I had to go look up the Stout winner to see what you were talking about. J.T. Davis by Larry Grace is the 2010 Stout winner. I don't grow it, but I do grow lots of its kids. It was an incredible parent. But I wonder if it does grow well in all regions. I would have rather seen North Wind Dancer or Victorian Lace as the Stout winner.

Debra

It is just you! The results of the Stout Medal race can vary greatly from year to year. I have done the tabulation for AHS Awards for the past 4 years. Some years one pulls ahead, but this year there was no clear cut leader until the day tabulation closed. There is NO requirement that a Stout medal winner must get votes from any set number of regions ( unlike the HM and AM which require votes from minimum numbers of regions) And Garden judges are NEVER supposed to consider the breeding potential of a plant as a reason for giving it a vote. They are only supposed to look at its value as a superior and distinctive garden plant.

I grew J.T. for 3 years and finally removed it because of rust. Beautiful, but distinctive ...... I'm not sure. Victorian Lace has been in my garden for 5 years and never disappoints!

Floota - Remind us how a plant gets to be a Stout contender. I've heard this before but don't remember it.

Debra

I guess it is me although I don't think there was a runaway last year with the top 5 having 54,40,40,38,37 and in 2006 the top 4 having 78,71,69,67.
It makes sense to me that the Honorable mention award requires votes from 4 regions and the the Award of Merit requires even more( one half the regions). The cultivar should be older and more widely spread by that time. But it is interesting that 2 of the top 5 for the Stout medal this year didn't even receive votes in at least half of the regions- not even enough to qualify them for an Award of Merit. I guess judges do only get one vote for this award and not the number they get for HM and AM. You gotta pick just 1!
It must be interesting to keep these tabulations. You can see I love statistics. Keep up the great work!
Debbie

I think Debbie covered it very well. The Stout is at the top of the AHS Awards Pyramid, meaning that in order for it to be eligbible for it to win the SSM, it must first win an HM. Then three years later, it goes on the AM list. Only after it has won an AM ( and waited two more years) will it become eligible to win the Stout Medal. At the bottom of the pyramid, hybridizers can nominate their own cultivars for an HM award. The Awards and Honors committee may also nominate up to 10 cultivars for the HM list and garden judges may cast write-in votes at the bottom level. But once a cultivar gets past the first level of winning the HM, it goes on to "automatic pilot" from that point. Usually by the time a cultivar gets to the Stout list it has been registered at least 10 years, so those which are genuinely worthy should be well distributed.

I didn't pay any attention to the Stout this year, neither the voting nor the results.

That's certainly your prerogative. However, a lot of people do pay attention and their purchases for the next year are often guided by selecting those cultivars which win the top awards! I have always meant to get 'Heavenly Angel Ice' and really wanted to this year after it came in second in the AM voting. However, I'm going to let 'Heavenly White Lightening' do its thing and see how it performs, as Jamie says it is better!

I always find it interesting to see what the results are. I don't necessarily want the winner but I'm sure there are alot of folks who do for their hybridizing programs.

I just wish the Stout winner was selected based on ALL regions having voted for it. But maybe there are folks who do grow it but they are NOT a Garden Judge and therefore we just never know. Food for thought!

Julia

The only list I really pay attention to is the Honorable Mention. I have a small garden and have chosen to populate it with newer, fancy flowers. The Award of Merit and the Stout are irrelevant to me because the cultivars are so old. There's the other pesky problem of needing true evergreens because of this very warm microclimate.

I have not renewed my Garden Judge credentials due to my husband's health problems--can't travel as extensively to see gardens as I have in the past, so reviewing the award winners is just out of habit.

Wow Beachlily,
If you think the Stout Medal and Award of Merit contenders are out of date what do think of some of the cultivars that keep winning the regional Pop Polls?I wish there was a more modern list for that as we don't really need to see the same cultivar win every year. A long as the lists are archived so people can go back and look at what was popular before, I don't see why there can't be a limit as to how many years a daylily can be on that. I wish there was some way to get older ones off and newer ones on faster. We need to get some of the cultivars bred in our own regions more exposure and what better way to do that than get some of the older ones off the Pop Poll lists.
I have many many older daylilies that I love but I certainly don't need to see year after year that they are amongst the most popular ones in my region. The write in votes are what's most interesting to me if they get published.
Finding out which daylilies from your region received an Honorable Mention is a good start but it can take a while for them to get up there in the polls.
Maybe my original post just shows how regional Daylilies seem to be getting. There is just such a difference in what can be grown between the north and the south. I think it is getting harder to find one that does well everywhere. Or if it can, can it compete with some of the fancy southern bred ones for attractiveness? It is unfortunate that someone with a "Stout Medal" garden might not be able to even grow all of the winners. I can understand Julia's wish for all regions to have voted for the winner. Then we would know it does well in all regions. But maybe that's asking too much from one flower?It's interesting for sure!

I am split on the value of the awards. Most of the daylilies I purchase are too new to be on the Award of Merit ballot. I do get some sort of validation when a daylily I already have wins the Award of Merit or Stout. I did order one this year in part based on the Honourable Mention it won this year: Pastor Laurie Ann Moeller (Waldrop 2004).

In our most recent Regional meeting, we discussed "archiving" the top Pop Poll winners in the Regional pop poll so that new ones can move up. It has not yet passed in a motion but I believe before the next ballot is created, that we will probably end up removing the top 3-5 each year so that new ones can move up on the list. Every Region has the option to do this on their regional ballot. So if you attend your Regional meetings, speak up and ask!

Oh, and to get back to the discussion of voting for cultivars,IMHO, it would not be reasonable to expect winners to get votes from every region. Some regions (and in particular the less populous ones in terms of members and judges- Reg. 7,8,9 ) have very few judges.

That's great about your region's Pop Poll Floota! It is a very great honor to win and I can see that the polls are an invaluable resource for people starting out but there are so many great daylilies out there and so many of us are past the beginner stage but not quite able to afford the latest grreatest all the time that some more updated information would be of far more use.
So when everybody is voting, if that old standby you love has been taken off rest assured it has received it's due. Write in something more recent that does great for you and get it moving up the list.
I sure hope other regions follow suit. It sounds like a terrific idea!
And I realize winners can't get votes in every region but how much is the lack of judges in some regions and abundance in others already affecting the results? There is no perfect way to do it I guess.
Debbie

I'm not criticizing the cultivars that other gardeners choose to grow. I even have a couple of oldiest myself. However, because I only have space for about 100 cultivars, focusing on what brings me joy is important. I like ruffles and clear, crisp colors.

When I lived in Atlanta, I grew maybe 50 cultivars, almost all were dormant. To this day, I can pick a dormant bloom out so easily due to the clear colors. In FL, I can only grow evergreens and thats what gives me heartburn--trying to find the wonderful colors that dormants offer, only in evergreen form.

That's interesting Beachlily. I have never heard of the connection between clear colors and dormancy.
Why do you think that is?

Beats me! I'm not a scientist. I can just recognize it. Causes for some really interesting comments between me, myself and I. If anyone overheard, I'd be in trouble!

Has anyone else make a connection between clear, brilliant colors and dormancy?

I love H. JT Davis and always will. It just grows and blooms wonderfully here. Among my very best performers!

>>The write in votes are what's most interesting to me if they get published.
Write in something more recent that does great for you and get it moving up the list. >>

I also like to look at Pop Poll results. So, do the ones you write in make the list? I looked and didn't see any of mine.