September 2017 Newsletter

To see the full original newsletter with all the photos click here to get the pdf: September 2017 Newsletter

NEXT MEETING: September 12, at 7:30. Program: WILL GONZALEZ, renowned floral designer, past winner of the Pasadena Rose Parade Float competitions, Art at the De Young and other triumphs, awes us with his craft. This is one to invite friends, family and neighbors to. You will be dazzled. Who will bring comestibles to share?

SHOW PLANNING

Almost everyone stepped up to the plate to contribute to the success of our upcoming show. Frank enumerated the many places blooms could compete outside of the x1. X3 and x5 categories. Deborah suggested that novices calculate how much time they would need to set up their entries and then DOUBLE IT; if they have never participated in a show, TRIPLE their expected organizing time. Frank raffled off a cool ph/water meter; Cathy, wearing a sequined dahlia blouse no less, triumphed.

GENEROSITY OF FRIENDS

Thanks to Pat for her chocolate cookies and to Gino for his fruit bread. Tenaya’s blueberry muffins complimented the m&m cookies. And Cathy’s home-grown strawberries tasted like captured summer.

THE SHOW’S THE THING WHERIN TO CATCH…….

Many people worried that we would have a paucity of blooms because it’s been drizzling in San Francisco the last two weeks and blazing hot in the East and South Bays. But WOW! What a gorgeous show. Lots of BIG BRUISERS as well as delicate discs. On Friday, John, Lou, Tinnee and Tony wrassled most of the 100 tables up whilst Pat and Debby spread all the white table cloths. By 8PM, growers began setting up exhibits. Jenna designed an informational triptych about the his- tory of the dahlia in Golden Gate Park.
Carl hung Tinnee’s magnificent banner over the membership table. For nibblers, Tinnee sup- plied huge platters of levant rollups and juicy fruit. Tom and Chad sustained us with mon- strous sandwiches and literally a truckful of caffeinated drinks. How wonderful to have four new novices and new clerks par- ticipate this year. Many people attended Lou’s mini judging seminar on Sunday afternoon.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

100th Anniversary Show bonus – We all proudly watched as Tinnee presented Roy Stier with the DSC Life Achievement Award. What a mentor to us all.

WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS

As fast as the clerks cleared pages, Becky dictated to Lynda computing the results so that Devi could stay up late Saturday night printing all the winners’ placques. Tinnee designed special ribbons for our 100th anniversary that really snagged attention. Lou announced that we awarded more $$ than ever before to more contestants.

Cathy’s monumental bouquet swept the judges away. Chad and Tom arranged the cutest wee basket of discs. Pat scored with Eden Lemonade and Delta Red. John and Annette landed two on the Court of Honor: Best Sponsored Variety, Pam Howden and Best Collorette, NTac Solar Flare. Despite one of the strongst Novice collections in many years, Tony Palacios from Casa Peralta amassed his first Novice Sweepstakes. Devi bril- liantly calculated her triumphal march down the “money” tables winning many sponsored variet- ies. Shrewd.

Whilst Iris nabbed Best AA for AC Ben, and Ken triumphed with a bruising 12” Pennhill Dark Monarch, Kristine trumped them all with Largest in the World, a honking 15 1/2” Maki monster. Zowie. Towering over our Head Table waived Devi’s Best in Show, Hollyhill Electra. Lou excelled with Best Small, Skip to my Lou and Best Disc, Eden’s Star. By dint of stunning numbers, Kevin and Karen carted off Open Sweepstakes and Deborah’s all night sweat equity paid off with Amateur Sweeps.

PHOTO OPP ###:

Once again social media maven, Colleen, designed a fabulous wall of Dahlias outside the hall where the public could take selfies surrounded by dahlia glory and golden balloons, “symbolizing our 100th anniversary.” Check out over a thousand posts at #sfdahlia. Maggie and Don on Saturday morning and Debby on Sunday morning represented DSC at our membership table, collecting 6 new DSCers and 2 renewals. People’s Choice fielded the finest array in years with 14 stupendously alluring blooms. Harvey Koop, Enchantress, and Clearview David duked it out, but ultimately Iris’s fluttery Stevie O prevailed. Lola selflessly rotated lunch items both days to keep contestants, judges and clerks stuffed. John Dale relieved membership table and swept up. Deborah battled a persistent park beast who wanted to share in the banquet and kept sneaking in: an overly socialized young squirrel. Showing no fear, this wee transient bespoke a history of living on the kindness of strangers.
People’s Choice – Stevie O

GIFTS THAT GO ON GIVING

Thanks to everyone who pitched in to dismantle the show in record time. Megha and Uncle Larry scurried about collecting containers. Jacleen cleaned, dried and wrapped Deborah’s endless stream of vases; her strong son, Alex, stowed all 16 cases into D’s Element’s maw.

Amidst the chaos of dismantalling the show, Tony and Ens swooped up bunches of still vibrant blooms for a senior home. Colleen loaded a dozen orange buckets donated by Home Depot with more than a hundred dahlias for Family House in con- junction with UCSF. Megha also took two buckets of blooms to the SF VA

Yali devised an arrangement with foam, table cloth fragments and A’s and AA’s in Home Depot colors; Monday morning Colleen astounded the manager of Home Depot with Yali’s thank you tribute bouquet, which he immediately put it in the Breakroom so all his employees could enjoy magnificent dahlias.

In addition to giving away dahlias we also shared dahlia expertise. Back in March, Caroleen Frey from the East Coast asked to be included on one of our judging teams. Here is what she wrote about her experience with us, “I extend my sincerest thanks to you and the Dahlia Society of California for the opportunity to serve as a judge at your show Saturday. It was awesome to be paired with Kevin Larkin and Kristine Albrecht, whose dahlia work I greatly admire. I learned many valuable lessons from them and they generously shared their expertise. I was also impressed with the beauty of your show and the excellent organization. I addition to the judging experience, I gathered many new show ideas to bring back to Rhode Island. It was a wonderful day and a wonderful show.”

DSC PICNIC PARTY

Saturday, September ninth, from noon to five is our annual picnic. Erik has arranged for face paint- ers, balloon twisters and the fire department to entertain young and old “kids.” It’s a potluck, so bring something yummy to share. If you want to help set up tables, please come earlier, around NINE. Re- member that our quirky San Francisco weather can shift twenty degrees in twenty minutes, so bring layers. We hope you’ll need a hat and sunscreen, but no promises.

NEW AND COOL

The first show of the year offers glimpses of new snazzy cultivars of our future. Devi’s Roscoe rocked the New Intro category. Tony P’s Manor Jayne showed us how gorgeous big “black” fims can get. John and Annette scored a couple times with Dick Westfall, 1210, a pink and yellow stunner. In the BB IC category, Kevin and Karen exhibited an eye-catcher: Hollyhill Dr. Rick, 3407. Think of the perfect form of Embrace, but in ethereal pink; that’s Devi’s new well-scoring seedling. Earning the ADS Bench Seedling award, Lou P’s mauve with purple obverse beauty.

OUR FAIR LADIES

Major congratulations to Cathy for utterly routing the Sonoma County Fair, sweeping every category with her stunning blooms. Paula copped several ribbons at the Marin County Fair; nevertheless, Debo- rah dominated that venue. Thanks go out to these ambassadors of the Dahlia, for introducing dahlias to the unenlightened.

SEPTEMBER SOMETHINGS

I will give my final fertilizer cocktail this week; I will continue the Stylet Oil, Captain Jack and dish- washing soap through October. Take this time of final fine blooms to check each name against the ADS Classification Book official name. Do the colors match? Does the form match? Make sure your labels are clear. Rogue. If you have more than one of a particular cultivar, decide which is the better plant. Mark it so. Keep those tubers to use in your garden next year. Are the others “good enough” to share with your benevolent Dahlia Society of California? Do you have any clumps that look stunted, ratty, struggling, NOT RIGHT? Now is the time to dig them up and throw them in the garbage; NOT in the compost. You will note that stems are growing weaker; this is a result of the light waning, not your plant getting sick.

You may spot more open centered blooms or flowers that pop center more quickly than in August. This is par for the season. Dead head assiduously; cut down to good new growth; be aggressive. We usually have a glorious late September and October, so by severely cutting back to new robust growth, you could enjoy a floriferous flush in the next two months. Depending on the weather, you may be cutting down on your water. Watch your plants: are they turgid? Don’t water. Are they slightly wilty? Now water. Obviously this will depend on where you live and weather you get one of the hot spells or crummy damp Siberian glooms coming through.

Come to our Dahlia Picnic Potluck, Saturday September Ninth from noon to five. Throw a garden party. Give away dahlias and watch smiles bloom.

Yours in Dirt,

Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA — Copyright
Editor: Deborah Dietz
Page layout and digital publishing: Mike Willmarth
Snail mail mistress: Pat Hunter
Photo credits: Photo Credits: Baker, Buyers, Dietz, Fletcher