COMMUNITY
The Gray Garden Club hosted their annual daylily contest and daylily sale recently at the W.E. Knox Civic Center, showing off the flowers and using the funds to beautify Gray.
Mary Musselman, a member of the Gray Garden Club, said the Gray Garden Club does many different services throughout Jones County. She said she enjoyed the excitement of the contest and was glad so many plants were sold.
“We sold daylilies outside and plants that we brought as a fundraiser, and inside the W.E. Knox Civic Center we had a daylily competition,” she said. “We encouraged as many people as we could to bring theirs in. We have different winners each year, and it could be you next year.”
She said the daylily contest has rules for the daylilies each contestant brings in. She said the stem is supposed to be clean, and the buds should not touch the bloom. She said there should be no ants or bugs. She said once the flower is cleaned up well, people can put them on display and let the judges decide.
“There are some people who are really into the competition, and they really want to win. I look forward to seeing who wins each year. We all used to love the Daylily Festival and the Gray Garden Club loves seeing other people’s daylilies. This helps us still see them,” Musselman said.
The sweepstakes winner at the daylily contest was Debbie Farnsworth. Greg Thompson won first place, Debbie Farnsworth won second place and Sara Tidwell third place.
Greg Thompson, the first-place winner, said he enjoys entering in the daylily contest. He said he was excited to win first place this year, since he won second place last year. He said they are beautiful flowers.
“I have a collection that has been growing in my yard, and I’ve been adding to my daylilies over the years,” he said. “They are low maintenance; I love them and I just let them grow. They are close enough to my house that the deer don’t mess with them.”
Musselman said some people bring some unique daylilies to display for the contest, and she’s glad she gets to see everything each year they enter. She said seeing so many of them together is beautiful.
The garden club member said they plan on having the daylily contest again next year. They sold more than half of the daylilies outside. She said all of the Gray Garden Club members bring in flowers to sell, too.
“The funds definitely help us. We turn around and use the funds for other activities here in Gray. I love seeing the different daylilies that people bring in, and I love that people enjoy buying the daylilies. Daylilies are so beautiful,” she said.
Thompson said this was his third year entering the daylily contest. He said each year he tries to improve and learn from last year. He said people should enter the contest, because it’s something fun to do and they can see the beauty of nature.
“My favorite thing about daylilies is the variety of colors and styles,” the winner said. “You can see so many. It’s just an incredible thing to see. I plan on entering next year, too. When you’re on top, you can’t stop.”
