Please give your society s thought for the holiday season. The fun is in the

giving AND getting!

AHS Online Auction 08

The fifth AHS On-line Auction is currently being organized and set up on the

Hosta Library web site located at http://hostalibrary.org/cgi-bin/ahs1.pl

.Get into the holiday spirit and consider participating this year and

supporting our organization. Start planning now for possible donations.

Specific dates and directions for the process by which you may participate

will be included at this web site. The target date is set for the second two

weeks in January, the 12th through the 26th. Proceeds raised will be

targeted for The Hosta Journal. We hope to net an additional $5,000 from

this activity to continue three issues of our fine Journal.


Contacts, questions, plant donations (address ALL email with on-line in the

subject bar to avoid being deleted as SPAM):

Don Dean, AHS Online Auction Coordinator

Click Here To Contact Don or dedean@ties2.net

Auction mechanics:

The site will be http://www.hostalibrary.org/cgi-bin/ahs1.pl and we

are NOT able to accept credit card payments at this site. Go to the home

page, read the terms, and follow the directions. All plants offered will be

listed. Some new ones will be added throughout the duration of the auction

so keep logging onto the site. You will need to register with a "handle" or

alias, valid Email address, and mailing address if you wish to bid.

Directions will be prompted once you commence to place a bid.

High bidders will be posted and contacted by Email after the

close of the auction and told they have placed the highest bid. The message

will direct the high bidder as to how to make payment by check to AHS. The

mailing address will be included in the message sent to the high bidder.

Once payment is verified, the donator will be contacted by Email to make

arrangements with the high bidder for delivery of the plant at a time

mutually agreeable.

A complete accounting of plants, high bids, and payments

received will be made to the AHS Treasurer and President at the completion

of collections.

Plant donations:

All plants you have enjoyed will probably strike a spark of

interest in someone else's mind. Highly coveted, rare, hard to find, good

breeding stock, and new breeders from your breeding program are being

sought. Originator stock plants often bring a good bid. Consider collections

of plants with a theme: Moon, Tiaras, gold centered, from a particular

hybridizer, etc. We have had a high level of interest in hosta related,

handcrafted items for wear, home, or garden.

You may simply send an Email to me regarding your donation. I

will need to post the donation due to the functions available with this

software. Include the name of the plant, hybridizer, registration date (or

state : Registration Pending), and the description you wish to have posted.

I will proof it and add details if I can before entering it to the site for

you. This then becomes a promise (or voucher), to ship the plant to the

highest bidder.

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES are crucial for most of this type of plant to

gain the attention it warrants. Take one and send it along with your

commitment to donate a plant. We are often able to access a picture from

current websites with the generosity of the webmasters. We prefer working

with digital photos sent via Email. Pictures need to be reduced in size to

approximately 200 x 200 to fit the space available. Reduce it before sending

or send it as is, and I will do what I can to reduce it on this end of

things.

HELP: Help spread the word to those who are not on our mailing list and do not receive this information via other channels. Distribute this message through local hosta group's email lists, phone, other garden club meetings, and word of mouth. Thanks in advance for considering donating to this auction. Those who have participated in past auctions found it quite exciting! Enjoy, donate, bid, and support our organization.

Don Dean

AHS On-line Auction Coordinator

Click Here To Contact Don or dedean@ties2.net

Ps. Be sure to forward this message to all your new hosta friends as well as

check with the "old" friends to ensure that they received the message. Every

year some addresses change. Some will not receive the messages due to their

security settings blocking my mass mailings. Suggest that they add my

address to their mailing list!! Thanks for helping spread the word and enjoy

the holiday season!