Moore’s award winning garden on daylily convention tour

The official name of the group is the American Hemerocallis Society Region 14. It encompasses Alabama and Mississippi, but members also live in Florida and Georgia.

The year’s three-day convention for the Region 14 self-proclaimed “daylily addicts” was held at the Dothan Botanical Gardens. The event included a tour of three local daylily gardens May 21.

This year marked the second time that the annual convention participants toured the Daleville garden of Frank and Rita Moore during their three-day spring convention. The first visit to the Moore’s was during the convention in 2016.

Rita Moore has grown daylilies at their Leigh Street home since 1974, inspired by daylily hybridizer Sarah Sykes, who lived near Rita’s family in Crenshaw County. The design of their garden has evolved since the Moores retired from careers in education and Frank Moore’s worldwide service as an officer in Lions Club International.

The Moore’s front entrance garden features a large rose garden of hybrid teas, miniatures, mini-floras, floribundas and old garden roses.

The Moore’s backyard garden is comprised of more than 600 varieties of spider, double, miniature and full form daylilies, enhanced with companion plants which include hydrangeas, amaryllis, azaleas, woodland and tall garden phlox, dahlias, coral vine and Shasta daisies.

The Moore’s garden was one of three that two Southern Coaches tour buses full of self-proclaimed daylily addicts toured during the three-day convention that ended with an awards banquet May 21.

The Moore’s garden, B.J. Yount’s “Lilies of the Field” garden in Midland City and the daylilies at the Dothan Botanical Gardens, which are maintained by the Wiregrass Daylily Club, were the three gardens toured by those attending the convention.

The culmination of the banquet was the announcement of the awards that had been voted on by the tour attendees. The Moore’s garden received the award for the best miniature, Suburban Louise Talley; the best double, Twisted Whiskers; and the best eyed cultivar, One Eyed Willie. The Moore’s garden also received the “Best use of daylilies in the landscape” award. Rita Moore said that the comment that she heard the most from the attendees was compliments on her use of companion plants in her landscape.

“We were supposed to host the Daylily Convention and tours two years ago, but COVID-19 mandates cancelled the convention,” Moore said. “The Hattiesburg, Miss., Daylily Society hosted the National Daylily Society Convention so we combined the regional and national meetings last year.

“We just come on the tour to look and enjoy,” said Kurt Green of Bassfield, Miss., who is a member of the Hattiesburg Area Daylily Society, as he walked through the Moore’s garden marking his choice of favorites on the ballot. Last year he and his wife Janet who are members of the Hattiesburg Area Daylily Society, were hosts on the convention tour of garden. “I suppose we all consider ourselves daylily addicts,” he said with a smile.