To see the full original newsletter with all the photos click here to get the pdf: November 2012 Newsletter
NEXT MEETING: November 13, @ 7:30 time @ 9th and Lincoln
PROGRAM: Lou P. demonstrates his outstanding digging and dividing techniques.We’ll discuss who should dig up what and why. Who should/could leave clumps in and why. DSC Election: come vote for your new officers and board members. Who will bring snacks to celebrate Dahlia Thanksgiving?
MINI SHOW MAXI SUCCESS!
Congrats to all 6 exhibitors displaying over 110 flowers. Zowie. Such great blooms for so late in the season. Our judges narrowed down the winners to 8 splendid dahlias and then our membership voted. Pat’s cool Eden Lemonade shared Best in Show with Devorah’s magnificent Hollyhill Cotton Candy. Jim brought two lovely pitcher arrangements. Deborah staged flashy x5 Jessicas and dainty x2 Chilson Prides. John Mani introduced us to his x3 Boogie Nights, a neat purple color. Mike and Martha’s bizarre Vista Minnie handily ran off with best nx—definitely a must have for next year.
GENEROSITY OF FRIENDS
Not only did Jim bring dahlias, he shared a yummy cake. Gino jumped in to handle the kitchen. Elsie’s son, Fred, brought six frog frames for mounting multiples and suggested we use them for prizes forour Mini Show. He also donated five 5-gallon buckets. How very generous.
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
Jamie of Aztec Dahlias now sells dahlias at 8 farmers’ markets including the Glen Park one on Sundays. People rave about them. While there, someone mentioned how spectacular the flowers were on Surrey Street, so I drove by to check out Sue’s front bank. Wow! Spectacular. What a treat for her whole neighborhood. Returning from Sonoma, Orlando and I met John Mani at Aztec on Old Adobe Road. Although it was John’s first tour, he went back 3 more times in the next 10 days! We loved seeing how successful John’s no-watering dahlia barrel experiment faired. Stunning.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR NATIONAL SHOW
What a spectacular setting: right smack on the Columbia River. The first thing dahliaphiles noticed driving into the Red Lion parking lot was an odd EggLand Eggs semi container. A brilliant contribution from Mark Oldenkamp, the refrigerated container served as an elevated cool room for early arriving dahlias. The second thing was a 20’ long floral arrangement including wagon wheels, an oxen yoke, humongous fan leaves and actual fans, to compliment BIG dahlias. Gordon Jackman really had proportions down! The third encounter was the hallway along the exhibit salon full of marvelous dahlia vendors selling t-shirts, aprons, garden dazzle balls, cards and raffle tickets.
FRIDAY TOURS
Half the buses went to Mike Riorden of Scott’s Jeanette B and Scotts RW fame. What clean and orderly dahlias! The other half went to Erik Toedli of Felida fame. Under a huge shade cloth I noted an excellent AA seedling as well as db wl, Felida Mermaid. Terrific Bloomquist Barbaras, BB fd y—like mini Edna C’s—and AC Abby, A, lc, fl, caught my eye. Erik likes to disbud as soon as possible; to aid his big fingers getting those tiny side buds he uses a size 6 crochet hook. Works grand! To ward off the omnipresent mildew threat, Erik sprays with Green Light Fung-away, a systemic fungicide. His darling hens are the recipient of much dahlia refuse.
MADE IN THE SHADE
For yummy baked potato lunch with all the trimmings everyone converged on Max Olieu’s six acres outside Battleground, Washington. Max wins major prizes for his pom Rhonda. However, his Snojo Doris, Newakum Honey, bb id bz, and Timona Pastel dazzled. Like paparazzi, everyone discovered a wee frog ensconced in a magnificent Trengrove Millenium making it the most photographed frog on the West Coast. Max keeps his dahlias clean with shade cloth over not just the top but down both sides. To earn his lunch, Orlando rolled all the side curtains up for the viewing pleasure.
SHREWD KLUG
While marveling at Max’s, Mr. Klug invited us to stroll through his 1000 dahlias only a couple miles away. Cheerio, Good Will and Wanabee, a very cool anneneme caught my eye. I particularly loved how the various patches blended into the wilderness. While there we were astounded to watch strangers walk through the gardens, snip their favorites and push money through the slightly lowered window of the car in the Klug driveway! What a system!
THE SHOW’S THE THING
Wow! Such a show! Not could one show a floating water lily; one could show 3 at once with a big enough bowl. Gracefully peaceful. Iris, Kristine and Corralitos garnered BIG WINs. Each step of the way, their dahlias received ribbons so upon arriving at the Court of Honor, their pile of ribbons was heaped with yet another whose center resembled a 3-dimentional dahlia. Too cool. There were BIG dahlias and lots of them, especially the x3 Sir Alf Ramseys and a whole table of Zorros. Out of hundreds of photos our Own Marcia Hart won Best In Show!
MULTIPLES: MAGNIFICENCE MAGNIFIED
The Portland show anticipated so many arrangements that one had to reserve space in advance! Beach combers staged magnificent scenes. So many people put up baskets in the northwest! Margaret Kennedy of Hollyhill prevailed with Best In Show Basket—again!
NEW AND COOL
Dave and Leone Smith’s pinkish mba took best x3 on the Court of Honor sharing pride of place with Dick William’s Skipley Lois Jean, ba red. Another mba, Camano Zoe, grows tightlywound on good stems. Giggly, col var or/d or, danced adorably. Once again I found myself promising to buy LoBlush ms db, Irish Pinwheel and Hollyhill Pinky, a ruffly m, for next year.
SWAN ISLAND ON SUNDAY
What a spectacular day to tour the spectacle that is Swan Island: eighty acres of dahlias, hundreds of the same variety all in a row. Many participants took time to judge in the charming trial garden the Gitts Family has donated to the ADS. Underground, the Gitts displayed massive arrangements and the public lined up to order new tubers for the spring. We were stunned to return to a hotel on fire! Next door, the old Red Lion spewed flames whilst fire engines and fire boats on the Columbia attacked the inferno from both sides. We tore down the show with ashes falling on our heads. Fortunately no one suffered injuries but what a finale!
HOLLY HILL HIGHLIGHTS
On Monday the faithful hangers on were rewarded with a day at Margaret and Ted Kennedy’s glorious garden, festooned with hanging baskets. The buses parked behind a multi-layered wall of cannas and dahlias with mixed border clusters. We oohed over HH Black Beauty, HH Monet a dainty var. wl, HH Paris (obviously their French period) b lc pinkish lb and HH Starburst bb c, bi, Kevin admired their naming system with flags hung on strings above the plants. Orange Spartacus and Chimacum Luke, B fd or or r/wh bi arrested me. What a pleasure to wander through their 1200 seedlings! The three that I MUST HAVE for next year are: HH Shaggy Dog, a monstrous A or AA sized nx like hairy flesh–colored spiders. Obviously a cousin to HH Shaggy Dog is HH Super Nova, also nx in a more magenta form. Lastly is HH Tempest, the most show-stopping neon fuchsia with dark purple stripes. Ted freely admits that HH Tempest produces few blooms, exhibits terrible form and, nevertheless, stops people in their tracks. Margaret used HH Tempest in an arrangement hiding a gorilla—both intriguingly malevolent!
DUES DUE
ADS dues have risen to $24 per individual and $27 for a family. These dues entitle you to 4 ADS Bulletins a year, a copy of the ADS Classification Book (a must-have Bible), and the password into the Members-Only sections of the ADS website. DSC dues remain at the extraordinary bargain price of $10. For this low price you get 12 months of terrific programs/meetings, participation in our annual Floribunda Competition-Exhibition, Annual Dahlia Dell picnic, the conviviality of our annual DigOut, hands-on experience at our cutting workshop, and possible volunteering at our famed Tuber and Cutting Sale. You also receive an on-line e-newsletter full of facts, fun pictures, gardening tips, who’s who, and sightings of the Bloomerati. Such a Deal! Bring your checks or cash to Devi Joseph at our November or December Meeting or send them to her address: Devi Joseph, DSC Membership 862-39th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121. ADS likes to have the moolah in before Jan. 1 so they can send out the ADS Classification Book when you need it. Otherwise, things tend to trickle through more slowly during the later parts of Spring.
DIGOUT 2013
Circle your new calendars with Jan. 12-13 for our Big Dig. RAIN OR SHINE –but hope for shine. We’ll be pulling up all the clumps at the Dell, cleaning them, dividing, dipping and labeling them. Take this great opportunity to learn from the masters all these important skills, mingle with fellow growers, and help out your DSC at the same time. Plan for fabulous filthy fun.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Begin plotting for our annual bash in December. Each member brings a scrumptious dish and a wrapped present (@ $10) relating to dahlias for our lethal Present Predation game. Some people bring holiday decorations to liven things up. Many people don sparkly garb or antlers.
NOTHING LIKE NOVEMBER
Do you still have blooms? I am trimming back clumps at the Dell in the hopes to put a few bouquets on the tables for our Holiday Celebration next month. Take this last opportunity to make sure your labels match your flowers. This is also your last opportunity to collect seed heads. I take mine home and put in a glass of water until completely brown. Label the seed parent if you are so inclined. As plants go brown, cut down to 4-5 notches; Pat puts plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the tops to protect from rain—like dahlia condoms—thus preventing crown rot. Do you have well drained soil? If so, you might choose to leave a few dahlias in the ground. Mulch heavily with leaves and grass clippings or put a big pot over the top to protect from too much rain. The A’s and AA’s benefit from a second year’s in-ground habitation. But if you have a high water table or clay, you MUST dig yours up; otherwise they will rot. As your dahlias turn brown, the sugar in the tubers and the skin on the tubers change, so most growers try to wait 6 weeks from cutting down to digging out for this full transformation to take place. Start planning a covetable gift for Present Predation at our holiday party. Print out your membership form and bring or send your checks to Joe NOW. Be joyful that we live in the Bay Area where “cold” is in the low 50’s and not elsewhere where the temperatures have been freezing already!
Yours in Dirt,
Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA — Copyrighted
Editor: Deborah Dietz
Page layout: Mike Willmarth
Photo credits: Boley, Dietz, Hart, Kennedy , LS