Brandywine Daylily Garden

'Dr. Elsie Quarterman' 2014

 

Tennessee is home to an extraordinary ecosystem called cedar glades. These areas are dry in the summer and wet in the winter and take their names from the openness and general lack of trees except for the Eastern Red Cedar.  These are a rare habitat, being found in the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee only. On June 9, 2014-already a year has passed without her-Tennessee lost its best glade lover and ecologist, Dr. Elsie Quarterman. She was that one rare person, one dedicated individual who helped bring these very rare glades to light and help them be protected and saved. I consider her the mother of the cedar glade restricted species that she rediscovered, Echinacea tennesseensis or the Tennessee Coneflower. The species was believed to be extinct until Elsie and another colleague rediscovered them in 1968. She then dedicated her life to working with the glades and coneflowers. Had it not been for her, these once Endangered coneflowers would have gone extinct. She persevered and did what she loved. At  104, she was still as youthful as her early botanizing days. I named this daylily in her honor, for all of her vital and priceless work she has done, and for the amazing lady she truly was.

     Thank you for everything Elsie. You are an inspiration to myself and so many others and a savior of the glades and Tennessee Coneflowers. 

    May your memory continue to live on through the wonder Ann and Patrick Quarterman, the glades and their species, and your daylily-

 

                                                                                Stephen Smith