2009 Speakers

	Patrick Stamile, Floyd Cove Nursery, Enterprise, Florida Pat and Grace began their “love affair” with daylilies in the mid 1970s, some 30+ years ago. Back then they resided on Long Island (New York) and both taught in the public schools. Pat has a Bachelors degree from Duke University, a Masters degree from University of New York, Stony Brook and a Masters degree in Administration and Supervision from Queens College. Grace has a Bachelors degree from Adelphi University and a Masters degree from University of New York, Stony Brook. They both enjoyed the outdoors, especially gardening, and daylilies were a wonderful summer blooming perennial for their garden. In 1991/1992, Pat and Grace left teaching to pursue their love of daylilies full time and moved to Florida bringing their daylily nursery (Floyd Cove) with them. Their home and the nursery are located in Enterprise, Florida amidst 30 acres of beautiful “Old Florida” where one might see the majestic Bald Eagle flying overhead and tiny Hummingbirds flitting from flower to flower. Like many gardeners their love of plants is not restricted to daylilies and they grow many other plants-amaryllis, bromeliads, brugmansias, camellias, crinums, plumeria, gingers, hibiscus, strelitzia, flowering trees and shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals, fruits and even some vegetables. It was back in 1977 that Pat and Grace were bitten by the hybridizing bug. Pat chose to develop new large flowered cultivars that were round, full and ruffled. Later he would add doubles, spiders and unusual forms, patterns, and blues to his list of cultivars to develop. His first introductions were H. ‘Porcelain Pleasure’ and H. ‘Supernova’ in 1984. Since that time he has created many new cultivars: large, small, double, patterned, unusual form and spiders. Pat currently grows between 7,000 and 8,000 new seedlings each year. Pat was the 1997 recipient of the Bertrand Farr Silver Medal for excellence in hybridizing. He has won 3 Stout Silver Medals for H. ‘Strawberry Candy’, H. ‘Custard Candy’ and H. ‘Wedding Band’. In addition he has won numerous awards: 25 Awards of Merit, 123 Honorable Mentions, 6 L.Ernest Plouf Awards for fragrance, 4 Eugene S. Foster Awards for lates, the Ned Roberts Spider/Unusual Form Award, 2 Don C. Stevens Awards for boldly eyed cultivars, 3 Annie T. Giles Awards for small flowers, 2 Ida Munson Awards for doubles, the Lambert/Webster Award for unusual forms, the Harris Olson Award for spiders, 2 R.W. Munson, Jr. Award for patterned daylilies, the Early Season Blooming Award, 59 David Hall Regional Awards (AHS Popularity Poll) and 3 President’s Cups at National Conventions. Pat was honored with the AHS Regional Service Award-Region 4 in 1991. Pat has served on the AHS Board of Directors, the AHS Registration Committee, the AHS Scientific Committee, and AHS Long Range Planning Committee. Pat has served as the AHS Round Robin Chairman and the Non Publications Chairman. He is the Scientific Liaison for Region 12. Pat is an AHS Awards & Honors Judge and an AHS Awards & Honors Instructor. Grace chose a different path. She has dedicated her hybridizing efforts to the development of small and miniature varieties with low scape height and proportional plant habit. Her first introduction was H. ‘Coming Out Party’ in 1988. She grows about 1,000 new seedlings each year. Her tiny “popcorn” doubles, blue eyes and other miniatures are grown throughout the country and she is proud to be the winner of the 1999 Donn Fischer Memorial Award for best miniature with her blue eyed H. ‘Baby Blues’, the 2004 Donn Fischer Memorial Award for H. ‘You Angel You’, the first of her series of popcorn doubles and 2007 Donn Fischer Memorial Award for H. Iddy Biddy Gal. She has won 30 Honorable Mentions for her work and the 2007 Florida Sunshine Cup for H. ‘Broadway Attraction’. Grace received the AHS Regional Service Award-Region 4 in 1991. Grace is an AHS Awards & Honors Judge and an Awards & Honors Instructor. Grace serves on the AHS Youth Committee and is the Region 12 Youth coordinator. Pat and Grace are active members of Region 12 belonging to both the Sunbelt Daylily Club and the Central Florida Daylily Society. They are looking forward to hosting their second AHS National Convention in 2009.
	Grace Stamile, Floyd Cove Nursery, Enterprise, Florida See the above biography as the dynamic duo are a team and all the wonderful things about Grace is included above.
	Tony Thompson, Precious Petals, Hazel Green, Alabama Tony is a former Green Beret/Paratrooper from Hazel Green, Alabama, whose nickname is PRECIOUS & his favorite color is Pink! He traveled for several years with Country Music Legend HANK WILLIAMS JR. as his Personal Photographer. 'Nuff said 'bout his colorful past, Tony, along with his wife Susie, maintain a hobby Garden and certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat in North Alabama, appropriately named PRECIOUS' PETALS. The garden includes over 700 verities of newer Daylilies and a complete Stout Silver Metal Winner Bed. Tony and Susie's hybridizing goals include rust resistance, eyes with edges in shades of lavender and of course, pink, and obviously the elusive blue! They both apprenticed under the watchful eyes of JOHN PEAT, and are currently evaluating several promising seedlings. The Garden has several Water Features, a very active Purple Martin Colony, and a large Shade Garden, Bluebirds, Northern Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Robins, and numerous songbirds call the habitat home. Tony and Susie create and donate 6 to 10 "Precious Made" Birdhouses each year to various Clubs and Daylily functions. The houses are all unique, as they do nut use a pattern, and are of their own design, usually depicting the old "out houses" of the Rural South! Sit back and enjoy his tongue-in-cheek presentation of living and growing Daylilies from a "red neck" point of view!
	Margaret Goode, Bonibrae Daylilies, Bloomfield, Ontario An active member of the Ontario Hosta Society and the Canadian Hemerocallis Society recently retiring from Elementary School Teaching, Margaret is now working harder than ever as she loves to garden - even the weeding! A little hobby that keeps growing and growing as with many other Daylily enthusiasts, she doesn’t admit it but she does dabble in the hybridizing of daylilies as well. This dabbling may be to help her husband out, but many predict that we will see some spectacular introductions under the name of Margaret Goode in the future. Margaret began collecting hostas a few years ago when a customer bartered hostas for some of her husband’s daylilies. This quickly became an obsession for Margaret and now she grows over 400 different varieties in the many gardens surrounding the farm house and daylily nursery, near Bloomfield Ontario. Margaret and her husband Barry Matthie, the award winning daylily hybridizer work together in keeping the nursery well manicured and ever expanding. Margaret especially enjoys collecting new and unusual hosta for the new gardens that she plants each year. The collection of hosta has grown into a business and many can be purchased at the nursery. In her spare time she enjoys meeting other gardeners, creating quilts, reading (especially spy novels), crocheting and scrapbooking family memories.
	Jamie Gossard, Heavenly Gardens, Galloway, Ohio
	Barry Matthie, Bonibrae Daylilies, Bloomfield, Ontario A baby-boomer of Scottish descent. I was born in "the County" of Prince Edward and have lived in the country outside the quaint village of Bloomfield, on a "Century"farm his entire life. Barry has two sons; the eldest a high school teacher in Trenton, Ontario and the youngest a Kinesiology student at Laurentian University in Subury, Ontario who is also working part time in security. Barry himself graduated an Ontario Scholar at Prince Edward Collegiate and went on to graduate with honors in Crop Science at the University of Guelph. In 1998, a "Sunday" trip to We're in the Hayfield Now Daylily Gardens was the beginning of an all consuming "hobby" which quickly turned into an obsession. What began with 8 plants and a whimsy has now become over 100,000 plants, a double wide greenhouse and gardens in excess of 2 acres of daylilies. The property which was at one time a farm dump and pasture is now our family home and business combined. With the help of his wife Margaret Goode they now sell pick-your-own daylilies, the most modern selection of hostas available and a great selection of oriental lilies. Barry has won numerous awards from the Canadian Hemerocallis Society and three consecutive Douglas Lycett awards from the Ontario Daylily Society. Barry travels frequently Cross Border Daylilies in Florida where his addiction persists as he spends his “vacation” working and learning other methods of cultivating daylilies. Barry’s crop fluctuates between 20,000 and 50,000 seedlings each year depending on weather. The nursery is open to visitors from the May Victoria Day weekend until Labor Day!
	Bob Stilson, Parry Sound, Ontario Bob Stilson has been hybridizing hems for at least 15 years . He lives in Parry Sound , Ontario which is on the windswept shores of Georgian Bay - A lot of you would recognize Muskoka as the area . He has a relatively small garden -with shallow soil on the Candian shield . Any daylilies that do grow including lots of evergreens do well if they survive a winter. Years ago ,he started working toward blacks with edges and then got sidetracked to trying anything that looked good for a while . Now, he like everyone else is working with 'blues' ( He is partial to the the lighter sky blue. Right now he is particularly interested in producing tall plants that have large flowers that don't flop over and are not yellow. He's also caught up to some degree in the latest fad for green thorats and patterns as well. Unlike many other hydridizers, he still works with some dips as well . Recently retired from 30 years teaching High School French , he mainly sells from his Parry Sound garden in the summer -He enjoys visitors to see the actual bloom they like then dig the plants right there . He is never ceases to be amazed by the choices people make of what they think is 'the most beautiful flower in the garden' but that is what makes the whole thing interesting. Health problems have slowed his changover to having a nice website - registering cultivars , having past and future introductions and shipping plants . Since he has started doing a few talks he is a lot more motivated to do that - here is the website address if you wish to view my "under construction " site - which consists of a couple of intros and a whole lots of future intros . and of course visitors are always welcome to visit his garden in Parry sound - 705 746 7640 - 63 River St. website http://daylily.stilson.org/main.php
	Mike Holmes, River Bend Daylily Gardens, Bellbrook, Ohio I first started in Daylilies in 1996 with my wife Sandy. Our journey began at Moldovan Gardens in Avon. We soon became good friends with Steve Moldovan and Roy Woodhall. Over the next few years we traveled to Avon Ohio to work with Steve and Roy. We quickly developed personal tastes. Sandy gravitated toward UFo's and I preferred a fuller form. At Moldovans , we were taught the basic principles of Color, Branching, Budcount, and hardiness for our climate. Sandy got a lucky break in 1999 when she was able to purchase unreleased seedlings of Dick Webster from Robb Cobb. This was the start of her UFo program. She took these cultivars and crossed with Moldovan and Stamile daylilies to form the foundation of her program. I pursued a rounder fuller form. My taste lean toward Pat Stamile's rounder daylilies and the Jack Carpenter's flat faced daylilies. I also hybridize daylilies with teeth. Happy Holidays To You has been a favorite. Our garden now sits on 11 acres. We have about 4 acres of daylilies. Last year Kim McCutcheon joined us in our garden. Bringing Pretty Petals Garden with her. Kim has taken over the late Shirley Farmers teeth program. And has a diploid program. She loves patterns so I expect we'll see a new direction in our garden soon. To date we've introduced around 50 daylilies. Our garden is on the Northern Mecca tour this July. On July 4 we are hosting the picnic. www.northernmecca.com Our introductions can be seen at www.sandyholmes.com Thanks to John Peat for the invitation to address guests at the Can-Am Niagra Meeting
	Christie Dixon, Christie's Daylilies, Jesup, Georgia Christie Dixon describes herself as; Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Sister and Friend. As a small child Christie fondly remembers the many evenings she spent with her Grandmother in the flower garden. Being a patient Grandmother, she taught Christie the love of gardening and the beauty of flowers. After Christie and Ronnie married, she retired from a very stressful 20 year career as a manager, with the Georgia Department of Corrections. Christie and Ronnie have been childhood “Sweethearts” since the third (3rd) grade. The love of gardening and remembering the beauty of her Grandmother’s flowers came once again when she was given a clump of H. Denali by her sister-in-law. It was all “history from there”. Christie immersed herself in learning everything she could about daylilies. She began collecting and hybridizing with some of the newest and best tetraploid daylilies available. Christie is now in her ninth year of hybridizing and began introducing her favorites back in 2005. The garden consists of two (2) parts; an AHS Display Garden and a large selling garden. Christie’s husband Ronnie helps immensely with the garden chores. The garden is designed so that most work can be maintained by tractor. For about 20 years, Christie has also seen the beauty of flowers, children and families through a “lens”. A camera lens that is. She has a photography studio on the property named, Christie’s Studio. During peak bloom, the garden is used to capture pictures of Brides, families and children. What a dramatic backdrop. Christie and Ronnie have three (3) children and six (6) grandchildren, three dogs (known as “the babies” by Ronnie) and a cat. Blake a ten (10) year old grandson loves to help hybridize. He finds it exciting that a new flower can be created. Christie hopes that she can teach the love of gardening, to her grandchildren, just as her grandmother did with her. The home and garden, surrounded by 100 acres of planted pine has shaded picnic areas and restroom facilities. Christie and Ronnie invite everyone to come enjoy some great Southern Hospitality during peak bloom, in May.
	Herbie Phelps, Wonderland of Daylilies, Magnolia, Kentucky Herbie has lived his entire life in Kentucky. He became involved in sports in junior high school, and played several sports in high school, being named All-State and All-American in football, and being inducted into the Dawahares Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1991. He attended college, first at the University of Alabama and then at the University of Louisville, on a football scholarship. Competition has always played a big part in his life. When he no longer played football, he continued to compete, fishing bass tournaments throughout the United States, and then coaching high school basketball until he retired from teaching and coaching several years ago. Herbie now lives on approximately 500 acres of farmland in Hart County, Kentucky, where he has two 100' X 30' greenhouses. His interest in daylilies, which began in the 1990's, has become a true passion, recharging his competitive spirit. Now he competes within himself to accomplish what he dreams about achieving with his daylilies. His first introductions were in 2007 and he has been fortunate enough to be invited to speak in several states. Herbie and his wife Gale have two daughters (Rachel and Gerri) and two grandsons (Ashton and Sawyer).
	Jack Kent, The Potting Shed, Dunville, Ontario From the time he was four years old plants and animals have always been his passion. In his early teens his family moved from the big city to a country property and he was able to expand on both his interests in gardening and livestock. A pet goat led to a commercial dairy and breeding operation that lasted 18 years. Shipping milk, attending shows and exporting champion stock internationally, the goats were very much like daylilies in that they get into your blood and life tends to revolve around them. During this time frame Jack also attended the University of Guelph studying animal science and graduated and secured a job with Agriculture Canada. This in turn led to a laboratory job with United Breeders (artificial insemination and embryo transfers) and then the opening of a delicatessen (don’t ask). The farm and deli were very much a partnership with very supportive parents. The family reached a point when they were ready for a change, therefore, the farm was sold and suddenly Jack found he had time to garden. Soon after he discovered daylilies and had the good fortune of meeting Douglas Lycett and Henry Lorraine who quickly became good friends, taking him along on one of their visits to stay with Bill Munson in Gainesville, Florida. During that trip tehy visited the gardens of Pat & Grace Stamile, Dan & Jane Trimmer, Bob Carr and John Peat. It has become the goats all over again – a hobby out of control – and again there have been some lucky breaks. The Potting Shed is in its fifteenth year as a full time nursery business. We like all daylilies, with a bias towards large dressed up flowers that perform well under our conditions. Long bloom period and good foliage are key requirements for plants being considered as introductions.
	Nicole Harry, Nicole's Daylilies, Apopka, Florida “Since I could walk my life has always been centred around flowers. My parents first major hobby was orchids, then heliconias, next water lilies, and finally turning to daylilies. I can remember my dad coming home with huge pots overflowing with beautiful green foliage, and I would think to myself what are these things? Being that I was young I thought I new about every plant there was, of course I was wrong! Finally they bloomed, and I fell in love. Every morning I would get up and go out with my dad and he would show me how to make crosses. This became a very special bond my dad and I formed. After a few years of breeding under his watchful eye, he finally let me make my own crosses, which then I believe, sealed my own fate. We then moved to Apopka, Florida during my middle school years which allowed my daylily craze to blossom. Now here I am releasing my own introductions! I am incredibly appreciative of my Dad for giving me the background knowledge to make great daylilies. Having watched daylilies evolve from the late nineties until now is incredibly exciting for me. I think each year surpasses the last with cutting edge introductions. I am honored to be a new upcoming hybridizer in this exciting era of daylilies.”