Welcome to the official web home of the Charlottesville
Daylily Club!
Mission of the ChDC
The Charlottesville Daylily Club’s main focus is to educate the
public on the modern daylily and promote the genus Hemerocallis to people
interested in gardening. The club also serves an important function in
bringing people together with a common interest.
History of the ChDC
The ChDC was started in November 2001 by, principally, Jim Murphy
and Margo Reed, with help from others, including Carol Sarginger,
Richard Dittman, Lynn O'Donnell and Fred Benzinger. The first meetings were held at the home of Jim Murphy and Margo Reed.
The charter members were Fred Benzinger, Carol Sarginger, Lynn O’Donnell,
Claire McIlvain, Margo Reed, Jim Murphy, Richard and Jayne Dittman, and Bill
Potter.
The first meeting also counted Nicole Jordan in attendance. She was crucial
in two ways for the formation of the club. First was encouragement.
Second was spearheading a gift from RADS to ChDC to help us get started financially. Carol Sarginger was the first treasurer and took the financial
horns, and really moved Jim along with not so gentle prodding for fund
raising. Our most successful fund raiser so far has been an internet auction.
The second meeting, on December 8, 2002, was held at Carmelos, a
local Charlottesville restaurant, and was attended by the above, plus Jim
Smith, John Euchler, and Robert Chandler, less Bill Potter.
The first open garden tours were in 2002. Tour gardens included
the gardens of Lynn O’Donnell as well as Jim and Margo’s. Our biggest open
garden tour, so far, was in 2003. There were five gardens listed on our
tour. Open gardens for 2003 were Jim and Margo’s, Carol’s, Lynn’s, the Dittman’s, and
Fred Benzinger’s. The 2003 garden tour success was driven by good word of mouth
and by
Lynn
getting the Daily Progress (local paper) to write an article. More than 150
people coming through the gardens on that blistering hot July day.
Club Officers
For a listing of our current
officers with a little biography of each please visit the
Club Officers page. If you would like to know
more about our club or are interested in joining, feel free to contact any
of our officers or use our Contact Us page.
