Daylily show set for Saturday at Albany Mall

ALBANY — The 33rd annual daylily show Saturday at the Albany Mall, presented by the Albany Hemerocallis Society, will provide a chance for the area’s growers to show off their hard work and educate the public about the 60,000 different daylilies.

The exhibition, which will be located in the area between Belk’s and the JC Penney wing, is open to all daylily growers, with entries expected to be grown, groomed and entered by the exhibitors — but American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) members will be the only ones eligible to win the society’s sponsored awards. All entries will be received and checked between 8 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

“Anybody can bring a daylily … For the card, they will need to know the name of the flower,” said Marion Tyus, the event chair.

Entries brought in later than 10:30 a.m. will be considered for display only and will not be eligible for judging.

Tyus, who acts as a grower strictly for hobby, said coordinators are anticipating to see 200-400 blooms in this year’s show.

“It’s just to get people interested in daylilies,” she said. “It is a very forgiving flower. As long as you give them plenty of sun and water (they will do well).

“They only bloom for one day. You never know what you are going to have. That’s why I have so many of them.”

Judging and awarding will done by AHS standards, and each panel of judges — who will be coming from throughout the region — will be the final authority for each class it judges. Registered cultivars will be classified, as registered, by size, form and grouped alphabetically within each section. The divisions will be Horticulture On Scape, Horticulture Off-Scape and Educational.

First, second and third place will be given out in each class, along with The Purple Ribbon, AHS Rosette, AHS Best-In-Show Rosette, AHS Sweepstakes Rosette, AHS Achievement Medal, Ophelia Taylor Horticulture Award, AHS Award of Appreciation, Georgia Hybridizer Collection Award and a club award.

Tyus said there will be 14 major awards, and 12 “Court of Honor” for the best who do not make it to the major award categories.

“The ‘Best-In-Show’ is what you are striving for,” Tyus said. “That’s the absolute best daylily.”

Entries will be placed in the display area after 10:50 a.m. Judging begins at 11 a.m., at which time only clerks, judges, the general show chair, the judges chair, the classification chair and the club photographer will be allowed in the area. The displays will be open to the public from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., and the flowers will then be removed.

There will be a plant sale, during which flowers will be sold for $5 to help offset the cost of the show, beginning at 9 a.m. Depending on what nature does that morning, there should be a good selection of plants to sell, the chair said.

“We will sell them until we sell out, and we usually sell out by 11 a.m.,” Tyus said.

There will also be educational material available, Tyus said.

The horticulture rules call for exhibits eligible for AHS medals and rosettes to be entered on-scape, and registered cultivars are to be entered on scapes whose overall height does not exceed 30 inches. All seedlings will be severed as near to the base as possible regardless of height, and a seedling having won the society’s rosette in any other show will not be considered eligible.

Entry tags for seedlings are to have the word “seedling” in the space for the cultivar names. Names, numbers or any other identifying marks pre-registered are not permitted on the visible portion of the folded tag. Eligibility for exhibitors in the Youth section will continue through the end of the calendar year after the youngster turns 18.

Admission to the show will be free, and there will be an opportunity to join the AHS.

The daylily club in Albany meets on the third Saturday of the month at Phoebe East at 2410 Sylvester Road. For more information on the Albany club, call (229) 436-3753.