Elizabeth Nesmith Clump Award

In the 1940s and 1950s, long before daylily enthusiasts traveled widely to visit gardens in other regions, Elizabeth Nesmith’s Massachusetts garden was a mecca for northern growers. In Passion for Daylilies, Sydney Eddison wrote that Nesmith “was the first woman to make an impression on the daylily world.” She was among the first hybridizers to consistently cross hardy dormant varieties with less hardy southern varieties to expand the range of daylilies for cold climates.

Her goals—large flowers, firm substance, good branching, and many blooms per scape—mirror those of today’s hybridizers. From 1933 to 1966, she introduced 336 cultivars, winning 20 Honorable Mentions, 11 Awards of Merit, and the Stout Medal for H. ‘Potentate’. She also received the Bertrand Farr Medal for hybridizing excellence in 1953.

To honor her legacy, Region 4 established the Elizabeth Nesmith Clump Award to recognize outstanding clumps of Region 4 introductions seen during peak-bloom regional meetings.

Award Criteria

• Presented at a peak-bloom Region 4 meeting.
• Awarded to a Region 4 hybridizer for the most impressive daylily clump seen in a Regional tour garden.
• The plant must have been hybridized in Region 4, be named and registered with ADS, and introduced within the previous 15 years.
• The hybridizer must be a Region 4 resident (or have been living in Region 4 at the time of death).
• A “clump” is defined as five or more fans.
• Each tour garden may identify up to ten eligible cultivars.
• Clumps must be clearly labeled for easy identification; all Regional meeting attendees (and National attendees when combined with an ADS National) may vote.

Garden Clump Award Recipients