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Seedling, Ridder 03
Blue Ridge Area
Daylily Society
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HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIDGE AREA DAYLILY SOCIETY
1995- January 2004 |
In the summer
of 1995, Dr. and Mrs. Jack
Wente from Bedford, VA, attended the Region 3 AHS
Meeting in Gaithersburg, Md. After the meeting, Dr. Wente spoke
with the then Region 3 RVP, Nicole Jordan, to express his great
interest in joining a local daylily club. At that time, the
nearest daylily club was in Richmond, VA, a three hour drive .
Nicole, with her usual enthusiasm, said, " Why don't you start a
club in your area? I'll help you." Dr. Wente liked the idea and the
seed was sown. True to her word, Nicole contacted all members of
the AHS from Southwest Virginia and invited them to an
organizational meeting.
This organizational meeting for the purpose of starting a
daylily club in the Southwest Virginia area was held on
November 11, 1995,
at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Wente in Bedford, VA. Those present at
this first meeting and charter club members included :
Jack and Jackie Wente, Gary and
Carol Osborne, Barbara Peters, Mert Myers, Steve and Mary Nuss,
Martha Shepherd, Joan Cabaniss, Arthur and Margaret Walrath, Libby
Cross, Betsy Balsdon, and Nell Lancaster.
Nicole Jordan, Region 3 RVP
was also present and facilitated the meeting. The fifteen charter
members introduced themselves and gave information about their
experience with daylilies and home locations. It was decided that
the club should be named the
"Blue Ridge Area Daylily Society" ( with the acronym
BRADS) as members represented a wide geographic range in Southwest
Virginia, from towns of Lexington, Bedford, Huddleston, Roanoke,
Hardy, Blacksburg and surrounding areas. Acting officers were named,
dues were patterned after those in the Richmond club, and the next
meeting date was set. The name
" The Blue Daylily"
was suggested as a name for the club newsletter by Nicole, and Betsy
Balsdon became the first newsletter editor.
This group met again in January of 1996 at
Va.
Western
Community College,
and officers were elected for the fledgling club.
Dr. Jack Wente was
elected the first President of the group, Steve Nuss was named
Vice-President and Program Chair; Nell Lancaster was elected
Secretary, and Carol Osborne was appointed Treasurer . Kyle and
Nancy Jones, Doris Bowman, and Angela (Webb) Ridder attended this
second meeting and became members at that time. By-laws were
presented to the group and voted upon, making BRADS an official AHS
Region 3 Daylily club. During Dr. Wente's tenure as President, a
Plants for Members Program was started, with Nancy Jones being the
first Chairman of this program. Angela Ridder organized and ran the
very first club auction during 1997, donating plants to help get
things started. During the first two years, club meetings were held
at various locations, often at club members homes.
In January 1998, Phyllis
Dierschow became the second President of BRADS, and
during her tenure the club became affiliated with the Roanoke
Council of Garden Clubs and began holding meetings at Fairacres
Garden Center in Roanoke. During Phyllis's tenure, club member
Peggy ( Mrs. Don) Johnson
first suggested the idea of BRADS planting daylilies at the National
D Day Memorial, and Dr. Wente agreed to contact the persons in
charge. The first club daylily show was held on July 18, 1998 at
Fairacres, and Peggy T. Johnson hosted the annual summer picnic and
auction that year. That summer members enjoyed two weeks of garden
tours, the first at Smith Mountain lake where everyone was awed by
the beautiful gardens of Don Johnson, Elnora Stubbs, and Joan
Cabaniss. During the second week of land tours, members visited
more lovely gardens and were treated to a progressive luncheon at
the gardens of Doris Bowman, Jim Smith and John Euchler, and David
Cooke.
Kyle Jones
took over as President in January of 1999, and the club continued to
grow and thrive. Under Kyle's leadership, the club applied for and
was awarded "non-profit" status. In January of 1999, we were honored
to have our Region 3 Vice President,
Kevin Walek, visit
and present a program on daylilies and hosta. He was accompanied by
former Region 3 RVP Pat
Bennett. During that year, we had a special spring
meeting at the home of Don and Peggy Johnson, where Don presented a
program entitled " Water Gardens and Landscaping with Daylilies."
We were very sorry to lose our newsletter editor, Betsy Balsdon, who
planned to move to Florida in the spring of 1999. During 2000, club
member Brad Hughes presented an outstanding program on water
features in gardens, and we enjoyed a trip to the beautiful mountain
cabin of Willard and Jeanette Hamill. Successful garden tours were
planned during 1999 and 2000 under the leadership of Elnora Stubbs.
Some of the gardens visited during 1999 and 2000 were those of Gary
and Carol Osborne, Peggy T. Johnson, Barbara Sanderson, Dr. Jack
Wente and Julie Covington. As the club grew, the Plants for Members
program grew also and plants were distributed to over twenty
members. BRADS members undertook their first "bus trip" during this
time, to visit the famous Iron Gate Gardens in North Carolina.
2001 began with new President
Elnora Stubbs
calling the meeting to order on January 13, 2001. Little did she
know then that she would be serving as President for an
unprecedented three years !! During March of 2001, club members
participated in a Community Service Project and planted daylilies at
a special bed in front of the Ronald McDonald House in Roanoke. The
club continued to support the Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs by
participating in the annual Holiday House each fall. We also
donated poinsettias to the Veteran's Administration hospital each
Christmas as part of the Roanoke Council community service
project. We had summer daylily shows at Tanglewood Mall, ably
chaired by Jim Smith, and public daylily auctions at Fairacres each
spring, with our "auctioneer extraordinaire," John Euchler. Much of
our club's budget success in these auctions can be attributed to
our talented auctioneer, John, who could sell igloos to Eskimos.
Each of these events brought the club new members and publicized our
favorite flower. Summer picnics and "Plants for Members" auctions
became favorite club traditions with great member attendance each
year.
Many special programs were held during Elnora's tenure. By
January of 2002, the club was ready to move to the "big time" with a
visit and program from top daylily hybridizer
Matthew Kaskel from
Homestead, Florida and then in January 2003,
Margo Reed, the
"spider lady" presented another outstanding program with the largest
club attendance ever ! In October of 2003, a special program was
presented by our new Regional Vice President,
Len Lehman, who
spoke to us about hosting a Regional meeting We also enjoyed our
second bus trip to Iron Gate Gardens in the summer of 2002, made
even more memorable because the bus air conditioner broke on a 95
degree day !! BRADS members continued to expand their horizons, with
a number of attendees at Regional meetings in Richmond in 2001 and
Baltimore in 2002. Club membership continued to grow, and the
Plants for Members program reached new levels of excellence under
the direction of Chairman Carolyn Alley, assisted by Jim Smith and
Nancy Jones.
We were all deeply saddened in January 2002 to lose one of our
founders and dear daylily friends, Dr. Jack Wente. As a special
memorial to Dr. Wente, the club decided to approach Region 3 with
the idea of establishing an award in his honor. Finally in the
summer of 2003 at the Pittsburgh regional, we know Dr. Wente would
have been pleased to see John Euchler present the first ever
Dr. John Wente Region 3 Hybridizer's
Award sponsored by the Blue Ridge Area Daylily Club
. This first award was presented to
John Yonski from
Pittsburgh, for his cultivar SOPHIA'S LOVE, and to
Steve and Sarah Zolock
for growing the winning clump in their garden. This award will be
presented annually at Region 3 meetings, and is the beginning of a
great tradition for our region, as well as for BRADS.
During Elnora's tenure, the club was finally able to bring to
fruition another public service project that had long been a goal of
Dr. Wente's. Under the capable leadership of Don Johnson, BRADS,
thanks to generous donations by club members and hybridizers from
all over the United States, was able to plant over $10,000 worth of
daylilies at the National
D-Day Memorial in
Bedford, VA.
Jackie Wente was in charge of publicity for this event, which was
covered in three local papers and on television. Carolyn Alley was
instrumental in soliciting donations of plants from hybridizers, and
John Euchler wrote an outstanding article about this event which was
published in the Region 3 Fanfare and the AHS Journal.
During the summer of 2003, nine BRADS members attended their
first AHS National Convention in Charlotte, N. C. After the
experience of attending several regional meetings and a National
convention, club members voted to host their first ever Region 3
meeting during 2005.
As we look to the future, we have many goals and projects
still in the works. BRADS are looking forward to hosting our first
Region 3 Meeting in the summer of 2005. We anticipate an
outstanding program in January of 2004 when
Pat and Grace Stamile
will visit, and hope to maintain high standards for future programs
in upcoming years. We plan to continue many of the wonderful
traditions begun in the first eight years of BRADS. As we look to
the future ,all is well with daylilies in Southwest Virginia!
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