2023 Regional Meeting

The Austin Daylily Society is absolutely thrilled to invite you back to beautiful Austin, Texas for “Homecoming 2023” – the American Daylily Society’s Region 6 annual meeting. The event is being held on Friday, May 26th and Saturday, May 27th at the Williamson Conference Center in the Wingate Inn and Suites, located in Round Rock (just north of Austin).

In the “after times”, we’ve changed things up a bit for 2023 and have two exciting days planned for our Region’s members. We’ll start with a BANG! and end with a PARTY! We can’t wait for you to join us!

Friday, May 26, 2023

Registration will open at 12pm with the Regional Officers’ meeting being held at the host hotel’s board room from 12pm to 1:30pm. This afternoon, we are pleased to offer the Exhibition Judge refresher course as well as Exhibition Judge Clinic I in the host hotel’s meeting rooms. The Garden Judge Clinic I will also be offered in a meeting room at the host hotel, with Garden Judge Clinic II at Tanglewild Gardens - the garden of Skottie O’Mahony and Jeff Breitenstein. Note: Clinics start at 12pm for Garden Judges and 1pm for Exhibition Judges, so please plan accordingly.

Attendees may also start shopping at the boutique, place early bids in the silent auction, and drop tickets for one (or more!) of the baskets in the raffle. This meeting room will also have our hospitality service and is open from 12pm to 10pm on Friday.

As in years past, we kindly ask the Region’s clubs to donate baskets for a raffle to help offset the expense of hosting the Regional meeting. In lieu of a basket, clubs may also donate directly to the event. Thank you for your support!

BANG!

Here we go! The fun begins at 4pm with the Region 6 Daylily Auction. We are so fired up and so grateful to Tim Closs and Malcolm Avaritt who will reprise their roles as auctioneers extraordinaire. Get ready for an amazingly fun auction of top-notch daylilies! Pro tips: don’t sit up front and get punked into higher bids (sorry Larry, Tim is sneaky…) and don’t ever bid against Eddie Ray - haha! (kidding) We’ll have Square credit card readers on hand to settle up afterwards, so don’t worry about bringing cash - and as Malcolm says, “it’s only $5 more...” Proceeds from the Regional Auction help to fund the publication or our award-winning newsletter, Daylilies of the Southwest so please BID and bid often. We can’t thank you enough for your support!

We’ll take a 30min breather after the auction to get ready for the Regional Banquet in the ballroom of the host hotel’s convention building. This year (new!) guests may choose to purchase beer, wine, or cocktails from the hotel’s lobby bar and bring them to the ballroom during our dinner - so, this would be a great time to pick up your beverage or choice.

Also during the banquet, a brief Regional Business meeting will follow the keynote. There will be some additional time left to visit the boutique and raffles before we call it a night and rest up for another fun-filled day.

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Guests of the host hotel may enjoy a complimentary breakfast starting at 6am. 

Garden tours start bright and early! We’ll leave the hotel at 7:30am and tour four gardens at the homes of Austin Daylily Society members, including: Janice & Don Heiskell, Pat & Tom Ellison, Skottie O’Mahony & Jeff Breitenstein, and Ellen Singleton. 

Lunch will be served at Skottie and Jeff’s garden, aka Tanglewild Gardens. While enjoying lunch, please be sure to visit 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). You may also vote on seedlings submitted by members of the Austin Daylily Society for the Annie T. Giles Award. Please see the Awards Chair report elsewhere in this edition for details on how to send seedlings for each Awards bed.

Buses will return to the hotel around 2pm. You’ll also have time to rest and relax, grab a drink and catch up with friends, or visit the boutique, raffle, and silent auction. At 4pm the silent auction will close and it’s time to party!

PARTY!

We have a special evening planned tonight - one more garden tour and a closing party! We’ll leave the host hotel at 4:30pm to travel to lovely Bastrop and the home, pond, and gardens of Mike Peppers. There is no set program for tonight’s dinner - so everyone can enjoy a relaxed evening with a delicious meal and the terrific company of great friends. We’ll also announce the winners of the silent auction items and collect payments while at Mike’s home. We’ll return to the hotel around 9pm and can process any remaining payments for auction wins. 

The 2023 Regional meeting concludes tonight, but your stay in Austin doesn’t have to end. The hotel is allowing the special room rate (details below) to be used for the whole weekend. Your meeting packet will include information and ideas for fun things to do on Sunday, such as visiting the Zilker Botanical Gardens, Laguna Gloria, the Capitol complex, and our many wonderful area garden centers and nurseries.

Special thanks to everyone on the Austin Regional planning committee (you’re all rockstars), the members who will open their gardens for tours, Tim and Malcolm for MC’ing our auction, and to new Region 6 President Bonnie Nichols for her support of this event, especially for the auction! We could not have staged this event without all of your help. Thank you, sincerely!

A few logistical notes:

• Registration fees: Early-bird EXTENDED: $160 (before March 1, 2023); Regular fee: $185

  • Please fill out and mail the registration form found elsewhere in this edition

• Host hotel: Wingate by Wyndham Round Rock Hotel & Conference Center

  • 1209 North IH 35 North, Round Rock, TX 78664 - (512) 341-7000

• Special room rate: $119 per night (plus taxes). We’re very pleased to offer a negotiated rate that’s only $20 more than what we secured in 2017. This is a great rate for the Austin area, especially over a holiday weekend!

  • Rates are offered for a non-smoking King room or a non-smoking Double room with two beds. ADA-accessible rooms are also available. Also, these rates include free hot breakfast, as well as free WiFi

  • Online reservations can be made by visiting the hotel’s website (https://t.ly/hzR8) and using group code CGADLS to receive this special rate. Reservations may also be made by calling the hotel directly at (512) 341-7000 and requesting the group rate via the same code

  • Reservations must be before May 10, 2023

registration form

The registration form can be downloaded here. Please complete it and mail (with payment) to: Beth Collier at 2302 Fuente Cove, Austin, TX  78745 / bethcollier1983@yahoo.com