in the blank” ballot; members simply wrote down their 10 favorites. As a result, the votes were spread over hundreds and hundreds of daylilies, thereby diluting the results and making them less meaningful. In the past daylilies were winning our regional polls with as few as 5 votes. About 60% of cultivars in each of the regional results received only 1 vote and only about 20% of the cultivars received more than 2 votes. The new Pop Poll voting procedure was instituted in 2009 because of this vote dilution. It was decided by the AHS Board that the new process would make more efficient use of our time and our votes and would produce more meaningful, more press worthy results. To start off the new format in 2009, each region’s ballot was comprised of their top 75 vote getters (including ties) from the previous year.  Each member could select 10 from the ballot or select 5 from the ballot and write in 5 of their choosing.

QUESTIONS: Won’t the ballot become "stale" and how do newer cultivars get on the pop poll ballot?

RESPONSE: After the new format was approved by the board, RPs and RPDs were given several suggestions on how to keep the ballot "fresh" year after year. Regions have responsibility for their Pop Poll ballot and may optionally select additional cultivars to add to the ballot and each region may determine the method for selecting these cultivars. Cultivars with write in votes will also help keep the ballot fresh. After looking at some of this year’s results, I am happy to report that several regions had daylilies with sufficient write in votes that enable them to be added to the ballot for next year.

QUESTION: What did it try to accomplish and did it succeed?

RESPONSE: The purpose of the new format is to increase participation, thereby making the results more statistically relevant and meaningful to our members. Change is always difficult so I cannot state with certainty that the new format has increased participation. All the results from 2010 have not been analyzed so I can’t comment on this year but in 2009, the % increase in several regions was significant. We’ve taken the first step to improve our popularity Poll and time will tell. I’m already excited about the next year’s Pop Poll!

ASK THE OMBUDSMAN - REGISTRATION
This column was written by Rebecca Board (Chairman of Registration and Technology), along with suggestions from Gary Rieben (a member of both the Ombudsman and Registration Committees).And with changes from Kevin Walek, after he became registrar in 2010.

QUESTION:  If I register my daylily online, why can’t I find out immediately if it is accepted?

ANSWER:  There are more steps to the registration process than most people realize.
When the Daylily Registrar, Kevin P. Walek, receives a registration request, he reviews the data provided to ensure that it is complete, then searches the database for name conflicts. Sometimes the requested name has already been registered, but other conflicts are more subtle – such as a name that might sound alike when spoken, even if the spelling is different. The AHS follows the guidelines of the ICNCP (International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants) when evaluating potential names. The document is long, and provides several specific cases, but the rules can be reasonably summarized like this:

1) The name must not cause confusion by echoing a name already in use.
2) The name must not exaggerate the merits of the plant.
3) The name cannot exceed thirty characters in length.
4) The name must not give the impression that the plant is derived from or related to another plant, if that is not the case.

(The full list of rules may be found on the AHS website; under Registering a Daylily.
A new edition, with some changes, was published in the fall of 2009.)

Since many of these requirements seem subjective, more than one person reviews the names so there is a fair assessment of potential confusion.  For this reason, all names are reviewed by a nine-person committee, and a majority must approve the proposed name.  As the annual deadline approaches, groups of name requests are sent to the committee daily. At the beginning of the year this slows to once a week. When names are sent to the committee, Kevin includes his own findings and comments, but does NOT include the hybridizer’s name. If he rejects the name, the reason is provided. If he believes there is the potential for confusion or other problems, these are noted for closer examination by the group.  Sometimes a committee member will suggest an obscure conflict the rest of the committee must consider, and sometimes the committee will find the chance of misunderstanding slight enough that a name is allowed.  The committee has also been recently asked to watch for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization issues. While the code permits intentional errors, we hope to ensure that accidental ones are not accepted and published. If a name is rejected, then the hybridizer may submit an alternate and the review process repeats. If a hybridizer believes the committee is in error, s/he may appeal and the name can be re-examined in light of any new information provided.

Once the name is approved by the committee, Kevin must ensure that an image and payment have been received.  Then the plant information is entered into his database, and the hybridizer is notified and given a chance to correct any errors before the official publication.

Previously the online database was updated annually, but we have recently included names approved in the current year, just as we also show pre-registered names and reserved names. Since the information about the cultivar may still be revised prior to publication, the name may also be revised during this period.  The ICNCP does not acknowledge publication on a website as establishing a name, so names and descriptions are not official until they are printed in the annual checklist.  In spite of these necessary limitations to the display of the in-process names, we believe that our members are finding this feature helpful.  At this time the online database is updated every couple of months, but we plan to make this even more frequent.

For your information, the online database shows 2527 registrations in 2008.

QUESTION: Okay, that’s a lot of work, but how long would it take?

ANSWER: Please allow twenty-one days for the process to complete. During peak times, it could take longer. Contact Kevin if you have a question about the status of your request, but keep in mind that initial twenty-one period and then allow at least a week to process and research your question before asking for a follow up. The recent system improvements have allowed Kevin to complete registrations for the month of August 2010, on a 3-day average turnaround from the day of receipt.

QUESTION: Who should I contact if the Registrar doesn’t give me the answer I want?

ANSWER: Concerns and complaints should be sent to the chair of the Registration Committee. As of now it is Rebecca Board – registrationchair@daylilies.org
If one doesn’t get a response, then email the Ombudsman, Donna Peck at ombudsman@daylilies.org.  She tries to have a 48 hour turnaround for answers.

QUESTION:  My daylily appears in the online database, but the image I sent isn’t there. Why not?

ANSWER:  Under the current system, processing of images is time consuming. They must be resized, watermarked, and the file names stored in the database--not much work if you are doing one image, but now consider having several hundred or a couple thousand to do. During peak times, images are not processed to prevent an even longer backlog for name approvals. During the quieter times of year, the images are processed and uploaded in groups.

Current contact information:
Kevin Walek - Daylily Registrar - registrar@daylilies.org
9122 John Way,  Fairfax Station, VA 22039-3042

ASK THE OMBUDSMAN – PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT

QUESTION: I heard that one of the daylily clubs included a photography exhibit at their flower show.  I am the chairman of our flower show for next year and would like to include photography.  I’ve looked in the judges’ manual under show rules and schedules and I don’t see any information about including photography.  Do you know what the other club did that I can also do?

RESPONSE: One of the clubs you are referring to might be my club, The Albuquerque Daylily Society.  And I think other clubs are now including photography also.  We have had numerous requests about this issue, so I’m glad to be able to answer it.  We started the photography division about four years ago when our chairman, Connie Elmore, included this for our members who enjoyed taking photographs of daylilies.  And she believed that the visitors who came to the show also would be interested.  It has proven a great success.   We started with about six photographs the first year to twenty-nine last year. And this year we had 45.  And for a small club like ours, we were very pleased.  We have a professional photographer judge the photographs.  After the judging last year, the judge held a half hour seminar evaluating the photographs and answering questions.  Our members and visitors learned a great deal which will help them with their entries next year.

The photography awards are called “local awards.” If you look in the rules about the Show Schedule in the Judges Manual, there is a section called Local Awards and Rules.  Even though the club can give local awards for the best photographs, they are not AHS awards.

In our show schedule, printed for our members, we titled it Daylily Photographs, Division V.  Under that Division V the rules are:

A Daylily or Daylily related photograph. Any 5”x7” or 8”x10” black and white or color print. The print must be matted. The outside dimensions of the mat must be 11”x14.”  Exhibitors are limited to two photographs in each class. Photographs are to be displayed on easels. [Our club supplies black plastic easels.] 
            Class A. Single Flower
            Class B. Clump of Growing Daylilies
            Class C Landscape Design featuring Daylilies
            Class D Special Effects featuring Daylilies
            Class E: Photo of floral design featuring Daylilies

The first year we did this we only had Class A and B.  But this photography division proved so popular that we added the other three classes.

This information must be in the club’s show schedule that you submit for approval
to the Exhibition Judge Chairman, Gisela Meckstroth flowershows@daylilies.org.
If you add this local award to your flower show, I’m sure your members will enjoy it.

ASK THE OMBUDSMAN – ROUND ROBINS
This column is written with the assistance of Gail Korn who is the Chair of Round Robins.

QUESTION:  I’ve heard many members talk about the daylily Round Robin. What
exactly is it?

RESPONSE:  The dictionary defines a round robin “as a letter sent among members of a group, often with comments added by each member in turn”.  Another description of a robin is a group conversation that has shared information.  A daylily round robin does exactly these things.  AHS members sign up to share their daylily knowledge with other daylily growers, as well as ask questions that they need answered.

Here’s a little history about the daylily round robins. Prior to 1994, the only round robins were those sent through the mail.  Each member is given a “Flight List,” a list of all the participants with their addresses and phone numbers.  When each member gets the packet of letters, that member takes out his or her old letter, writes a new one and sends the entire packet along to the next person on the list.  Friendships are formed and information exchanged.  Pictures are often included.  Sometimes plant trades are arranged.  Getting a robin packet full of letters from 7-11 other daylily growers is a special treat.  It’s great to get to know gardeners around the country!

QUESTION:  How do I join a Robin?

RESPONSE:  It’s as simple as contacting the Robin Chair. Currently the chair is Gail Korn. Her email address is gkorn@abbnebraska.com or roundrobins@daylilies.org.   If you prefer to send her a note, write to Gail Korn, 85261 Hwy 15, Wayne, NE 68787.

Gail will forward your request to the leader of the robin you are interested in. Membership in a robin is a benefit of belonging to AHS and is a way to get to know other members and to get answers to your questions.  (The Ombudsman will answer them also, but the Robin has access to many seasoned daylily gardeners and hybridizers.)

QUESTION: It sounds as if there is more than one Round Robin. Can you tell me my choices?

RESPONSE:  There are 9 paper robins for which you would write a letter and send it with the other letters to the Robin member that is the next person on the list.  In general, membership in one of these robins will require you to write between 3and 5 letters per year.  The advantage to the paper robins is that people write real letters about their experiences and experiments.  You get to know the members and they become a circle of friends. These paper robins were discussed above in the first question.  Two of these robins – Daylilies All Over and the Region 1 Robin (for members who live in Region 1) – are general interest robins and anything concerning daylilies may be written about.  Others are about more specific topics.  They include Doubles, Landscaping, Nostalgia, Rust, Season Extenders, Spiders/Unusual Forms, Mini Daylilies and Tetrobin.  For your information, the Tetrobin discusses hybridizing tetraploids.

Several e-mail robins exist also.  The advantage is that answers can come immediately.  To join the big e-mail robin (over 1,300 AHS members); send a request to Tim Fehr at fehrtj@charter.net or webmaster@daylilies.org.  It is a general interest robin and anything and everything about daylilies is discussed.  To join this or one of the smaller e-mail robins, send an e-mail to Gail Korn and she’ll forward your request to the robin leader.  The small e-mail robins have about 30 members in each and participation is required at least once a month. Some of them are general interest robins but specific to regions of the country.  They include Region 2, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and the South E-Mail Robins.  Others are about specific topics.  They include Historical Daylilies, sculptured daylilies and patterned Daylilies.  One can join more that one robin.

Note: Gail currently participates in 2 paper robins and 3 email robins. Gail mentions that if a paper robin packet happens to arrive at a very busy time for her, it’s okay to just pass it on.  Writing each time is not mandatory.

QUESTION:  What are some ideas that can make our local club meetings interesting, educational and enjoyable?

I have been asked this question many times.  It has been asked on the AHS Robin, by various members who are now is charge of programs for their club and even by my own club’s program chairman. I have asked various members for ideas and have received many terrific ones.  In fact I received so many I’m doing at least two sections about this subject.

Here is the first segment of wonderful suggestions. And I hope some of you will send me more for the next column at Ombudsman@daylilies.org.

RESPONSE: 

1. I think the most important answer is to make everyone feel welcome.  At every meeting the club members should meet and greet all new members.  And don’t forget the old members.  Some people report on having attended a daylily meeting without anyone ever coming up and speaking to them.  Julie Covington (AHS chair of Awards and Honors) said, “How uncomfortable can that be!!  I can’t imagine returning to a meeting where no one spoke to me, no matter how much I loved daylilies.”
  
2. At the end of the year, have each club member write on a sheet of paper what they would like to see changed or have the club do doing the next year.  Maybe those who just sit at meetings will become more active if given a say in what the club does each year.  You could take a vote on the most popular and go from there.

3. Have a plant exchange for a meeting – but no daylilies allowed. Have members bring companion plants, perennials or even house plants. This offers a little different “twist” but has worked very well in the clubs that have tried it.

4. One club has a Daylily Festival where the club sells daylilies on the City Square.
They show people how to plant and care for daylilies. They report that they do get new members into the club that way.  Many clubs have daylily sales along with their flower show. (We have ours at our garden center because the mall we had used won’t let us sell daylilies there). But along with the sales they have a master gardener, and a person to explain all about daylilies.  The clubs usually get the plants from a reliable hybridizer and/or get freshly dug plants from their own gardens.  Just make sure that the “home dug plants” are healthy, disease free, have nice clean fans and are named correctly.  Our club has a special box for daylilies without names.  Some of our healthy plants in our gardens lose their name tags so we name them “surprise plants” and we sell them for two dollars.

5. Tee Money, the new Region 14 RPD, is going to have a Pop Poll party.  She will send ballots to club presidents along with a CD to show all the daylilies on the ballot so the members can recognize the cultivars they vote for.  Then have every club in her region have a drawing for a nice door prize for each member voting. She arranged to have one of their region hybridizers donate two 2011 introductions for the drawing prize.  Betty Parr, also from region 14, thought about taking that theme and having popcorn and soda with the slide show.  Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

6. An activity one club does is to provide great door prizes for attendees. Not only do they have daylilies, but also nice house plants. Each person gets a number. The first person’s number that is selected is able to choose among the prizes.  They do this at the end of each meeting, and you have to be there to receive the prize.

7. Setting up an event or meeting with a nursery is always a popular meeting. Have the owner or a worker give the club a tour of the nursery and a talk about something that is of interest to them.  Usually at the meeting the nursery will provide a discount on the purchases that day.  Our club had the owner talk about companion plants among daylilies.

One club reported that the nursery set up a daylily day.  On that day the nursery publicized the event, had experts there on growing daylilies as well as other plants, and opened the day up to everyone.  That day the local daylily group had a mini flower show to let the public see the variety of daylilies. They gained new interested members and also educated the public about daylilies.

8. Make sure your club posts their meetings and regional events on the regional website.  The regional meetings also post on the AHS website, www.daylilies.org.  Explain special events to the newer members. One member reports that she read the regional newsletter for years before she attended a meeting. And then when she learned about some of the club’s special events, she discovered she was missing out of a lot of fun and lots of daylilies.

9. One of the most popular meetings for our club is to have a hybridizer talk.  Discuss at a meeting who they would like to meet and have as a speaker.  Then find out what that speaker requires.  Usually all their expenses are paid by the club.  But everyone we’ve had talk, brought plants with them to auction off or sell, which more than covered their expenses.  Have a potluck before or after the meeting so the members really get to talk to the guest. For a few of the very interested have them also meet the guest at a restaurant maybe the night before the talk.

10. The last idea, for this segment, really shouldn’t be last, because it is very important.  But always have good food at the meetings.  We have a hospitality chair, and each meeting she sends a list around for volunteers to bring food for the following meeting.  The Chair has a hospitality box which contains paper plates, cups, napkins, condiments for coffee, lemonade mix, etc. She comes early to the meetings (we hold ours at 9:30 am on Saturdays) and sets up. We usually hold the meetings in members’ homes, so this takes the stress off the host or hostess.  We always brag that we have the best food of any meetings we attend!  The men especially enjoy that part of the meeting!

I hope these ideas will help.  I have at least another ten to share.  But do send me your ideas for part 2.  I think these are valuable to recruit members, retain them and keep our veteran members happy.

And now, part ,2 as promised...

QUESTION:  What are some ideas that can make our local club meetings, interesting, educational and enjoyable?

This question had been asked by a number of program chairmen. Julie Covington said “Although we have a great club, I sometimes feel we’re in a rut.”  I put ten ideas in part 1 of my Ask The Ombudsman column, and here are another ten.  I hope they will help your clubs have a successful meeting.

RESPONSE:

1. This suggestion is similar to number one in the last Ombudsman column. But it is so important.  Make your members feel welcome.  Greet members at the door.  One club designates club greeters to do this.  Always announce new members at your meetings.  If you have guests announce them also.  Remember they are potential new members. Joe Goudeau says, “Do not be above bribery to gain new members.”  Give new members and even guests a new daylily.  And even follow through with a personal note welcoming them after the meeting.
   
   
2. Get your veterans as well as the new members involved.  Don’t wait for them to volunteer, ask them personally – not by email – to help out.  Members like to feel they are a part of something.  If members miss a meeting call them and make sure they know the date of the next meeting.  One club has postcards and passes them out with names of those missing the meeting.  The member chooses a card and crosses out the member’s name that she/he is going to send the card to.  Can you imagine how delighted the member will be to receive that postcard?
   
   
3. This suggestion might not seem important, but have name tags; especially with not only their name but also the office they hold printed on it. Put their address on it, because it will be surprising how many members will live near each other and could “car pool” to the next meeting and other events.
   
   
4. This isn’t as stuffy as it sounds….but have a book review at your meeting.     Assign a gardening book to four or five people.  And have those members
   report on the sections that you have chosen for them.   I did a report on a book called “100 Names for Flowers and Where They Got Their Names.”  I assigned various members to report on three or four of the flowers which I chose to be the most interesting ones.  At the end of the meeting we drew a name, and that member won the book!  Other excellent daylily books that would make great meeting reviews are “Passion for Daylilies”, Encyclopedia of Daylilies, and Delightful Daylilies Cookbook, to name a few.
5. Have you tried Daylily Bingo?  Our program chairman tried it for one of last year’s meetings and the members enjoyed it.  She was able to obtain 7 or 8 daylilies from a hybridizer at a much reduced rate.  She just bought an inexpensive Bingo set at a toy store and used that. Every member received one free card. If the member wanted to have more than one card she/he would have to pay an extra $3.00.  Your club could make up your own rule about how many cards and for how much. We just played Bingo and whoever won received a free daylily plant. 
   
   
6. This idea one club called “adopt a plant.”  Have your club buy a couple of current collections.  Give them to members to grow during daylily season and at the end of the year have them return a couple of fans for an auction.  The proceeds will giveback to the club the money paid to buy the collections.  If the daylilies need an extra year to grow, then have the auction the following year.  It’s an excellent way to get new daylilies in the member’s gardens for a reasonable price.
   
   
7. The North Texas Daylily society has another idea for distributing a new collection from a hybridizer.  They use the daylilies each meeting as a door prize drawing.  Everyone is eligible.  According to Gwen Pennington, a member of NTDS,” this potentially puts newer introductions in the hands of members who might not be able to afford these plants.”  The president started this practice and he takes care of the plants until he brings them to a meeting.
   
   
8. Wanda Evans, President of the Cincinnati Ohio Club, suggested a “Show and Tell” meeting.  This could be in the winter when we are all missing our daylilies. Assign a few members to take pictures of their garden, and especially close-ups of their favorite daylilies.  At a winter meeting, have the members show and tell about their gardens.  Each member needs to only have about five minutes to show his or her pictures and tell about them.
   
   
9. Wanda has another good idea about having the founding members or other knowledgeable members talk about their club history.  They talked about how their club was started, who was behind some of the awards they give out each year, and some of the members who gave a lot of time to the club and what they accomplished.  It would be good to have the history written out in pamphlet form to give all new members to read when they join.
   
   
10. Gail Rasberry from Arkansas suggests that some of the Robin members discuss a sampling of the Robin issues.  Think of the various subjects that could be discussed. One member could actually print out various subjects and views the Robin members had. A few subjects I think your clubs would enjoy discussing that were discussed recently were:
                    - unregistered daylilies
                    - control of garden gnats or deer and other creatures
                    - germinating daylily seeds.
                    - favorite daylilies that were black, purple, red, etc.
    
    Actually I am on our club’s program this year concerning questions I received as AHS Ombudsman.  My club is curious on “what I do,” so I will have a series of questions and my responses to them.

I’m afraid I just couldn’t stop with 10!  Here is one more from Nikki Schmith.  I liked her idea of an off-scape show.  If your gardens are small and the members are hesitant to cut their new scapes, have them bring only the daylily flower and have an off-scape show.  This wouldn’t be AHS accredited, but would be fun and educational to see the various daylilies.  You’d need special vases or glasses to hold the off-scape daylilies.

I hope these ideas help. 

QUESTION: 
We are organic farmers with a permaculture food forest in Santa Barbara.  We would like to include daylilies in our designs and wonder if anyone knows which are the tastiest daylilies (bud and petals).

RESPONSE:
I love this question because whenever I give a presentation about daylilies I talk about eating them, and everyone is amazed. I used to own a restaurant and before the evening meal, I would go home and pick some daylilies and use them in the salads. It was wonderful for interesting conversation.

It sounds as if you already know that daylilies are edible. But for those readers who don’t realize it, they are delicious! Dr. Daniel Apps, a talented daylily hybridizer, reported that he encountered a wide variety of food products made from daylilies, including sugared daylily flowers, in a Shopping Center in Seoul, Korea.  The islanders told him that they dig up shoots and eat them like asparagus in spring and then eat the buds and flowers later in the season.  This information and other fascinating facts can be found in one of my favorite daylily books called The Delightful Delicious Daylily* by Peter Gail.

One can buy bags of daylily buds and flowers in many Asian food stores in the US.
Or you can harvest your own. We have a friend who every night would go out and pick the daylily flowers and lets them dry out.  Then in the morning when he makes himself an omelet, he would throw some of the dried petals in.  He said it was not only beautiful but also tasty and healthy.

You asked about the flavor. The fresh buds have been compared in taste to green beans and asparagus. Since flavor is influenced by scent, the more fragrant daylily cultivars may taste sweeter than those without a strong scent. It has been said that dried daylily buds have a mild beef broth flavor.  Dr. Apps reports that red flowers are bitter while the yellow, orange, and pastel flowers are not and are the tastiest.  And in the late fall and early spring the white tubers are crisp like water chestnuts.  And by scrubbing the tubers and slicing them, they can be used in stir-fried dishes instead of water chestnuts.

Daylily buds and blossoms have almost as much protein as spinach, more vitamin A than string beans, and about the same amount of Vitamin C as orange juice!  The flowers are good just buttered and simmered. The recipe in The Delightful Delicious Daylily is so simple for buttered daylilies. You just take 8 daylily blossoms, 1 cup chicken broth, 3 Tbs. butter with salt and pepper to taste. You simmer the daylilies for 4-5 minutes in the chicken broth. Drain, add butter, salt, and pepper to taste and serve!  Are you going to try it??

However some people do warn about some disadvantages of eating daylilies. Eating too many fresh daylilies can create a mild laxative effect and raw green buds may cause throat irritation.  If you collect daylilies from along the roadsides, they could be contaminated by automobile pollutants and/or herbicides and might cause upset stomachs and other problems.

Have fun experimenting with eating daylilies. It is delightful to try them out with your friends and neighbors.  My favorite is simply adding a fresh daylily to a salad and watching people to see if they have the “nerve” to eat it.

More information can be gotten from the following book:
*The Delightful Delicious Daylily by Peter Gail
Goosefoot Acres Press
P.O. Box 18016
Cleveland Ohio 44118-0016
(216) 932-2145

Donna Peck, the AHS Ombudsman, receives many questions from AHS members each week.  Some questions are about subjects that are very complex and some about subjects which she thinks all members should be familiar with. But when this question about judging came through her email, she realized that anyone who doesn't judge probably doesn't know the facts about exhibition judges and garden judges. So she sent the question to Joann Stewart, the chair of Exhibition Judges Records. Joann sent back an excellent answer which Donna wanted all members to get a chance to read.  Thanks to Joann for the excellent response.

QUESTION:  What is the difference between an "Exhibition" judge and a
"Garden" judge?

RESPONSE:  An EXHIBITION JUDGE...is trained to assess the degree of perfection attained by an exhibit of a cut scape in a flower show (i.e. is a daylily flower show judge).

Training consists of two classes.

In the first class, the various characteristics of daylilies are discussed, as well as a recommendation of 'how many points to deduct' from a total of 100 points allowed in each exhibit.  Live plants are used where possible, but a power point presentation may be used during the non-blooming season.

The second class gives students a 'hands on' session in which attendees 'point score' three cut scapes of registered cultivars and three scapes of seedlings. Their scores are compared to a composite score agreed by three senior judges, who have seen and scored the exhibits before the class begins.

Once a student has taken both classes, he/she becomes a 'junior judge' and is eligible to judge on a panel with senior judges. Judging at least once, along with other responsibilities, is part of the requirements to become a senior judge. Judges should know as many daylily cultivars as possible, should grow daylilies and should also enter daylilies in shows themselves.
 
A GARDEN JUDGE........should more correctly be called an 'awards and honors' judge, because they are the judges responsible for assessing the garden merit of both registered cultivars and seedlings.

Garden judges also take two classes for training and have the responsibility of visiting hybridizers, other gardens, assessing cultivars in each, and voting on a ballot once a year. From these ballots, the national awards and honors list is drawn up, and awards given to both plants and hybridizers at the national convention each year.
 
And both types of judges have fun doing their jobs!  It's a great way to meet other people in your region or in other regions, and a dandy way to add to your wish list (because you see such lovely flowers in shows, and most shows also have a plant sale occurring at the same time).

Question: What is the For Members Only Portal?

Part One – Why do we need the For Members Only Portal?

By Donna Peck, AHS Ombudsman, with comments from Julie Covington and Mary Collier Fisher

Over the past several years, it became clear to several Board members that a different method for the rapid updating of AHS information on the web was needed. The type of platform that supported www.daylilies.org changes were extremely labor intensive for our capable Webmaster. The AHS President asked Technology Chair and Committee to research additional methods. In the course of that research several social networking companies were identified. The concept of AHS having an interactive social networking site that would not only allow materials to be uploaded from PDF documents easily but that would expand greatly the services we could offer our members. This was discussed widely among the Board, Staff and Committee Chairs who felt it would be an enhancement to our Membership Services.

So in May 2010, at the Board of Directors meeting in Valdosta Georgia, the Membership Chair, Joe Goudeau, noted that this research was underway to explore the feasibility of establishing a member’s only section on the web. When Joe brought the proposal up again for a vote at the fall 2010 fall board meeting, the AHS Board of Directors approved funding to authorize the development of the Members Only Portal. The site opened for members in early March, 2011.

The Portal has now been set up for nearly a year, and I am still getting questions about WHY AHS is doing this and HOW it works. This column is devoted to the WHY question. Next time we will have the HOW column.

WHY DO WE NEED A MEMBERS ONLY PORTAL?

Over the last decade, AHS has been seeking incentives for individuals to join AHS and incentives to retain members. Membership numbers had been declining steadily since 2002. The voucher program is working very well, the trial membership we started last year has over 200 members who have already joined, and our fantastic Daylily Journal is a must read for daylily growers. Our Board and our membership chair, Joe Goudeau, kept trying to provide members with more benefits. By the fall 2010 Board meeting in Columbus, Ohio Membership and Technology presented the proposal that AHS work with the YourMembership firm to build a robust social networking site for AHS Members only, to enhance the capabilities AHS has to provide services and information to members. This proposal passed the Board unanimously.

The site could be used to search for AHS member’s name, city and state by other members, for Regional and National Publications, for educational forums, regional and other groups such as Garden Judges, promotion of regional and local activities via community and regional calendars, automatic reminders of many AHS deadlines including membership renewal via email messages. It provides members with a safe environment to post pictures, participate in a forum and connect with other members. It even allows a protected group for our AHS youths to network about daylilies without non-youth members allowed. The benefits are still being explored and developed.

Another benefit many members took advantage of over the holidays was the AHS store which has daylily merchandise. Tee Money has volunteered to design some great daylily merchandise. She is even able to accommodate one-time special orders for clubs and groups. The Members Portal is a source of ‘One-stop Shopping’ for our members. Items can be purchased, memberships can be issued or renewed, donations can be made, interesting programs can be purchased (some are even free) using credit cards, e-checks, and PayPal.

Julie Covington, AHS President, mentions that “beginning with the spring 2012 issue, you will be able to view the Daylily Journal online at the Portal. The pages are viewable in a .pdf ‘Book format,’ and you can also zoom in on pictures and articles on each page. Under the ‘Daylily Journal’ tab will be a complete page of archived items reprinted from past Journals and you can suggest other articles you’d like to see added.

Several other changes have been made to the front page. We are featuring different members on the left rail, and hope to do that more frequently in 2012. Be sure to look under the ‘Contact Us’ tab, where you can find a link to a leader of all AHS sponsored robins and other ‘go to’ people, as well as contact information for the Portal leaders, AHS officers, Staff and Special Chair contacts. Another new tab is called ‘Administrative Files.’ While this contains AHS and Regional files, this page is not intended for Regional and National officers only, as we wish to keep the working of this organization transparent for all of our members. One feature on the page is called ‘Regional Offices at a Glance.’ Anyone who is asked to accept a position as a Regional Officer or Liaison can check these pages and quickly find out what is involved in the job!

The direct link to the Portal is http://www.daylilynetwork.org. Another way is to go to the AHS website (www.daylilies.org) and then, click on the AHS Home page. When that appears, look on the left hand side and click on AHS Members Portal.

Next column Julie Covington along with MaryAnn Pruden, Portal Community Manager, will discuss in more details about HOW to access the Portal including how to find your password (which I’ve had many questions about). Also check out the excellent Portal article in the 2012 Spring Journal written by Sandy Holmes.

If you have any comments about the WHY we have the portal and the information that Julie and Mary have given here, please email me and I’ll include that in the next column… email me at Ombudsman@daylilies.org . I’m hoping to hear from you, either with your positive comments about the Portal or further concerns you’d like to discuss concerning this subject.