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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 Is it too early to start dreaming about summertime plans? That Midwest Regional Back to that leaf raking..... Later, Doug Contact Doug Beilstein ![]() “Hostas, Friends, & Music” The 2012 AHS National Convention
Spring
has sprung in Middle Tennessee, and we are excitedly awaiting your
visits to Nashville and the 2012 AHS Convention June 13-16th. 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. Please read on for updated convention information… 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. Please contact Cindy Tomashek regarding plans for the auction. Contact Cindy Tomashek Cornelia, Virginia, and Friends ![]() Cindy Tomashek, Executive Vice President BREAKING CONVENTION NEWS!!
Ready for some exciting news? Thank you, HHS!
![]() Could Your Group Be a Future AHS Convention Host??
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.
Cindy Contact Cindy Tomashek ![]() 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! ![]() ![]() Sandie Markland, 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 15th 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! Sandie Contact Sandie Markland ![]() ![]() Rob Mortko, HVX Research Project Update 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. ![]() ![]() Chuck Zdeb, 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. Chuck Contact Chuck Zdeb ![]() Barb Schroeder,
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. ![]() Rick Goodenough,
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! ![]() The Online Hosta Journal News 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 1st, 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 1st 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. Enjoy, The Online Journal Team Contact Don Dean Contact Rick Schroeder ![]() |