Southern Maine Daylily and Hosta Society

21 Members of SMDHS gathered at Southern Maine Community College on Saturday, October 2, 2021for our annual meeting.

This was the first meeting of the society since our 2019 Holiday party.  It was good to see everyone again after so long.  The meeting started with lunch and social time.

Lee Harvie, President, called the meeting to order at 12:30.

We started with the treasurer’s report.  As of September 29, the club has $4,857.75 in checking and $205.00 in cash for a total of $5,062.75.  The only transactions this year were $251.37 for the website hosting service and interest income of $0.82.

We agreed to hold this year’s holiday party on Sunday, Dec. 5 from 12:00-3:00.  More details will follow.

We discussed the Lobster Classic and the need for more folks helping if we decide to continue.  The consensus of the group was to try to hold the event in 2022 and that we would start working to develop a list of members that will help to plan and execute the event.  A target date of August 20 was proposed.  Paul will look to see if he can get rooms reserved for the event on that date at SMCC.

We started discussing a schedule for 2022, but decided that Paul would provide a draft schedule that we could edit as needed.

The club voted for a new slate of officers.  The following officers were nominated for a two-year term starting January 1, 2022 and approved by a vote of the club:

President:  Lisa Bourret

Vice President:  Pat Boissonneault

Treasurer/Secretary: Paul Bourret

Following the business meeting, we listened to a presentation from Carl Harmon of Harmon Hill Farm.  Carl spoke of his business, Harmon Hill Farm.  He carries over 4000 different varieties of daylilies as well as hosta and other perennials.  He presented a number of great daylily varieties including some of his top-ranked performers.  He also showed us an example of his bulb / hosta baskets made from hardware cloth.

SMCC is still not allowing meetings on campus for outside groups.  So, we have decided to cancel our meetings until the fall.

Lisa and Paul Bourret will try to have a club picnic / cookout in the August / September timeframe if things look better on the Covid front.  Until then, please stay tuned.

Connecticut Daylily Society (CDS) is planning some Zoom meetings over the next few months and have graciously invited anyone from SMDHS to attend.  Here is a list of the upcoming meetings.  If you are interested, let Paul Bourret know and he will forward the link to the meeting when it is available:

Saturday, February 27, 2021, 1:00 PM

Dr. Kathleen Nordstrom currently hails from Northern Light Daylilies located in Dodge City, MN.  Kathleen is originally from Bismarck, North Dakota, so she, like her daylilies, is truly hardy !   She shares her website, Northern lights Daylilies, with her husband Dr. Michael Grossman.   Kathleen, like Michael, hybridizes, and serves, she says, as Vice President of Weeding for Northern Lights Daylilies.

The CT Daylily Society did welcome Michael Grossman back in 2013, and Kathleen came along, so we’ve had the opportunity to meet her in person.   At the time of our Zoom visit with Kathleen February 27, we’ll hear about her side of the daylily bed.   Those of you fascinated with daylily patterning will find Kathleen’s presentation of particular interest.  She has 20  introductions to date, and I expect we’ll be among the first to see her 2021s.

Saturday, March 27, 2021, 1:00 PM

Bret Clement, Esquire, lists Carmel, Indiana as home, but tells us his daylilies are growing 45 minutes away in NW Indiana.  That’s patience!   His website states “Welcome to Clement Gardens “The Cat’s Meow of Daylilies.”  Bret has 227 daylily introductions to date, and a good many celebrate the cat:  ‘A Cat for All Seasons,’ ‘A Tail of Two Cats,’ ‘All Cats Matter,’ and ‘As the World Purrs’ are but a few.  You get the idea; what fun!   His introductions are whimsical both in name and in form;  his daylilies are an exploration of the unusual form.

Bret has served as Parliamentarian and Legal Counsel to the American Hemerocallis Society for more than a decade now.

What a crazy year it has been!

SMCC has informed us that outside groups may not meet on the campus.  As a result, the remainder of our 2020 events have been cancelled.

A tentative 2021 schedule has been posted on the website.  This schedule is subject to change based on the virus situation.

We were scheduled to vote on officers in October, but where this can not happen, the officers have offered to remain in place until we can meet again.

Be safe everyone!

With everything going on with Covid-19 and the limitations to group sizes, personal incomes and the whole general uncertainty about what is ahead this year, we are making some cancellations to our schedule.

SMCC has cancelled all events before June 1, which included both our Annual Photo Contest and our May Plant Sale.  It is too bad, because I was going to clean up at that photo contest.

The Lobstah’ Classic Committee has also decided that with the uncertainty of times ahead, it would be best to cancel this year’s Lobstah’ Classic.

We will keep you posted to changes in the schedule going forward.  Keep up to date by checking http://www.smdhs.info/events for the latest listing of our schedule.

Stay healthy and stay connected.

Paul Bourret

Due to the corona virus concerns, the executive board felt that it would be a good precaution to cancel the March 28 meeting and Photo Contest.  We will reschedule the photo contest for later in the year.

Hi Everyone.  Our final meeting of the year, our annual holiday party, is scheduled for Sunday, December 8 from noon – 3 PM.  This will be a pot-luck lunch, so please bring a festive holiday dish to share.

We will be exchanging gifts in our modified Yankee Swap, though this year we may have an interesting twist if folks are interested.  Everyone starts off with their own wrapped gift and sits in one big circle. There are 3 rounds rolling a die and doing what is shown in the photo. At the end of the game whatever gift you end up with you keep! Please keep gifts to under $15 in value.

We will have the following door prizes:

• Gift cards from local garden centers.
• Daylily Scarlet Pimpernel (This year’s Stout Silver Medal winner, donated by Lisa B.)
• Garden Books. (Donated by Lisa B.)

Please let Paul know if you will be attending by responding to paul.bourret@gmail.com.

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, October 5 from noon-3 PM at the Horticulture Building on the campus of SMCC.  This will be our fall potluck and Annual Business meeting.  In addition, we will have Tom Atwell, freelance writer of the Maine Gardener column of the Maine Sunday Telegram.  Tom will be speaking on how gardening will change with climate change.

For the potluck, please bring something tasty to share.

The business meeting will be primarily to set the schedule for 2020, though other motions can be made.

We look forward to seeing you there.

This is the last week to send in registrations for this year’s SMDHS Lobstah Classic.  Registration closes on Saturday, July 27.  This is a HARD CLOSE as we need to get our menu selections in to our caterers.  Please send your registrations in this week!