April, 2006

 

 

Next Meeting:  April 11 @ 7:30 PM @ 9th & Lincoln.  Program:  A Year of Dahlias in slide show format:  how to plant, groom, show, and identify glorious dahlias.

Tuber and Cutting Sales April 1:  April Fool but no joke.  Thanks to the members who have volunteered at the Dell, at the Flower Show, at Dig Out 2006, at the Cutting Workshops, Lombardo, the Juuls, and those who signed up to help at 7 AM on April 1, we will have a really successful TUBER and Cutting sale.  Invite your friends to arrive early. Previous years, the line snaked around the block before 9 AM. DSC members, please wear your nametags and bring your ADS Classification book, a pen, and your most helpful attitude.  Please also bring your extra tubers and cuttings as we are worried that DSC might be a bit sparse this year.  All preps must be completed before 9AM: arranging sings tubers and cuttings into their respective categories, matching photos, and setting up a membership table. If time permits, helpers can shop early.  If you plan to exchange tubers or cuttings with DSC members, please do so in the parking lot to avoid confusion with things for sale.   There will be a POTLUCK lunch for DSC members. Bring a dish to share and let's feast after the madness and mayhem.  Stove and refrigeration facilities are available.

 

Green Feeding Frenzy:  Lou Lombardo brought the first batch of luscious green cuttings from his magic bake and serve garage greenhouse complete with enticing photos.  Lou starts his pot roots with cuttings in October.  He cossets them with “special sauce” and pinches them back until they have several tips and lots of leaves.  More thanks to participants at the second cutting seminar: DJ, Sarah, Jamie, Rosa and Rose.  Because of Lou and all these other generous DSC members there will be more fabulous tufts of great stuff at our Tuber Sale.


If you have not paid your DSC Dues for 2006, please do it ASAP. We need your support!
Your annual dues participation is very important to us
 

ADS Classification Book Demythologized:  Lou Paradise demythologized the “bible.”  There are 19 forms of dahlias and 15 colors.  All competitive dahlias are assigned a number based on form and color.  So given 234, one knows that all 200’s are B sized.  All 30-45’s are semi-cactus form.  All 4’s are yellow. Only cultivars which have won 2 blue ribbons in the last year or 3 or more in the last 2 years are cited in the ADS Classification Book.   If you were to have the choice of several b sc y’s and one had over 200 wins and a couple had only 2 or 3 wins and you only had space to grow one, it would be a better bet that the variety which had produced ribbons for several people all over the country would have the better odds of being successful in your garden, too.  Use this important tool when shopping through the catalogs or at our Tuber Sale. 

Landscape and Garden Buzz: After setting up the display booth for Dan’s Dahlias at the Landscape and Garden Show, Dan, his father Clarence, and Dick Porter (fanatic pom fancier) honored us with their presence.  According to Dan, last year was good for tubers in Washington.  Dan trucked down over 5000 beauties, all bagged up with pictures and prices and hopes to sell out.  Besides Dan’s Dahlias, the second generation of Connell’s had a big booth at the Cow Palace.  Corralitos Gardens drew helpers from the 4 dahlia societies in the Bay Area and became a nexus for bloomerati. 50,000 gardeners strolled acres of landscapes and shops.  Despite this bounty of dahlia offerings, the buzz was about Lou Lombardo’s trove at the March meeting.  Several people said they planned to come to our DSC Tuber Sale and/or our April meeting in the hopes of buying from Professor Dahlia. 

Life is a Bed of Dahlias: While remodeling her old office into a guest bedroom, Diana discovered dahlias at Bed Bath and Beyond.  In addition to a comfortable comforter, she festooned the windows with dahlias, tossed dahlia pillows across the bed, and props her feet on a dainty dahlia footstool: indoor gardening in cloth. 

April Aspiration: Finally!  Time to plant.  You have 2 choices: plant tubers directly in the ground or into containers (milk/juice cartoons or a large cup) before the ground.  For years I planted tubers directly into the ground and hoped that we wouldn’t get too much rain (which would rot them).  Tubers will sit in the ground until the temperature of the soil gets above 62 degrees.  Dig your hole 6-8” deep; add and stir up balanced fertilizer; pound in a stake; then set down tuber with eye to the sky.  Cover with only 2” soil. 

To speed things up, place a gallon or even 5 gallon black pot over the top to concentrate heat and fend off rain.  I do not water at all.  Some people recommend sprinkling once at the time of planting and then not at all until green sprouts appear.  Remember, the tuber has no roots yet; it cannot take in nutrients or water until it forms roots; without roots it will rot in wet dirt.  These days, I prefer to grow my tubers in milk cartons.  When they are 1-2’ tall, I transfer them with a complete brick of roots to the earth.  This method insures that everything I plant is guaranteed alive.  Because I germinate in the house, they germinate much sooner than they would out in the cold backyard.  The bigger the plant, the more likely it will survive if we have rain and soggy soil in April and May. 
If you plant cuttings, the admonition about watering is exactly the opposite:  water every day!  Cuttings have no tubers to sustain them if life dries out; they have only their tiny rootlets. They need a little water every day.  I prefer to transfer the 2x2” or 4x4” cuttings to bigger pots and grow them in my greenhouse until they are 1-2’ high as well.  You could put them in a warm window to get some growth on them.  The warmer their environment the faster they will grow.  No matter if you plant tubers or cuttings remember that marauding pests are lurking everywhere.  If you don’t protect your new greenery with slug pellets, Deadline, Sluggo, and/or earwig bait, your cuttings and sprouts will disappear as expensive salad. 


Looking ahead on what you might need to do in the coming months? Check out the Monthly Calendar
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New DSC President:  With DJ's resignation from DSC presidency, Tinnee Lee, the First Vice President will be the President of DSC. And, Elsie Mueller will be the First Vice President.

 

 

 


Click to return to DSC Home PageDahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA  -- Copyrighted
Chief Editor: Deborah Dietz
eNewsletter Editor: Ted Marr

Acknowledgement: Photos in this issue Deborah, Rose, DJ and Ted.