2012 AHS Spring Newsletter

Can you believe this weather!!! Eight days of 50℉+ temps by mid-March. For some reason, when I see Spring I see fall. Leaves that were removed have reappeared.The magnolias and oaks have finally let go of their leaves.The daffs and crocus are in full bloom. Thank goodness the pips are still sleeping.

Spring means your local clubs and societies are engaging in meetings once again.I hope you catch the spring fever and attend one in your area. Check the AHS website at American Hosta Society for a club near you. You're sure to get a dose of fun and fellowship and the opportunity to help.

It’s still not too late to get your reservation in for the AHS National Convention in Nashville June 13-16. Check the AHS website for more information.Bring your family along and enjoy the wonderful historic and scenic opportunities in this area before or after the convention. I hope to see you all there.

The Hosta Journal has begun to arrive. I can’t wait to take a break from garden
cleanup duties to see what Editor Bob Olson has for us in this first edition of the
2012 journal. Always a treat!

Is it too early to start dreaming about summertime plans? That Midwest Regional
in Rochester, Minnesota is beginning to look awfully attractive.

Spring has sprung in Middle Tennessee, and we are excitedly awaiting your visits to Nashville and the 2012 AHS Convention June 13-16^th. For full details of the convention and schedule, visit 2012 AHS Convention.

Full registration of $249 continues through a postmarked date of 4.15.12. After that time, a late registration fee will apply until 5.15.12. For a $10 convenience fee, you may register using Visa or Master Card. Registration forms may be printed from the website.

If you will be entering Giant-Sized or Large-Sized Hosta leaves (especially in the sport/seedling category where two leaves are required) it is suggested that you bring clear vases for displaying your leaves. These may be collected on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. as the Show is being dismantled.

Marriott hotel reservations should be made prior to May 20th. Any rooms remaining in the block being held for convention attendees will be released at that time. The CMA Festival is the previous week in Nashville so there will be a lot of visitors in town. The Nashville Airport Marriott is a Corporate Marriott and a great venue with everything on one floor. The scientific sessions will be in the large ballroom.

The Garden Tours of Nashville has reached capacity. Space is still available on the Civil War Sites in Franklin, TN which includes the period garden at Carnton Plantation.

Grand Ole Opry tickets are still available through Gray Line. See 2012 AHS Convention for contact information. Gray Line will have a table in the hotel lobby Tuesday afternoon where tickets will be distributed to those who have made reservations.

The Memphis (TN) Botanic Garden and Dixon Gallery and Gardens are offering free admission on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday to attendees of the 2012 AHS Convention. Please show your reservation confirmation or convention name tag when visiting. MBG is home to the Hosta Trail, an AHS Hosta Display Garden established, maintained and endowed by the Mid-South Hosta Society.

The Harshbarger Hosta Society in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, IA, area will host the 2014 AHS National Convention! This is a new venue for an AHS Convention and a terrific group of hosta folks… I am excited about their plans and also grateful for their initiative.

The AHS is excited about opening discussions with any local hosta group or society interested in learning more about hosting a National Convention starting with 2015 and beyond. There are more options than ever for AHS hosts. I look forward to helping you craft a special convention for AHS members. Please contact me for more information or to start a conversation.

JUNE 12 – 16, 2013 is the AHS Convention in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area!!

Come and experience a new twist on AHS conventions with its slightly shorter format and ‘create your own tour’experience from the terrific garden options co-chairs Jack Barta and Tom Micheletti have lined up for us! We know what Lite Beer is about – now we’ll discover what a Lite Convention is all about!

Yes, it’s true - no buses are planned. Worried about driving on your own? Take some initiative and get a group of friends together – rent a shuttle of your own. Heck - rent a mini bus if you have a lot of friends or want to make lots of new friends! There will be help matching attendees needing rides with others willing to provide rides as well. I, for one, will not miss sitting in the back of a large bus next to the bathroom, or having to leave a gorgeous garden at the sound of a whistle when I’ve not seen it all! If we focus more on the positive aspects of trying something new we will all find it more enjoyable!

Many of the familiar things we love remain the same – Hosta Show, Vending, Live Auction, Hostatality - there’s no way I would miss this and I hope to see you there!

The mailing list for the first issue of the 2012 Hosta Journal was generated in early March. This issue will begin arriving in members' mailboxes in mid to late April. As usual, your 2012 AHS Membership Card will be printed on the mailing label which accompanies that issue. If you do not receive your copy by the 15^th of May, please contact the AHS Membership Secretary to secure a replacement issue. There will be no membership card with the replacement issue.

It is important to keep the AHS Membership Secretary informed of changes in your contact information. If you do not receive AHS mailings due to an unreported change of address, a $6.00 payment is required to cover the cost of shipping and handling for the replacement issue. Please send address changes to Sandy Markland as promptly as possible. Individuals who travel between summer and winter homes should advise the Membership Secretary of their change of address approximately 6 weeks in advance.

All AHS Memberships run from January 1 through December 31 regardless of when an individual joins or renews. The year of your membership expiration immediately follows your name on the mailing sheet which accompanies each mailing you receive from the AHS. The second Journal mailing of each year (due out in late summer/early fall) is always accompanied by a renewal form. It is important to renew in a timely manner in order to avoid the $5.00 late fee which MUST be applied to all renewals mailed or entered online after January 15 of each calendar year.

AHS Memberships make great gifts for your gardening friends - or great door prizes for your local club events!

Dr. Ben Lockhart reports that the winter months have been spent giving the plants the required cold treatment period. In the second week of February, some hostas were transferred from cold storage and inoculated with HVX for the study on virus movement (leaves to roots to new leaves) in relation to susceptibility to HVX infection. The most susceptible cultivars (H ‘Honeybells’, H ‘Golden Tiara’ and H ventricosa) leafed out very rapidly in the greenhouse. Some flowered early confirming previous experience that these experiments need to be performed under conditions similar to those occurring outdoors in the garden. Dr. Lockhart plans to re-start this experiment outdoors with a fresh lot of plants in early April.

Mechanical transmission experiments (via contaminated cutting tools) will be repeated using H ‘Honeybells’ at three stages of post-emergence. This will be compared with similar tests done last fall. Testing of the plants that were overwintered in the field plot will start as soon as the plants emerge. The study of HVX transmission via infected debris was started last fall by planting healthy H ‘Honeybells’ plants in holes from which infected plants had been removed.The roots and leaves of the test plants will be tested for the presence of HVX at 1-2 week intervals during the growing season. After the first set of results is received, the conditions of this experiment may be modified accordingly.

Spring is here and many of the societies across the country are getting ready for their leaf shows. Rule changes have mandated that your show chair be a judge. If you have already selected a show chair this year and they are not a judge, just request an exception or have a co-chair who is a judge.

Judy Burns has worked exceptionally hard to bring all the judges’ records back into order. At last count, some 30 judges had been eliminated from the roster. Some judges had no activity for over ten years.

Kathie Sisson has been working on redoing the judges training and exams. If you have older training materials and plan on giving a Judges Clinic, please contact her for updated training materials.

Debbie Bocknek, as she has for 25 plus years, is approving show schedules and getting entry cards out to the societies. She has indicated that this will probably be her last year as Hosta Show Chair so please send her a note of thanks for her many years of service.

Barbara Jones is busy getting a new Benedict Garden Performance Award ballot ready to go out to the judges. It should come out with our spring edition of the Judges Corner. Hope to see you all in Nashville in June.

The publications team has been busy these last few months. We have been working on standardizing how we list hosta cultivars in all the publications for consistency. We have also been working toward getting all publications on a fixed schedule. The plan is for the e-Newsletter to be out in January, April, July, and October. The Hosta Journal will be released in February and August, and the Online Journal will go online around Thanksgiving.

We have a dedicated volunteer team that is working hard for you. One of our team, Karen Rauquest, has left us so we have a gap in our editing staff for The Hosta Journal. If you are skilled at editing articles and interested in volunteering, please contact Bob Olson. Please bear with us as we continue to improve your publications.

The American Hosta Society welcomes two new hosta clubs… one is well underway - the South Western Ontario Hosta Society has an already well-developed website - SWOHS - and its membership is launching numerous events. Welcome SWOHS! The second is brand new and still in the planning stages in the Grand Ledge/Lansing, MI area.

As gardeners recognize the versatile attributes of hostas and begin to experience the vast array of choices, how can they not start collecting, meeting with kindred spirits, and begin - as Roger Smith often says - their 12 step addiction process with the friendship plant?

Member Services hopes to continue to listen and learn about what you like and what you would like more of with your AHS membership. Tell us about your read of the new Online Journal and any other AHS service or item of interest. I would personally welcome and invite your comments and input.

Here’s wishing for a frost-free, slug-free, vole-free spring in your hosta garden!

Joining the great issues of The Hosta Journal your AHS membership now includes a yearly edition of The Online Hosta Journal! Thanks to the wonderful ability of the internet to allow much more content for virtually no expense we are able to bring you more articles, more photos, and more coverage of hosta events than ever before!

The deadline for submitting an article or photos for this year’s edition of The Online Journal is October 1^st, 2012. Of course, the OLJ team will be collecting them now, also. Please contact Don Dean with article submissions or Rick Schroeder with photo submissions.

Be sure to visit the AHS website this November 22nd to begin reading this year's exciting third issue of The Online Hosta Journal. You'll need to use the password to get access at American Hosta Society.

All issues will remain available at the AHS website so if you've missed out on them somehow you can enjoy previous issues anytime. Just click the ‘Members’ button on the homepage, sign in with the current password (a new password found in the spring issue of The Hosta Journal goes into effect April 1^st each year), and click on the cover picture of the The Online Hosta Journal.

The first OLJ issue from 2010 remains available for both members and non-members to view. Simply go to the AHS website and click on ‘Publications’ on the left side of the homepage. Then click on the Online Hosta Journal cover.