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AHS Region 2/Great Lakes Newsletter
This and That, from AHS to Regional Topics
opics
John Benz Wins the 2000 Hite Awar
ard
opics (continued)
Phyllis Cantini presenting the
2000 Howard Hite Award to John Benz
The Howard Hite Achievment Award for Hybridizing
Excellence was awarded to John Benz during
the 2000 Region 2 Summer Meeting awards ceremonies.
The History of the Award:
At the 1989 Region 2 Summer Meeting, this new award
was announced and sponsored by the Southern Michigan
Iris and Hemerocallis Society. It is in the form of
a free-form, sand-etched glass plate with an engraved
image of Howard Hite’s INDONESIA on it.
It is meant to honor years of effort on the part of a
hybridizer to improve daylily cultivars. Any Region 2
member, including members of the Hite Award Committee,
may submit names of candidates for the award
to the Region 2 RVP before January 31 each year.
Note: The criteria for selection of a recipient were
printed in the Fall 1999/Winter 2000 issue of our regional
newsletter. You may also contact the Southern
Michigan Iris and Hemerocallis Society.
About John Benz
by Martha Seaman
In 1980, John Benz was a Cincinnati house painter
who grew perennials, including some older daylilies
from Wild’s. In 1981, he made a trip to Handy
Hatfield’s garden, south of Columbus, Ohio, to see
some newer daylilies. There, he fell in love with
JOEL (H. Harris 1978), a big, flat, wide yellow.
Since JOEL was on display only and he couldn’t
buy it, John phoned the hybridizer Harold Harris
in Florissant, Missouri, and there began a wonderful
relationship between the two men.
John and his wife Janet made numerous trips to
Florissant to see Harold and his daylilies and to
discuss hybridizing techniques. In 1984, Harold
Harris decided to retire, and he sold his entire garden,
seedlings and all, to John and Janet. That fall,
John, with the help of his brother-in-law Earl Porter,
made two trips to Florissant to dig up and transport
(and replant!) all those plants to Cincinnati.
That next year, John mailed out his first typewritten
sales list. In 1987, his first true (black and
white) catalog came out, and by 1989, the Benz
catalog had color.
John grows from 2000 to 3000 mostly tetraploid
seedlings each year and selects up to 100 for evaluation
from that number. After the third or fourth
year, and after being lined out in the fall, about 20
to 25 plants are introduced for sale in the spring.
The Benz daylilies are noted for being large, round,
ruffled, and sturdy. John is particularly known for
weather resistant reds with green throats, but his
rose, pink and yellow daylilies have many admirers.
He is a strong advocate of hardy plants for
northern gardens, and his daylilies are representative
of his dreams and values.
1990 Dr. Charles Branch
1991 No award presented
1992 Bryant Millikan
1993 Brother Charles Reckamp
Recipients
1994 Steve Moldovan
1995 Howard Hite
1996 Robert Griesbach
1997 Dennis Anderson
1998 Curt Hanson
1999 Marge Soules
2000 John Benz
Page 36 Fall 2000/Winter 2001