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AHS Region 2/Great Lakes Newsletter
Region 2 Summer Meeting Tour Gardens
Yes, it was a “Once Upon A Millennium–Chicago 2000”
by RVP Mary Milanowski
RegionTwoSummer Meeting host, the Chicagoland Daylily Society, sincerely hopes that all attendants enjoyed
the before-and-after open gardens and the tour gardens during the great July weekend. We are grateful to
those garden owners, and we value the cooperation they showed in preparing for this event. We especially
appreciate the hospitality of The Fields and the breakfast they served to our guests, and we hope that everyone
had an opportunity to view the elaborate daylily floral arrangements prepared by their staff. Our special thanks
go to Pat Bell and Charlie Kirin, co-chairs of Once Upon a Millennium – Chicago 2000, to all Chicagoland DS
members who donated bus plants for the Region 2 Summer Meeting, to Phil Brockington and Howard Reeve for
lining out and growing the bus plants, and to Leo Sharp for donating the CHICAGOLAND MILLENNIUM (Leo
Sharp 2000) gift plant for each “household” attending this meeting.
For those of you who missed attending this year’s annual meeting, the following garden tour write-ups and
photo gallery will summarize a picture-perfect event.
The Fields 2000 Display Garden
by Julie Gridley from Merrill, Wisconsin
The second day of the summer regional meeting saw a
change from touring private gardens to visiting commercial
nurseries. The first of these was The Fields,
near Joliet, IL. Owners Greg Neuman and his wife,
Diane Hucek, treated us to a fabulous, boxed breakfast,
which we were able to enjoy sitting on benches
scattered among their display beds (or perched on the
seats of the golf carts they provide for customers!).
The Fields is a 200-acre nursery which has been selling
daylilies wholesale for six years. Greg bought the
farm in 1987 in order to start his own landscaping business.
His interest in plants was originally sparked when his
father opened a small nursery in his retirement years
and enlisted Greg’s help. That business stayed in the
family and grew, but eventually Greg decided to strike
out on his own. While searching for a niche that would
allow him to succeed without directly competing with
the rest of his family, a trusted horticulture professor
suggested he try daylilies. And you could truly say that
the rest is history!
Delicious boxed breakfast picnic at The Fields
Viewing, feasting, and socializing at The Fields
Page 20 Fall 2000/Winter 2001