Houston Hemerocallis Society
Established September 1953
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Houston Hemerocallis Society History Part I, Part II, Part III

Bertha Ella Cone Award Winners

The Houston Hemerocallis Society
by Lula Mae Purnell
(Reprinted from the Spring 1961 Region 6 Newsletter)

Once upon a time (all good stories begin this way) there were two "dirt daubers," Lucille Burleson and Nancy Wood. They saw an advertisement in the paper for daylilies and ordered them. They knew very little about the care of the plants. They were just very interested. About this time, Norene Greenstein had become very interested in crossbreeding and raising from seed. Norene borrowed books and read all she could find on genes, history, etc. Well, time moved a few checkers and these three met and became friends. Norene added her knowledge to the enthusiasm of the other two. About this time, Mrs. J. D. Stell had also become interested. These four had another friend, Dolly Wheeler, who grew amaryllis and cared nothing at all for this new-found flower friend of the others, until one was literally "forced" on her and then she, too, fell a victim of the wiles of the Daylily. About this time, Daisy Williamson joined the little daylily clique and so my story begins with these six principle characters.

One day Mrs. Burleson invited Jake Russell to talk to a Garden Club of which these six were members. In the course of Jake’s discussion he dropped a chance remark, "Why don’t you women organize a Hemerocallis Society here in Houston, there are enough of you right here to start it," and so a dream was born that day at Dolly Wheeler’s home. A dream that grew until one day in September 1953 a group gathered in Mrs. L. Z. Bean’s home and decided to meet at Mrs. E. W. (Nancy) Wood’s home and hold the first daylily meeting. They drew up the aims and purposes of the Houston Hemerocallis Society as follows:

1. This Society to be known as Houston Hemerocallis Society
2. The purpose of this organization:

1. To educate the public to the value of the daylily for home planting
2. To mass plant daylilies over the city of Houston in public places
3. To bring together all daylily fans and exchange ideas and thereby help each other
4. To work for a test garden
5. To make Houston the Daylily Center of Texas
6. Members to consist of "Hem" fans, either growers, breeders, or collectors
7. To compile a list of 100 best for the Gulf Coast

On October 24, 1953, the newly organized Society met at Mrs. E. W. Wood’s home, 610 Sue, and enrolled 23 Charter Members. Mrs. Wood was elected temporary President and Mrs. Bean temporary Secretary. So began the Houston Hemerocallis Society. First meetings were held in homes, then as the membership grew, the regular meeting place became the Garden Center on Hermann Drive. Mrs. C. C. Huff was elected President for the year 1954. The first public planting of daylilies was at the Heights Library. They closed out their first year very successfully, feeling that the newly organized group owed much to the work and study of Norene Greenstein. Since 1954, they have continued to work on their original organization purpose, and are still trying to make Houston the Daylily Center of Texas. The group takes pride in the fact they organized the first Daylily Society in Texas. The present officers are:

Mr. Carl Sauer, President; Mrs. F. D. Arthur, 1st Vice President; Mrs. Bertha Cone, 2nd Vice President; Miss Dixie Harris, Recording Secretary; and Mrs. H. B. McKnight, Corresponding Secretary. We are proud of the fact that 75 percent of our members are AHS members.

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Revised: 01/31/2012
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