Spring Has Also Arrived in Gnoman's Land Gardens! (photos courtesy of Heather Harroun)

Signs of Spring in the Nancy Rash-Lyle Moen Garden (photos courtesy of Nancy Rash)

Nancy wrote that "the spring flowering bulbs have done well this year and have brightened the landscape at our home.  The bulbs are well established.  The red and yellow tulips receive lots of comments from Iowa State Fans and from Iowa Fans as well!"

Daylily Club Plants - Cultivars Returning in August 2024 Including Holdovers
Yes, I realize that it's only mid-April, but Heather thought it might be helpful if I posted a list of members who are expected to bring back club plants this August.  These were the cultivars that members received in 2022 (shown in black) or holdovers from previous years (shown in red). 

Upcoming Meetings and Events
Looking ahead, we have two things planned. The Spring Plant Sale will take place on Saturday, May 11th, at the Discovery Park in Muscatine. Set-up begins at 7:30 AM. Please have your plants there by 8:45 AM. The sale is from 9:00-11:30 AM. Then, on Saturday, May 18th, we will hold the Club Plant Distribution at the West Liberty Fairgrounds. Details will be posted in due course. Here is a detailed sign-up sheet for the Distribution. Please consider signing up.

CVIDS April Meeting
Our April meeting took place on Saturday, April 13th, at the Wilton Community Room. Twenty-three members attended in person and sixteen via Zoom. The meeting began with a PowerPoint review of 2024 daylily Club Plants by Sue Kramer and Colleen Hansen. Attached is the spreadsheet of club plants purchased.  The list of members eligible for a club plant in 2024 can be accessed here. Please check the list and, if you think there has been an error and your name was left off it, contact Heather or Diane Derganz. The meeting continued with a PowerPoint presentation of iris club plants and concluded with a short business meeting (agenda).

The meeting minutes will be posted when they become available. Thank you very much, Lyle and Keith, for your photos!

Gary Oster - a Health Update and a Members' Handbook Memory
Two bits of great news to share today! First, Gary is out of rehab and back home! We wish him a speedy recovery to full health. Secondly, the third edition of the Members' Handbook, which was approved at our March meeting, has now been posted and can be accessed here. Many thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to revising this document: Nancy Carlisle, Diane Derganz, Sara Hankemeier, Heather Harroun, Diann Pavelka, Jonathan, Susie and Matthew Poulton, and Nancy Rash.

When Jonathan thinks of the Handbook, he is reminded of Gary Oster.  Back in 2014, he and Jonathan had many conversations about "not fully understanding how the club worked, especially those events when plants were coming into and going out of club members' hands".  So, Jonathan decided to write a Handbook with the help of others, namely Nancy Carlisle, Mike Carstensen, Clay Dawson, Donna Denly, Scott and Debbie Hansen, Gary Oster, Barb and Bob Papenhausen, Nancy Rash, Keith Riewerts, Zora Ronan, Sylvia Seymour, and Lynn Stoll.  By November 1, 2014, it was finished and subsequently distributed to the membership.  The third edition should be dedicated in honor of Gary Oster, bless his heart!

CVIDS March Meeting
Our March club meeting was held on Saturday, March 9, at the Johnson County Extension Office in Iowa City, where two presentations were given. The first was by club Vice President Diane Derganz who gave an excellent overview of the Club Plant Program. This included the history of this Program, how members receive their plants, advice about giving your plants the best shot in your garden, how to evaluate your club plants, followed by information about the silent and live daylily auctions held in August. The second presentation came from club treasurer Jackie Westhoff who gave very helpful advice about growing Amaryllis and getting them to rebloom. Diane's presentation can be accessed here. On your behalf, I would like to thank both speakers for their time and expertise. President Heather Harroun led the business meeting (for agenda, please click here), for which minutes will be posted as soon as they become available. I was delighted to attend this meeting long-range from Colorado, thanks to Nancy Carlisle and Eli Hansen who set up the Zoom link and fielded questions from the Zoomers. Two business meeting items that particularly caught my attention were the following. First, that Sara Kelley, Dick & Jo Palmer, Rex & Judy Raub, and Jackie Westhoff have kindly offered to open up their gardens for our Garden Tour on July 13. Many thanks! And secondly, with the understanding that some clarification will be made with respect to wording of the club plant eligibility requirements, the recently revised Members' Handbook was voted in. Thank you to Board members for revising the document. More details about the business meeting will be provided in the minutes. A total of 31 members attended the meeting, nine of whom were on Zoom. I close this report by thanking Lyle Moen for his great photos. Meeting minutes, kindly recorded by Cari Rusnak, can be accessed here. Thank you, Cari! One last item! Click here for the list of daylily resources contributed by members at the March meeting,

2023 Fall Banquet Report
We are very grateful to Nancy Rash for preparing the 2023 Fall Banquet Report.

March Newsletter is Ready for Viewing!
Many thanks to our editor Shelly Lett for creating and distributing the March edition of the CVIDS Newsletter. In addition to the club calendar and letters from President Heather Harroun and Nancy Rash, you'll find a couple of fun items to try!

Spring Sale News!
Colleen Hansen has kindly agreed to be Chair of the Spring Plant Sale Committee! Thank you, Colleen!

Expense Reimbursement Form
If you incur expenses on CVIDS business matters, you are requested to use a new expense reimbursement form for repayment. This form is provided here in both Excel and pdf formats. Please note that, unless the expenses were approved ahead of time, there will not be reimbursement. Thank you!

February 2024 Club Meeting
Our February club meeting was held on Saturday, February 10, at the Coralville Public Library. Our featured speaker was Phil Fass (CIDS), who gave a fascinating talk on "Incorporating Daylilies in the Border". Meeting minutes can be accessed here. Thank you, Phil! And thank you, Lyle, for the photos.

Please Note:
Beginning with our February meeting, members are asked to bring their own table service and drink to the potluck meetings.  We are being environmentally conscious and responsible. Nancy Rash, Hospitality Chair

January 2024 CVIDS Newletter
Thank you, Shelly, for creating the January 2024 Newsletter!

Just a Heads-Up!
Phil Fass (CIDS) is alerting all Region One daylily enthusiasts that Pollen Dabbers in 2024 will be held on March 22-23. The keynote speaker will be Sandy Holmes. Here is a link to the registration form.

Sad Tidings!
I am very sorry to relay the sad news that Jill Gardner's mother, Connie Lou Gardner, passed away on January 8, 2024, at the age of 85. Her obituary can be assessed here. On behalf of our club, I extend our condolences to Jill and her family.

Many Congratulations, Gretchen!
Congratulations to Gretchen Little for completing the Fall Muscatine Master Gardener course work. She says: “I have been involved with gardening all of my life thanks to my mother and her mother. After Mom passed this past March, I wanted to fill in the gaps of the gardening knowledge she gave me and also look for ways to help pass it on to others as I have no family of my own.”

Who else in our CVIDS membership is a Master Gardener?

Sandy Holmes: Monday Night Lights and CVIDS Banquet speaker
Sandy Holmes (Riverbend Gardens, Xenia, OH) was our featured speaker for the November 2023 CVIDS Banquet. Sandy is an entertaining, humble lady with a big heart with generous donations of her creations to persons with cancer. As a cancer survivor herself, she names one of her creations every year for a person with cancer and donates proceeds of that flower for cancer research. Her 2023 creation was Becky Duffy; 2024’s will be Sue Lileah.

Sandy is an ADS award winner with two Awards of Merit, “Walter Lowry” in 2019 and “Tidewater Elf” in 2020. She earned the prestigious Stout Medal, ADS National Award, in 2020 for “I Lava You”. Sandy generously donated fans for the banquet raffle and the 2023 Region One Summer meeting of “I Lava You”. We were so honored to have her present her fascinating program to us. Bidding on her clumps of flowers went very well, and our members will be receiving some great daylily plants at the May club plant distribution meeting. Thank you to Bob and Barb Papenhausen for the friendship they have shared with Sandy and Mike over the past decade.

Here are two of her slides to refresh our memory of her presentation. Other slides can be accessed by scrolling down to our November meeting.

Sandy and her husband Mike will be featured on the ADS Facebook Live program of “OUR HOUSE Monday Night Lights Daylily Presentations” on January 29th, 2024. Every Monday evening from January 22nd to March 18th, one to two hybridizers feature their exciting introductions or creations. This is a wonderful way to sit in your living room and gawk at the future of the daylily world. The free weekly program is available for 6 days and then is gone from the websites. Go to Facebook and search for “OUR HOUSE Monday Night Lights Daylily Presentations, like the group, and remember to go to the program at 6 pm Central time to view it live.

Thank you, Nancy Carlisle, for making us aware of this special opportunity!

A BIG Thank You To So Many Club Members!
If you exercise your mouse to flick down through this Bulletin Board, you will quickly discover that CVIDS has had a very full and successful year during 2023 with many fun happenings, not the least of which was hosting the ADS Region One Summer Meeting in July. Such success doesn't simply happen by itself; it happens because of the hard work, commitment and generosity of a large number of club members. Before we all get swept up by the Holiday Season and its joys, let us take a moment to thank each and every club member who contributed their time, energy and donations to the club this past year.

Elected Officers:
President: Darrin Lett
Vice President: Heather Harroun
Past President: Nancy Rash
Secretary: Cari Rusnak
Treasurer: Jackie Westhoff

Committee Chairs and Members:
Program Chair: 2023 CVIDS Board and committee Chairs, but input from membership always welcomed
Newsletter Editor: Shelly Lett
Nominating Committee: Darrin Lett, Nancy Rash
Webmaster: Jonathan Poulton
Photographers: Lyle Moen, Keith Riewerts
Auctioneer: Darrin Lett
Hospitality Chair: Sam McCord
Art of Gardening CVIDS Welcome Booth: Valerie Linder, Rachel Moeller, Nancy Carlisle
Des Moines Co. Master Gardeners Meeting Booth: Tom & Linda Jones, Nancy Carlisle
Spring Plant Sale Chairs: Val Linder, Deb Bentley
Club Plant Chairs (ordering): Sue Kramer (daylilies), Diann Pavelka (iris)
Club Plant Distribution/Live Auction Chair: Karmin Mullins (food chair), Darrin Lett (auctioneer)
August Club Plant Return/Silent & Live Auction Chairs & Committee Members:
Diane Derganz (Chair), Sara Hankemeier, Pete & Pat Connolly, Judy & Rex Raub, Dick Palmer
Fall Plant Sale Chair: Valerie Linder
Hybridizers’ Roundup: Heather Harroun, Lyn Hafner
Fall Banquet Chairs: Valerie Linder, Karmin Mullins, Sam McCord
Banquet Speaker Chair: Nancy Carlisle
Betty Miller Photo Contest Chairs: Rachel Moeller, Joy Adams

Region One Summer Meeting:
Co-Chairs: Nancy Carlisle, Keith Riewerts

Tour Gardens:
Darrin & Shelly Lett
Heather & Jim Harroun
Keith & Sally Riewerts
Colleen & John Hansen

Open Gardens:
Frank & Mary Ancell
Jane & Bob Bancks
Deb & Brian Bentley
William Blair & Virginia Houser
Cornell College (Mount Vernon)
Barbara McCreight
Tom & Linda Jones
Dave & Sue Kramer
Gary Oster
Joyce & Larre Petersen
Bruce & Becky Whittaker

Members who Volunteered and/or Provided Donations at the Meeting:

I realize that constructing these lists could lead to the possibility that I may inadvertently fail to acknowledge everyone's contributions to the club this year. If you find that your name has been omitted, please email me (jonathan-poulton@uiowa.edu), and I'll rectify that error. Thank you!

Take a Moment to Enjoy the.......
........... November-December 2023 edition of the CVIDS Newsletter! Thank you, Shelly, for putting it together during this hectic time of the year.

2023 Betty Miller Photo Contest Winners
Many congratulations to the winners! Links to the award-winning images will be posted as soon as they become available.

Click here for a selection of photos taken by Lyle Moen at last Saturday's Fall Banquet! Thank you, Lyle! To access the unapproved minutes from that meeting, click here. Thank you again, Cari!

The Fall Banquet Concludes our Club Year
The grand finale for 2023 was our Annual Fall Banquet held on November 11 at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Coralville and organized by Valerie Linder and Karmin Mullins (Banquet Chairpersons), Rachel Moeller (Banquet Assistant Co-Chair), and Sam McCord (Hospitality Chair). On our behalf, Nancy Carlisle extended an invitation to Sandy Holmes of Riverbend Daylily Gardens to be our guest speaker at the Banquet, and Sandy agreed, saying that she felt very honored to be asked. Information about Sandy and her daylily creations is provided below:

'Sandy started as a back yard hybridizer in 1995. In 2003, she got serious about her daylily obsession when she and her husband Mike moved Riverbend Daylily Gardens to its current location just outside of Xenia, OH. Sandy had her first introductions in 2005. She credits Steve Moldovan as a significant influence on her hybridizing. Her focus is on large tetraploid unusual forms but doesn’t let that prevent her working on other looks. Currently she is focusing on large unusual forms with interesting eyes. Mike’s current interest is striped daylilies, but he was very active in early teeth daylilies.

Sandy became a Garden Judge in 2007 and a Garden Judge Instructor in 2011. She has coordinated the Shirley Farmer Midwest Hybridizer’s meeting since 2004 and has served in several volunteer positions with the ADS. Sandy was Region 2 President from 2016 thru 2020 and received the Region 2 Service Award in 2021.

Sandy was honored when her daylily 'Walt Lowry' (named for her father) won the Ned Roberts Spider/Unusual Form award in 2016 and even more excited when it won an Award of Merit. In 2017, 'Tidewater Elf' won the President's Cup followed by the Award of Merit in 2020. Little did she dream that she would have the thrill of a life time when her 'I Lava You' won the Stout Silver Medal in 2020.'

	'I Lava You' 2020 Stout Silver Medal

2023 Sandy Holmes Introductions

Becky Duffy	For All The Caregivers	Gentleman Jerry
Just For Kevin	Lizard Thief	Michigan Farm Girls
The Dean	The Last Guardian	Tidewater Twist

CVIDS October Newsletter Now Available, thanks to Shelly Lett

October 2023 Club Meeting
We met on October 14th at the Washington Public Library (115 W. Washington Street, Washington) for our Annual Hybridizers' Roundup. 22 members were meeting in person and 5 members via Zoom. The potluck started at noon, followed by the meeting at 1 PM. The meeting minutes were recorded by acting secretary Nancy Rash. Here are a few photos taken through the lenses of Lyle Moen and Keith Riewerts:

Barb Papenhausen	Heather Harroun
Barb Papenhausen's Seedlings at Heather Harroun's Garden	Jackie Westhoff
Shelly Lett	Jonathan Poulton

Update on Gary Oster and Nancy Rash
Nancy Carlisle has sent me an update today (October 13) about Gary Oster. He is still at Cedar Manor in Tipton and probably will stay there for another week. Nancy found him in good spirits when she visited him yesterday. From Darrin, I have learned that Nancy Rash has undergone hip surgery. All went well, and she is home recovering. What some proof? Take a look at the above photos of Nancy recording minutes at the October meeting! All the best to you, Gary and Nancy! 

August Meeting Minutes and September Newsletter Now Available

Our thanks go to Secretary Cari Rusnak and Newsletter Editor Shelly Lett.

January - August, 2023 BULLETIN BOARD

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