January, 2006
NEXT
MEETING:
10th of January,
2006 of the NEW YEAR!
NEW TIME: 7:15 PM doors open, meeting will start
promptly at 7:30 PM.
Where? 9th & Lincoln in the County Fair Building on the corner.
Program:
A
showing of the slides of 2006 new introduction and 2004 ADS
Photography Contest. Also, Deborah suggests ideas on plotting your
plot. Please bring your ADS
Classification books.
Diana will sell
dahlia pencils for $1. Who will bring treats to kick off our new
season?
Take a look at the new section on DSC website: How to Grow Dahlias
GRAND HOLIDAY BASH:
Conviviality was well enhanced by
Frank’s wine and the Cornishs' softer libations.
Dick concocted delectable beans. Erik once again baked a ham with his
famous sauce, carved down to the bone.
Tinnee reprised
her chocolate genache cake bedizened
with luscious raspberries.
Paula
brought a tamale casserole—ole! By popular demand, Joann brought a
platter of 2 types of deviled eggs and the most scrumptious fluff
soufflé. Franck
brought a blow-up of his famous dahlia Christmas tree—poster sized. Too
fun! Lots of sequins and sparkly things adorned many party people; VZ
shook his copper-bell tambourine for emphasis.
LAMBENT
LARCENY:
Present predation got underway as Judy passed out Baker Bill’s poker
chip numbers.
Her
husband remarked as he came to the table laden with presents holding
chip #1, “This is the advantage of your wife dispensing the numbers.”
Both Lous had quite the eye for fine packaging, and both became repeat
victims of present predation. Jim
gently wielded his “illegal airline box cutter” to help liberate
surprises. A wrought iron rooster plant hanger froze first; a chisel
set with lightweight hammer fell second. Three baskets of glorious
narcissi traveled the room before succumbing to numbing. Flower
aquariums, skinny nosed clippers & a whole tool chest ran out the
three-steal rule, as well. Alas, one of the best gifts was discovered
utterly last, a certificate for a completely customized dahlia calendar
from Franck’s fabulous collection.
UNSTEALABLE
PRIZES:
Beginning a new tradition, incoming
President DJ awarded lifetime achievement awards to Lou Cornish for his
10 years acting as President of DSC and to Thelma Cornish for her 10
years as recording secretary.
Elsie
and Louise received recognition for all the years of running our Big
Show, for acting in almost every position from president, to VP, to
treasurer, to board member, ADS Liaison and beyond. All four received
stunning plaques. Erik Gaensler wrestled the original charter and their
contributions and Tinnee added graphics and a border, which Erik
subsequently framed. From an original 1918 medal, Ted struck hefty
replicas and engraved personal dedications on each of the four.
LOPPING
DAY:
Loppers and schleppers administered
the penultimate coup de grace in spectacular weather.
Diana,
DJ, Sarah, Lilia and Manny reduced Deborah and Tinnee’s Dahlia Dell
preserves to 4-joint stumps.
Ted,
Rose and Mui dismantled his ingenious irrigation system and stored it
for another season. Thank you to all not only for excellent help but
for making it a gala occasion.
THE BIG DIG:
Dig Out 2006 takes
place on Martin Luther King weekend, Jan. 14-15. We’ll start at 9 am.
Please bring clothes that can take the dirt, boots, gloves, hat,
bottle-of-ink-in-a-pencil, padding to warm the bum when sitting on metal
benches or chairs, cleaving tools, and great attitude. Given so much
water in this process, bring an extra change of clothes just in case.
Little munchies, sodas, or waters are always appreciated.
STUDIO
ON BABYLON?
Recently Paula and I visited Judy’s
open studio in Tiburon to see where she creates her oils, acrylics,
pastels and etchings. Judy’s art sells in galleries from Burlingame to
Novato. Little did we know we would also get a tour of the hanging
gardens of Babylon, a huge terraced hillside with several fruit trees,
each bearing multiple varieties of fruit, multi-grafted by Oskar
himself. We spotted bed of dahlia stumps and a huge raspberry area. As
we climbed back up Oskar’s hand-made stone masonry, I thought this gave
a new meaning to Stair Master.
Find out the Five Simple Steps to grow Dahlias.
JAMMING JANUARY:
Tempt yourself
with dahlia catalogs. Go online to
The Big List with your wish list.
Paula has an excel spread sheet with all the tubers she wants to buy,
size, form, cultivator and price so she can make comparisons.
Use your
ADS Classification
Handbook to verify or mitigate the seductive hyperbole
written about new and desirable varieties. In the past, I have purchased
from Corralitos Gardens,
Dan’s Dahlias, and
Clearview Dahlias. As I dig
out my own clumps, I am putting some of my tubers directly from the dirt
into milk cartons. I do not water my milk cartons at all until a shoot
emerges.
I stack milk cartons in my loft, the warmest area of my wee Maus Haus. Most tubers germinate around 62 degrees, but some of the
AA’s take more heat to get started. I am also leaving some of my
dahlias in the ground. I put big black pots over the top of them to
protect them from the rain and crown rot which can destroy all the
eyes. This gives new meaning to Pot Gardening. Remember that each weed
you eradicate today means several you won't have to in the spring.
Tubers can be stored in vermiculite, shredded paper or cedar shavings
that you get at a pet store. I Clorox my tubers in a 5% solution then
dip the exposed areas in Captan or sulphur—otherwise mine seem to rot.
Storage should be in a cool but not cold (less than 35 degrees). Try a
DSC garden chore swap: you help someone in his garden and s/he helps you
in yours. Having company makes the rooting, dividing, and labeling so
much more pleasant.
Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA -- Copyrighted
Chief Editor: Deborah Dietz
eNewsletter Editor: Ted Marr
Acknowledgement: Photos in
this issue by DJ, Deborah, Franck and Ted