Lilies in the Valley

FISHERSVILLE
The 13th annual Daylily & Wine Festival wrapped up Sunday as more than 3,000 people turned out for the two-day event at the Andre Viette Farm & Nursery.

“It’s been perfect,” said Ben Carter, president of the Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event. “Perfect weather, the crowds have been large. We’re very excited about it.”

Andre Viette humored audiences throughout the weekend with talks on daylilies and perennials.
“Growing daylilies is absolutely wonderful,” Viette said in his Sunday lecture.
He said the “English spring,” with plentiful rainfall, was good for the nursery’s many varieties of flowers.
“I guess the best way to explain it to you all is you will not see another spring like this, because you can get a rainy spring or a cool spring, but a hot summer,” Viette said. “Or you can have a lack of rain in the spring and then a cooler summer, but we are in the cycle for cooling now.”

Viette joked that farmers out west “were looking for Al Gore, because they were so cold.”
He recommended buying name-variety plants, and said that one $50 daylily purchase could provide gardeners with 2,000 daylilies in seven years. He also said daylilies need to be watered deeply twice a month.

Other lecturers provided advice on strategies for a greener, more energy-efficient home, the art of bonsai and cooking with wine. The clear, dry weather Sunday also gave people the opportunity to sit out on the grass and listen to the music of Scruffy Murphy.

And like Andrew Baldwin, of Waynesboro, many people also crowded the two wine tents to sample the different vintages.
Baldwin thinks the event is good for the area.
“It’s an opportunity to try out some wines, spend time with family and have some good food,” he said. “It’s good to kind of taste the variety and try some different things.”

Carter said there was something at the festival for all ages.
“You couldn’t ask for a better festival this year,” Carter said.