Daylilies are the Flowers of the Month during the Daylily Extravaganza held every day in June at Massee Lane Gardens, 5½ miles south of Fort Valley on Georgia SR 49. Several thousand prizewinning daylilies will be dazzling in their vibrant colors of yellow, orange, red, pink and purple throughout June. Generous daylily hybridizers are sharing their fine blooms with the gardens so that Massee Lane becomes a major showcase for daylily beauty in the middle Georgia area.
Gala Day, on Saturday, June 18, is a big event with culture workshops on daylily culture including growing, hybridizing, and propagating these lovely blooming plants. Reservations are needed for this session and the cost, which includes a delicious sack lunch and garden admission, is $15.00. You may pot your extra plants of any kind to take part in the Plant Swap. You can swap or buy the plant you want.
Daylily culture workshops are scheduled each Wednesday during June from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. The Wednesday workshops are free with garden admission. During June, Daylilies will be on sale every Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission to the gardens is $5.00, with American Camellia Society members and children under 12 admitted free. Senior Citizen and AAA discounts are honored.
The Avera-Peterson Children's Garden, the newest addition to Massee Lane Gardens, is a garden of discovery. Its design, in the form of a six-segmented caterpillar, encompasses different themes for a child to enjoy along with accompanying adults.
An all-weather treat is the Edward Marshall Boehm porcelain collection displayed in the Annabelle Fetterman Lundy Educational Museum and the Stevens-Taylor Gallery at the gardens. The collection is considered the world's largest public display of Boehm's work. Here you will find his exquisite birds and flowers, so lifelike that you feel as if you can ruffle the feathers or smell the fragrance of the blossoms. Important porcelain artists' work is also featured in the museum including Connoisseur, Bronn, Cybis and others.
There is a lot to see and enjoy at Massee Lane Gardens. Garden tours of the camellias in the winter season and of other flowers throughout the year are always available. The Scheibert Rose Garden blossoms into color from spring until frost while the Japanese Garden and the Brown & Hall Environmental Garden each show their beauty throughout the year.
For more information, brochures and directions call 1-877-422-6355, email festival@camellias-asc.org, or visit the office website at www.camellias-acs.org.
