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Hello!
WELCOME TO DAYLILY E-NEWS, a free electronic newsletter brought to you by the American Hemerocallis Society, also known as AHS. Daylily E-News is for all who share an interest in daylilies, including members of the American Hemerocallis Society and other horticultural organizations, educators, garden writers, news media, and anyone who loves to garden.
This is our 6th year of publishing the Daylily E-News! Kathleen Lamb began the newsletter in 2008, and I took over the reins in 2010. We are so pleased the number of subscribers has grown by leaps and bounds. Please help us share the good daylily news by telling a friend about the Daylily E-News!
In a time of year when most of us are not enjoying our daylilies in bloom, what better way to pass the time than to look at beautiful photos of daylilies and read about them?
This issue we feature the photos of Charles Harper from Bowling Green, Ohio. A member of the Black Swamp Daylily and Hosta Society, Charles and his wife Carol have over 700 cultivars of daylilies and 500 hosta.
Tim Herrington, the well-loved hybridizer and personality from Dublin, Georgia, shares a humorous look at life with his take on "Personal Safety in the Garden." As a bonus, we have an article about the benefits of getting dirty in the garden!
Be sure to click on the Facebook "like" button and share this issue with your friends!
If you are not yet a Daylily E-News subscriber, sign up via the link at the AHS website: Daylily E-News .
For much more about daylilies and daylily events, visit the AHS website (see QUICK LINKS on the sidebar).
You may unsubscribe from Daylily E-News at any time by clicking on SafeUnsubscribe, which you will find in each issue.
We hope you enjoy Daylily E-News!
Elizabeth Trotter
E-News Editor
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Thank you to AAA Quality Engravers for sponsoring this issue of Daylily E-News!
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 Greetings from the AHS President
I have an announcement from the AHS Board that may be of particular interest to AHS International members, effective January 1, 2013.
International members (those outside of the United States
and Canada) have a new option concerning the annual postal surcharge they have been paying along with their dues. This $10 surcharge is added for any International members who wish to receive a hard copy of The Daylily Journal.
HOWEVER, there are some members in some countries where we have learned it can be difficult for them to receive the Journal. Perhaps it takes an extremely long time, or perhaps your Journal arrives damaged or not at all. We know that a few people in some countries have had problems receiving their Journals.
Starting now, those who renew their International Membership may opt to pay the $10 postal surcharge or NOT. If you choose not to pay the surcharge, then you will not get a hard copy of the Journal. However, you may download and access The Daylily Journal from the AHS Membership Portal. International members, you will not lose any of your privileges of AHS membership if you choose NOT to pay the postal surcharge. You will still be able to vote in the International Popularity Poll, you will still be able to nominate an International member for the International Service Award, or if you desire, you could apply to have your garden named as an International Display Garden or any of the other benefits of your AHS membership as listed on the International Page of the Portal. This information is already available on the Portal and AHS website.
Please feel free to contact me or any members of the AHS membership team if you have questions about this new option for International members: Julie (president@daylilies.org); International Membership Chair Maureen Strong (international@daylilies.org); Executive Secretary Pat Mercer (secretary@daylilies.org); or Membership Chair Bill Maryott (membership@daylilies.org).
With warmest regards,
Julie Covington, President
American Hemerocallis Society
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AHS Youth News
Youth Award & Scholarship
The application period for the Christine Erin Stamile Youth Award and the Bertie Ferris Scholarship is January 1 to March 31.
Revised guidelines for the Bertie Ferris scholarship include: 1) A $1,000.00 scholarship is to be offered annually unless there was no winner the previous year; in that case, two $1,000.00 scholarships will be offered. 2) The qualification of a high school student enrolled in a dual credit program was added. The application form has been simplified.
Portal Youth Group Contest Winners
The "Oz" contest concluded November 30, 2012. The winners of daylilies from the Herrington "Oz" series were as follows: First prize, Kyle Kunze of Region 7; second and third prizes, Amanda Hotaling of Region 3 and Edvinas Misiukevicius, International.
The Surprise Present drawing was held on December 26, 2012. The winner, Jessica Burns of Region 1, received a 2013 daylily wall calendar.
Needed: Your Mailing Address
In order to receive The Daylily Journal and the Youth News, members must have a current mailing address listed in their profile on the Portal. If you do not want the address visible to others, you may choose this option, but do not remove the address from your profile.
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 Personal Safety in the Garden by Tim Herrington
You probably remember the television commercial catchphrase, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" Research indicates that falls are the most common accident in the garden. However, anything can happen at any time in our daylily garden. My personal safety record is largely due to the misunderstanding I have had with Mother Nature over the years. I think I have a daylily garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error. It was about 20 years ago that I finally learned "momentum always wins" when I was carrying a large load of garden trash downhill in both arms and I toppled into a ditch headfirst. My mother was my weekend guest then and wisely told me, "Tim, you are definitely not the role model for the next generation gardener." She was correct, because a month later I broke my wrist and hand in seven places as I was attempting to remove a log from my water pump in the creek, which watered my daylilies, because I was too cheap to pay the county water fee. The older I got, the more I found out how smart my mother really was. She didn't tell me to behave when I was a child just because I was an embarrassing kid, but because behaving well can help you stay socially accepted, employed, and most importantly, safe.
My love affair with daylilies can be directly paralleled with most of my physical maladies. For example, when I saw a beautiful daylily garden in Atlanta in the early 80's with railroad cross ties as a border hedge, I went and got a pickup truck load on the next Monday. By Friday I was in the office of my neighborhood chiropractic doctor with whom I have now become a lifelong acquaintance. In the 90's parts of my body had been repaired several times because I thought I had the strength and wisdom of Hercules. A few years later I wanted to enter the Region 5 photography contest, so to get a better view of Hemerocallis 'Magic of Oz', I grabbed a metal folding chair to stand on. You guessed it. The chair collapsed and so did part of my kneecap. Time and age have now taught me that daylilies with dirt on them are much heavier than they look, especially a big clump. After seeing the Joiners' new garden in Pembroke, Georgia, I thought I might redo a lot of my daylilies and put them in pots like they have. The first 25 were almost manageable, but once I was able to stand erect again I decided I'd wait until next year to redo the rest of my daylilies. When I do, I will bend with my knees, not my back.
When I became a newly-retired baby boomer, I still felt like a motorized version of a salmon swimming upstream as I entered the garden each day. All I wanted to do was work in the daylilies even with my physical limitations. I was a proud member of the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), but it was by accident that I became a member of the National Society for the Prevention of Stupidity (NSPS) when I installed an electric fence with a 12 volt charger to keep the deer away. You see, I had concluded that deer were going over the fence, so I adjusted the voltage to 110 volt house current. Unintentionally, I touched it while weeding. I had to get several dental fillings replaced and was treated for electrical burns on my palms. My right arm still seems shorter than my left, and I walk with a limp now.
Most daylily folks, regardless of age, that fall do so because they lose their balance. As I got older, I learned stretching and endurance exercises can improve your balancing skills, which I quickly became familiar with after losing my equilibrium in the seedling patch of all places. It is true that a garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever. Avoiding accidents and injuries should be our #1 priority as we work with our daylilies. If any of you fine folks tend to think that the body has exactly the same power as the mind, then you also will become a member of the NSPS by accident like I did. So whenever you're in your daylily garden and you experience that perfect bubble of satisfaction, remember personal safety is as simple as ABC ... Always Be Careful.
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Tim Herrington is a well-known Region 5 (Georgia) hybridizer, as well as a popular speaker and author of humorous short stories and poetry for the Region 5 newsletter.
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Is Getting Dirty Good for You?
by Susan Shaw, Camden, Maine, Region 4
Great news for gardeners! Mycobacterium vaccae, an inoffensive microbe found in garden soil, has been shown to offer real benefits for our health!
"Hygiene Hypothesis" - Research has suggested that the large increase in auto-immune illnesses and allergies over the last century is, at least in part, from being too clean. Our immune systems have evolved to fend off invading marauders: pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi. It turns out that we need regular exposure to harmless microorganisms like Mycobacterium vaccae, a soil bacterium, to stimulate our immune systems. This is especially true for children. We then have more ability to ignore the benign molecules that otherwise can appear to wreak havoc as allergens. Compared to children who grow up where parents carefully create "clean" environments, kids who grow up in "dirty" environments like farms have fewer infections and allergies, and less asthma and eczema later in life. Evidence shows that a form of the extract of the bacterium eases skin allergies.
Stephen Smith transplanting daylily seedlings photo by Hebron Smith
Perhaps the most surprising find was discovered unexpectedly when very ill patients were exposed to the microbe to stimulate their immune systems. They then reported a higher quality of life, less pain, and a happier mood. Dr. Christopher Lowry and his research team were intrigued about this mood enhancement and developed a study to investigate this apparent effect. They found that mice exposed to the bacterium had more serotonin in their brain in several areas than the control group. The bacteria activate a set of serotonin-releasing neurons.
"[The bacteria] had the exact same effect as antidepressant drugs," said Dr. Lowry. "These studies leave us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt."
Perhaps we have known this all along! After all, we spend the whole summer working in our daylily gardens. We work hard, planting, digging, and dividing. We fend off black flies, mosquitoes and ticks. The flowers are beautiful, and we know it is worth it. But perhaps part of why we feel so happy is the Mycobacterium vaccae!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/cea/2006/00000036/00000009/art00002
"Identification of an Immune-Responsive Mesolimbocortical Serotonergic System: Potential Role in Regulation of Emotional Behavior," by Christopher Lowry et al., Neuroscience.
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| The American Hemerocallis Society, Inc., is a non-profit corporation organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, and especially to promote, encourage, and foster the development and improvement of the genus Hemerocallis and public interest therein. |
| AHS Daylily E-News Committee: Elizabeth Trotter (KY), Editor, E-News; Sue Bergeron (ON, Canada); Ken Cobb (NC); Julie Covington (VA); David Kirchhoff (KY); Nikki Schmith (IL); John Ware (VA). |
| Daylily E-News © 2013 by the American Hemerocallis Society, Inc. |
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Hemerocallis 'Smilin' Cindy' (Owen-P., 2010). Click photo for larger image.
| | Locate an AHS group near you! | |
The American Hemerocallis Society is all about daylilies and people.
AHS is organized into 15 Regions including USA, Canada, and International designations. Each offers a variety of regional and local club daylily activities.
When people join AHS, they also become a member of the AHS Region in which they live. AHS Regions do not charge additional dues. Most AHS regions publish their own newsletter and mail it to all regional members at no extra charge. Members often participate in events outside their own region.
To learn about daylily activities and events near you, visit the webpage:
AHS Regional Activities
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What is the AHS Membership Portal?
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The AHS Membership Portal is a free membership benefit available to all AHS members. It is an online community where you can connect with other AHS members around the world, go to ask questions,
and learn about all aspects of growing daylilies, hybridizing, daylily shows, judging daylilies and so much more.
The Portal provides every AHS member with the opportunity to create an online profile complete with a photo album for uploading photos of your garden and flowers or whatever else you'd like to share with fellow members.
Community Features:
* Calendar - Keep up to date on AHS happenings and deadlines
* Membership - Pay your dues securely online
* Daylily Journal - Peruse the most recent Daylily Journals online, and discover advanced scientific information through the expanded Science Section or explore historical reprints
* Forums - Ask questions, share knowledge and meet other AHS members in the forums
* Groups -
Community Photo Album - Share and view photos from AHS daylily events
Exhibitions and Garden Judges - An area for judges to learn more and keep up to date on materials
Regions - Every AHS Region (including International) has a group page complete with calendar, information pages, photo albums and relevant materials
* Judges - All information relative to judging daylilies can be found here
* AHS Store - Purchase fun daylily merchandise and AHS publications, order titles from the Media Library, support the Portal with an advertising sponsorship, make a donation or purchase a gift membership
* Administrative Files - Look here for information on policy and procedures, AHS or Regional bylaws, or the Regional Officers' Handbook
There is something for everyone on the AHS Membership Portal.
Discover it today!
Visit:
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 Hemerocallis
(Gossard, 2004). Click photo for larger image. | |
Why Join AHS?
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Learn about daylilies.
Receive the quarterly publication, The Daylily Journal.
Receive a regional newsletter 2-3 times per year.
Enjoy a members-only social networking site with forums, blogs, calendars, and more.
Meet daylily growers and hybridizers.
Vote for favorite daylilies in the Popularity Poll.
Participate in daylily exhibitions.
Become an AHS Exhibition Judge.
Become an AHS Garden Judge.
Have an AHS Daylily Display Garden and/or AHS Historic Daylily Display Garden.
Attend daylily symposiums, garden tours, meetings, conventions, and more.
Participate in on-line discussion groups.
Join special interest snail-mail groups.
Become a better gardener.
Form friendships for life!
AHS members belong to one of 15 U.S./Canadian regions. Those outside the U.S. and Canada may join as International members. Over 180 local clubs form the backbone of every region, and you may find that one of them is near you. If not, meet with local gardeners and form a daylily club of your own!
It's easy to become a member. Just use this link: Join AHS
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Hemerocallis 'Free
Wheelin' '(Stamile, 2004). Click photo for
larger image.
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What is a Daylily?
| A daylily is an herbaceous perennial that will return year after year in a suitable climate. Some are evergreen and will retain their green foliage throughout the year in a mild climate.
Daylilies may be hardy or tender, depending on genetics, so gardeners should choose cultivars based on their local growing conditions
Daylilies belong to the genus Hemerocallis, from the Greek meaning "beauty for a day." A typical daylily bloom lasts for one day, but an established clump will produce many flowering scapes with plentiful buds that will produce a fresh flush of blooms over many days.
Daylilies do not form bulbs (as do members of the genus Lilium, otherwise known as "true" lilies).
Due to the distinctive characteristics of Hemerocallis, taxonomists have removed daylilies from the family Liliaceae and placed them in their own family Hemerocallidaceae.
Daylilies form a crown, with fibrous roots below and foliage and flowering scapes above. The daylily crown is the essential growth center of the plant. Neither true daylily root structures nor daylily foliage will grow without a piece of the crown.
Some daylilies form rhizomes -- special underground structures with scales and internodes -- that can produce new plants. The species or "wild" types often have this trait. Many modern hybrids do not form rhizomes, although there are some that do.
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