Greetings from the RP
By Barbara Kirby

REGION 5 NEWS
4 December 09

Greetings Everyone,

Hope you have put your garden to bed for the winter and are busy enjoying the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Our next issue of The Georgia Daylily will be published in March of 2010. As stated at the Fall Regional, I’m sending out this letter to update you with interim Region 5 news and to give you the details of our Winter Regional on 16 Jan 2010. To some this info may be redundant since I periodically send out emails to my “Region 5 List” of regional staff, club presidents, reporters, and members. If you would like to be part of this group, please send me your email address. It’s just one more way to ensure that you know what I know.

Region 5 Deaths: Recently we have lost two fine ladies from South Georgia. Mary Frances Donalson, past editor and charter member of the Southwest GA Club lost her battle with cancer and Melba Fain died in a nursing home in Edison GA. Otis Shaw, longtime member and supporter of the Valdosta Club, died in October.

National Update: You know, May 2010 is just around the corner and we are still looking for help with the National. Please consider helping with the boutique, being a bus captain, registration (stuffing goody bags—providing goodies), plant sales, auction, motel greeters, working in the tour gardens, etc…Committee contacts are on our website: www.ahsregion5.org or just email us. Clubs can participate by building/providing a raffle basket for the boutique. The theme should be related to your club area/locale with a value of $125 minimum. The club whose basket receives the most raffle tickets will be given $500 in daylilies to use as you wish. If you would like to be an open garden for those travelling to/from Valdosta, please let us know the times your garden is available. Contact Ron or Pat Bonner (229) 436-3753 to add your garden to the list. This list will be included in the info packet sent to attendees. Since we really kept the registration cost down, we have had several fund raising activities to supplement our funds. The Bells and Bonners have provided plants for the bargain tables at the Fall Regional and for the upcoming Winter Regional. These are fantastic bargains with the proceeds going to defray National expenses. We quickly ran out of more than 200 plants in September but we’re going to have lots more in January. There were also very successful plant sales at the Calico Craft Festival and Valdosta/Albany clubs. Monetary donations to the Valdosta Club are also welcome. Several clubs have already made donations with the most recent being the North GA Club ($1000) and Middle GA Club donated ($2500). Remember that even though Valdosta is hosting, this is definitely a Region 5 event…

If you haven’t registered yet, there were 3 incentives for early registrants. One has passed but there are still two more based on when you register. Those registering by 31 Dec 09 and 28 Feb 2010 will be eligible for drawings for $500 in daylilies. Go ahead and register before 31 Dec and you’ll be put in both drawings. Registration forms are in the AHS Journal, on the AHS website as well as the Region 5 website.

Region 5 Winter Regional: The Winter Regional will be held at Macon State College on Sat, 16 Jan 2010. We are planning on using the same building; however, this could change depending on the number of registrations. It is imperative that you register by 9 Jan (this will allow me time to contact you if the location changes). Knowing the number of attendees early will also let us know how many bargain plants to bring. To make this more fun, those registering by 9 Jan will be eligible for a drawing of a $100 daylily. Now, the meeting itself will be fun as we’ll have John Kinnebrew, Sr and Jr here and they’ll present their 2010 intro’s along with the rest of their hybridizing program. The Kinnebrews are part of our extended family and this will be the first program since their beloved Margie passed away. They will also be bringing auction plants. Tim and Ron will give us the latest on the National and we’ll have additional auction plants too. Region 5 will be receiving the proceeds from the auction. Please check your garden for donations and remember, January is usually our “white elephant”- anything goes auction…. Don’t forget to arrive in time to participate in the fabulous bargains available on the sale table in support of the National account. Plant values of $5-$29 will be $5 each; $30 to $49 will be $10; and $50 + values will be $15.

The Georgia Daylily: Our next Georgia Daylily will include all the Regional and National awards/honors received by our hybridizers for 2009. This year’s Georgia Hybridizer of the Year Award was presented to Nancy Eller for Hemerocallis Amanda’s Little Red Shoes. So, Attention All Georgia Hybridizers!! You are invited to nominate one or as many of your daylilies as you like for the Georgia Hybridizers Award for the year 2010. The rules for eligibility are: 1) The cultivar must be registered by a Georgia Hybridizer; 2) The cultivar must have been registered in the last ten (10) years; and 3) The cultivar must not have won the award in previous years. Procedure: Please send your nomination/nominations on a separate sheet of paper to: Barbara Kirby, 102 Haag Drive, Warner Robins, GA 31093 by January 31, 2010 or you may e-mail me at bkirby2@earthlink.net . The name of the cultivar and the hybridizer must be listed as it is officially registered using the AHS registration guidelines. It is the hybridizer’s responsibility to make sure the eligibility rules of the cultivar/cultivars nominated are accurate. The submitted nominations from all hybridizers will be combined into one ballot listing all cultivars nominated while also allowing for a space for a write-in nomination. This ballot will be published in the spring issue of The Georgia Daylily. This way all Region 5 members would know which cultivars are contending as they visit gardens and observe nominees during the peak bloom season. As in the past, the ballots must be received by August 1 and signed by the member voting. The Region 5 Hybridizers Award would then be presented by the RP at the fall meeting as it has been done in the past.

Other Deadlines: There are other deadlines before the next newsletter issue. Remember to pay your AHS dues before 31 Dec 09. This is not only a requirement for judges, but will ensure continued receipt of your AHS Journals and The Georgia Daylily. Speaking of judges, the latest lists of both Garden and Exhibition Judges are on the AHS website. These lists will be updated after the first of the year---based on dues paid.
I know a lot of you attend the Mid-Winter Symposium (MWS), now in Nashville. The dates are 22-24 Jan 2010. The website with all the info is: http://www.ahsregion10.com/2010MWS .

Fall Fling: We’ll have more info on our Region 5 Fall Fling in Atlanta soon, but for now, please mark your calendars for the weekend of 15-16 Oct 2010. You don’t want to miss it…

Christmas Greetings: In closing, Morris and I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year full of good health, good blooms and prosperity.

Barbara Kirby
Region 5 Regional President