You all should attend the National Convention!

THREE days of daylily gardens! Woohoo! The registration form has the optional third day on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: AHS National Convention

Hi Julie,
I think that the best advice I could give is that you decide on how much you can spend on travel (and of course the daylilies you will want to buy when you see them in person!) and then see how far from home you can go. There are display gardens all around the country, but I see only one in Oregon although there are three in Washington. You can look them up on the AHS web site which is
http://www.daylilies.org/daylilies.html
Then click on Regional ACtivities. You are in Region 8.

If your buget allows, there is also something called Daylily Mecca - one in the upper midwest (Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky) and another in Florida where hybridizers' gardens are open over a several day period. I looked briefly and could not find anything about the one in Florida for 2009, but if it is happening, it would likely be in late May or early June. The one in Ohio is in the planning stages. It will likely be a 2 - 4 weeks after the one in Florida. You can see a bunch of gardens in a relatively short time. Info for this is at
http://www.northernmecca.com

Other than that, if you can find individual growers in your area, or somewhere that you would not mind going to for those three days, nearly all of them will be glad to tell you when their peak bloom season occurs and they will welcome your visit.

Besides the National Convention mentioned above, each AHS Region generally has their own annual get together which revolves around garden visits and a lot of good food. I'm in Georgia, and our Regional meeting is the first weekend in June with tours planned for both Saturday and Sunday.
Good luck finding what you want. I'm sure that there are other regional meeting closer to you. They should be listed (or will soon be listed) on the AHS web site
Larry

Thanks guys!

Gonegardening--The National Convention sounds great. Am going to do some more research and see if I can get more details about the garden tours available, but it would really be a kick to meet DL fans from around the country!

Larry--As you could see when you looked into it, there really isn't much in our local area... Display gardens that we either have visited or are planning to see on a weekend trip. Problem is, until you get down to Oregon, their climate is fairly similar to my own. We are planning on treating ourselves and going as far as we need to.. Florida... the Midwest ... Georgia... wherever we are going to get the best taste of warm weather daylily blooms. Both the Mecca and the Regional meetings sound like exactly what we are after. Are the regional meetings open to AHS members from other parts of the country? I have just recently joined, so am not at all familiar with how things work.

Julie

Julie, you can attend any regional meeting you want, as long as you meet deadlines, etc.

The National this year is...essentially....Florida Mecca. I mean, those are the gardens that are on tour, etc. Plus, you will not have to find your own way to them, you can ride in comfort on a bus (no parking worries!).

I went to my first National last year and it was overwhelming (in a good way!)...we toured nine gardens in two days. You may have seen some of them on my blog....I took so many pictures that I still have day two to do!

Not that any regional wouldn't be fun to do (of course they would), why not jump on the chance to see all those Florida daylilies in person in their natural habitat for yourself?

Really, though, you can follow the calendar starting in the south and then moving north. Check the AHS website as the regional meetings should be all there (or will be there). Some regions like mine (region 3) have a variance in when peak bloom occurs (last year's meeting was around June 21st...this year's is around July 11th)...so, it changes from year to year.

I think it would be hard to get a better deal (touring wise) than a national convention. A lot packed in there with very little worry on your part.

I have toured on my own and enjoy that also. I took in two of the gardens on the Northern Mecca (which has a spread of dates, too...given the wide area it covers) last year and look forward to doing more in the future.

Good for you that you're going to get out and around. Nothing beats seeing daylilies in person.

Another thing to keep in mind, most of the regions schedule their regional around peak bloom for that area. If you find out when and where each regional is held you'll have a pretty good map of the daylily bloom cycle across the country.

We're hosting Region 9 here in Northern CO the third weekend of July (17th-18th).

Julie, a worthwhile day trip for you next Summer would be to Rogers Gardens in Springfield Oregon.
It's a retail nursery right off the freeway that has loads of newer daylilies, like Entwined in the Vine, Bridey Greeson & God Save The Queen.
I believe the nursery is open 9 to 5 except Sundays year 'round.
I'm planning a trip to buy more shrubs, trees, daylilies & succulents that I drooled over last time I was there!

Julie- I don't have any new suggestions and since I have never done anything but our local club tours, not really any help. I just wanted to say that it is a fantastic idea and you will be sure and have a terrific time no matter which region you choose.