selected by the board of directors
Lenington All-American Award
The Lenington All-American Award is given annually since 1970 to the daylily voted the best performer over a wide geographic area. The American Daylily Society Board of Directors votes on this award at the Fall Board Meeting each year.
Award Winners
Past Lenington Award Winners
- 2004 RED VOLUNTEER (Oakes)
- 2003 JAN’S TWISTER (Joiner, J.)
- 2002 MIDNIGHT MAGIC (Kinnebrew)
- 2001 MING PORCELAIN (Kirchhoff, D.)
- 2000 JASON SALTER (Salter, E.H.)
- 1999 ORANGE VELVET (Joiner)
- 1998 PAPER BUTTERFLY (Morss)
- 1997 SMOKY MOUNTAIN AUTUMN (Guidry)
- 1996 KATE CARPENTER (Munson-R.W.)
- 1995 DESIGNER JEANS (Sikes)
- 1994 CHORUS LINE (Kirchhoff-D.)
- 1993 BEAUTY TO BEHOLD (Sellers)
- 1992 (No Award was given…)
- 1991 CONDILLA (Grooms)
- 1990 JOAN SENIOR (Durio)
- 1989 RUSSIAN RHAPSODY (Munson-R.W.)
- 1988 LULLABY BABY (Spalding-W.)
- 1987 GOLDEN PRIZE (Peck)
- 1986 YESTERDAY MEMORIES (Spalding-R.W.)
- 1985 Olive Baily Langdon (Munson-R.W.)
- 1984 RED RUM (Pittard 1974)
- 1983 ED MURRAY (Grovatt 1971)
- 1982 RAINDROP (Kennedy 1972)
- 1981 PRESTER JOHN (Allgood 1972)
- 1980 GREEN FLUTTER (Williamson-L.)
- 1979 ORIENTAL RUBY (Fischer 1968)
- 1978 HOPE DIAMOND (MacMillan 1968)
- 1977 WHITE FORMAL (Lenington-G.)
- 1976 CLARENCE SIMON (MacMillan 1966)
- 1975 JEST (Searles 1963)
- 1974 WINSOME LADY (Gates 1964)
- 1973 GREEN VALLEY (Fischer 1955)
- 1972 SKIATOOK CARDINAL (Hancock 1960)
- 1971 SATIN GLASS (Fay-Hardy 1960)
- 1970 FRANCES FAY (Fay 1957) and LUXURY LACE (Spalding 1957)
George E. Lenington (1902-1950)
At its third convention in 1948, George Lenington of Missouri was chosen to serve as President of The [then-called] Hemerocallis Society. During his presidency, from mid-1948 to mid-1949, ten regions were established to serve the membership. He formed the first committees to survey existing color charts.
In an open letter to members, Lenington referred to “high speed days of political speeches, world unrest, and jet propulsion.” He wrote of the calm reassurance he found when he put on his garden clothes and moved among the flowers.
As President, Lenington repeatedly stressed the need to initiate guidelines for objective evaluation of daylily cultivars, not only for their beauty or other qualities as exhibition flowers, but as garden subjects requiring vigor and hardiness.
Lenington worked for the Kansas City Life Insurance Company as superintendent of the home office building and grounds. In a mutually beneficial arrangement, Lenington could develop a picturesque setting for the display of daylilies. The grounds of the outstanding Neoclassical structure were enhanced. Visitors to the gardens evaluated plants identified only by numbers, not by names. Once evaluated, they received a sheet with corresponding names.
In early 1950, Lenington organized The Kansas City Hemerocallis Society. That year Board minutes stated that “being the first such society formed within the ranks of the parent society…the club acts in the capacity of a model…” Board minutes also stated that the club was “further privileged to take out the first sustaining membership in the Hemerocallis Society.”
Lenington went on to serve the Society as a Director, as Secretary, as Treasurer, and as part of the Membership Committee. He also encouraged the collection of 35 mm color slides for the Society Library.
George Lenington made his first registrations in 1951; 139 daylilies were registered just in his name, including both diploids and tetraploids. Seven of his cultivars achieved Awards of Merit. The Lenington family’s commercial garden was officially established in 1952, with the publication of its first catalog. It became known for introducing the daylilies of James Marsh, as well as his own and later the Lucille Lenington plants.
In 1955, George Lenington was honored with the AHS Helen Field Fischer Award, the Society’s highest honor, in recognition of his service to the Society. In 1970 he received the Bertrand Farr Medal, for obtaining outstanding results as a hybridizer of daylilies.
Lenington originated the Lenington All-American Award. He wanted to encourage affordable, time-tested, plants that performed well in many regions of the country.
– Courtesy of AHS Archives
The American Daylily Society
