Blue Ridge Area Daylily Society INC           February 2022

 President’s Message:  GROW BRADS

     President’s Message:    LET’S GROW BRADS

          Better Get Ready!!!   BRADS 2022 is ready to rock ‘n roll!  Time to get ready for  a new season– garden tours, exciting new daylilies, new programs, new speakers.

Your officers have already been really hard at work this winter.   And now your president is asking you to help “GROW BRADS.”  This means sharing your passion for daylilies with everyone, letting them know what a great club we have, talking up our exciting, new & improved “Plants for Members” (FREE daylilies), our incredible auction deals, our potlucks, parties (and our great people)!

Please answer one question:  Why do you love daylilies?  Then… “share the love!”  Tell everyone!

   Kyle will be promoting BRADS and looking for potential new members when he offers a special daylily powerpoint presentation to the Franklin County Master Gardeners in June.  We also plan to reach out to the master gardeners in Roanoke and Bedford Counties.  All of us need to invite folks to: our meetings, our speakers, our spectacular shows, our auctions and sales.  We love visitors!!!

Volunteers & Visitor

And we also love (and need) volunteers.  We all are, you know.  So be a part of the action, the fun.  Don’t miss out!  We do need more help to chair committees–designing a new member brochure; organizing our annual plant sale; editing this newsletter; RCGC plant sales; technology assistance (e.g. Zoom); garden cleanup;  community outreach projects; plus your own creative ideas.  Step right up!

Let’s all help “GROW BRADS” with the same nourishing passion we have for our wonderful daylilies!

Kent Walton President

Plants for Members Program

JoAnne and Nancy are busy picking and choosing plants for our Plants for Members Program. 

Here are a few “teasers” of what’s coming in May! 

Once all plants have been ordered they will be placed

on BRADS Plants for Members website https://brads.plantfans.com

An email will be sent to all members when the plants are listed.  

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Our Plants for members program is the most popular part of being a BRADS member. Each year the 2nd Vice President orders daylilies from different hybridizers. These plants are distributed during one of our spring meetings to members in good standing ( Been a member for one year, attended one business meeting and one event, paid dues by January 31. We draw numbers to see who gets to go first. The officers draw separate for the first round allowing them to choose first, after the first round they follow in order of the whole draw. These plants will have markers so that members don’t lose them. They are taken home and grown for 2 years. Grower brings back the increases to be auctioned to the members in the fall. If your plants increase by 5 or less fans you keep one, if it increases by 6 or more fans you keep 2 fans. 

                                                   

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Upcoming Events 

February 12, 2022, Saturday 0830, Breakfast Meeting, Roanoker Resturant. We will be voting on By Law changes. You order from menu, each person responsible for their own bill. 

March 5, Saturday, 1000 AM Display garden clean up at Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs. 

March 12, Saturday, Speakers Tom and Elaine Smoulder, Warren PA. Potluck Meal. (time not yet determined) at Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs.

Voting on bylaw changes!

We will be voting on bylaw changes at the February 12, Breakfast Meeting at the Roanoker Resturant. BRADS has presented these changes in a previous meeting and they have been emailed to you. Very important we get a quorum.  Please review changes and perhaps bring a copy then please show up. If sausage gravy, biscuits, and country ham can’t get you there then what can? 

Making your daylily fan count increase.

Preaching to the choir here, I am sure each of you knows more about growing daylilies than I do. I also try to be a beekeeper and I have heard it said that you can put 5 beekeepers in a room and they will come up with 25 different ways to keep bees. I am sure daylily growers are in the same ballpark. 

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We will soon be having our Plants for Members distribution meeting, sort of our Christmas Day for daylily growers. So I thought an article on growing daylilies would be appropriate. With the goal increasing the fan production. I do not claim to be an expert. I will claim that I am married to one. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that water is number one in getting anything to grow well. People voice concern about over watering but most years in Southwest Virginia that is not an issue. We visited “Daylily World” when Kirchhoff and Morss were still in Florida. We arrived just before dusk and they had just turned off their  watering system and the place looked totally saturated. Visiting other hybridizers in the Mecca showed the same importance of delivering water to your daylilies. Years of experience demonstrates better growth and more blooms when water is adequate.  Dan Trimmer of Water Mill Gardens also stresses the importance of water.

Feed them babies. I did an article years ago for the Blue Daylily about fertilizing. I spoke with everyone in the club about how they fertilize. Many use 10-10-10, which is good. Milorganite is a favorite also and has a reputation for keeping deer away. Compost is always one of my favorite. Any organic matter you can add to your soil is beneficial. One of my yearly routines is to go into Roanoke in the fall and bring home pickup truck loads of bagged leaves which get stored in the barn to be shredded later for spreading around daylilies. This helps keep down the weeds, hold in moisture, keeps the ground cooler, and as they decay they add organic matter to the soil. They also attract earthworms who deliver earthworm poop. One thing I am going to try this year is alfalfa pellets mixed into the soil. I have read online from daylily growers that alfalfa pellets do great things. 

Give them sun and space. I heard one of our members used the rule of planting daylilies at least 3 feet apart. I am sure this could be debated. Any plant likes to have room to grow and does not appreciate be crowded.  You do want to be careful planting them around large trees. One member swore that you should never grow daylilies near a poplar tree because it robs them of moisture and sunlight. 

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Nancy and I made special beds for our plants for members daylilies. So they have their own little area with no competition. Having visited other member’s gardens I know that many members have also dedicated special areas for their adopted daylily orphans. 

The attached photo is our bed made with 2×10”s 16 feet long and 4 feet wide. I keep saying I am going to add onto it. We add compost to the bed each year and mulch with shredded leaves. Trying to get those fans to increase in numbers. 

Kyle Jones Editor

 

 

Above and below is “Lexicon” one of BRADS PFM daylilies coming back for auction this fall. It isn’t known to double but as you can see it does. 

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No recipes this issue but just an FYI, the next time you cook a roast in the crock pot add a half cup of root beer. Real root beer not sugar free. You will be surprised at the flavor.