2017 Regional Meeting
SEVENTH HEAVEN
May 25 - 27, 2017 -- Austin, Texas
Sincere and many thanks to the attendees and volunteers who made the 2017 AHS Region 6 Annual Meeting a success!! The Austin Daylily Society so enjoyed hosting the meeting, sharing our gardens, and catching up with old friends and making new ones. Here's a wrap up and a few pictures from the weekend.
See you in Brazosport in 2018!
Thursday, May 25 – This afternoon, the Garden Judge’s Workshop was held in the garden of Bruce and Jerre Threatte. Attendees also started shopping at the plant sale and places early bids in the silent auction. The Regional Officer’s meeting was held this evening as well.
Friday, May 26 – Garden tours started bright and early! Buses left the hotel at 8:00am to visit gardens on the north side of Austin, including the gardens of: Gary and Suzanne Adair, Bruce and Jerre Threatte, Skottie O’Mahony and Jeff Breitenstein, and Pat and Tom Ellison (see garden descriptions). A box lunch from Jason's Deli was served at the Skottie and Jeff’s garden, aka Tanglewild Gardens. While enjoying lunch, attendees visited the Edna Lankart Award bed to vote for the best seedling from a Region 6 hybridizer who is not a member of the host club. We had 21 entries this year! Members also voted on one of the 12 seedlings submitted by members of the Austin Daylily Society for the Annie T. Giles Award. Buses returned to the hotel by 3pm, where the plant sale, boutique, raffle and silent auction were in full swing. Dinner was served at the hotel – delicious fajitas from PoK-e-Jo’s – and the Region 6 business meeting was conducted.
Saturday, May 27 – Day 2 of Garden tours! Buses again left the hotel 8:00am to visit gardens in the central and south side of Austin, including the gardens of: Mike Peppers, Velia Sanchez-Ruiz, and Don and Janice Heiskell – plus, a visit to the Zilker Botanical Garden which is home to the Austin Daylily Society’s display bed. Last year, the Austin club lifted and replanted the beds, adding many new cultivars. Sincere thanks to all of the members who worked on these beds, with special thanks to Skottie O’Mahony for the detailed new garden plan and to Don and Janice Heiskell for coordinating the workdays and making our plant tags. Sandwiches from Panera Bread were served for lunch in the Zilker Garden Center. After returning to the hotel, attendees entered final bids for the silent auction and raffle and then got ready for the Region 6 Plant Auction. There was stiff competition for a broad selection of amazing cultivars! Thanks for all of the support –it was a very successful event!! Dinner tonight was PoK-e-Jo’s Texas BBQ, serving up some of the best BBQ in Austin since 1979.
We were thrilled to welcome special guest speaker, Rich Rosen. Rich provided a terrific presentation on the cultivars he felt merited special attention for bloom, bud count, branching and overall beauty – it was wonderful!! Rich served as the President of the Austin Daylily Society 1988-1989, and served as both an Exhibition and Garden Judge. Rich and his wife, Anna Marie's, AHS Display Garden (in Austin) was on the Region 6 Meeting tours in 1992, 2001, and 2010. Rich and Anna Marie now live in Fairmont, Kentucky and we were excited to welcome them back!