Dahlia Society of California
                                                     September, 2003
 

 

Next Meeting:
Sept. 9, 2003, @ 8pm @ San Francisco County Fair Building, 9th & Lincoln.  
Program:  Mini Show! Let your dahlias flaunt their stuff.  1 Entry per form: AA, A, B, BB, M, BA, MB, P, WL, AN, MS, S, CO, NO, ST, O, PE. Also x3 & x5.       
Please come early to be set up by 8 pm.


NOVICES KICK PETALS!
 Congratulations to the 9 novices who vied for glory. 
 
Marilyn Warden displayed her husband’s dahlias in her personally crafted Asian glass container.  Melissa triumphed with a huge Kenora Clyde Best of Show, as well as a pert Joshua Juul & Camano Pet.  DJ’s Pooh outshone the collarettes.  Kim erected 3 darling Matches.  Team Marr succeeded with Shy Princess & Honka.  Jim scored with Hillcrest Kismet & Kenora Fireball.  Joe waltzed away with Glenbank Twinkle, Barbarry Gem, Wildwood Marie, GlenPlace, and Goldie Gull.  Barbara brought a lovely Mingus Wesley & the Dingwalls showed Robann Royal.  Judges Thelma, Tinnee & Deborah tried to point out aesthetic considerations.  

DJ gave away 2-300 aluminum stakes.  Bill brought a banana cream pie, Penny gingerbread, Thelma chocolate chip cookies, the Dingwalls ice cream & Barbara brought gourmet caramels. Who will bring goodies in September?

HOT SHOTS  Surmounting a SF heat wave, we hosted a Big Show.

Congratulations to Janet Thelen for Novice Sweepstakes; to the Juuls for Amateur Sweeps, & to the Stiers for Open.  5 humongous Verdas proved Curtis Maxwell the Comeback King.  Novice DJ stayed on the head table with 3 dainty Sean C’s.  The Queants landed a bristly Goshen Thistle.  Tinnee’s Kenora Clyde took Best AA while Dabel’s Creve Coeur loomed largest.  The Juuls’ teeny-weeny Willo Surprise grew smallest. 

Single-handedly, Lou P. decorated much of the head table:  Camano Pet, third year seedling, Ruskin Marigold, Hamari Accord, Pooh, NW Cosmos, Juul’s Lotus, & x5 L.A.T.E.  The Queants x7 seedling, a dusty rose fim with ivory & yellow streaks caught my eye, as well as the Larkin-Zydner x5 C G Paragon, a truly luminous pink. 

DJ’s Ad Lib,  A  C  V  (PR/W) & Haley’s Dream, M  FD  PR/W, landed on many wishlists.  I coveted Rokewood Opal 368, a BB  C  L;  Sun Storm 202, BB  FD Y/O; Serge’s Goshen Calico 234,  B ID  V  (Y/OR); the Juul’s Highflyer 410; and Moray Susan 613 WL  DB  DR/Y.  Special thanks to Lou P. for ordering a great lunch again and to Mary who organized  the dishes.   Rose & Kim encouraged memberships and sold various dahlia books and Carol’s dahlia calendars. 

Thanks to the Cornishes and Dingwalls for the capacious Court of Honor .  Thanks to Elsie, with Louise’s help, who organized and managed the Show and to all of you who helped set up this great event and to those who stayed to the last petal cleaning up.  And a special thanks to the Almands for driving down from Eureka and joining in the Show.  So many of our  visitors were interested in buying their lovely flowering plants – we hope they will join us again next year. 

CHECK OUT THE LIBRARY’S DAHLIAS  What a venue! 

For so early in the season, the San Leandro show displayed  magnificent flowers.  San Jose’s Janet won Novice Sweepstakes; Roy & Betty Stier petaled to Amateur Sweeps; & the Larkin/Zydner team triumphed in Open.  The Juuls nailed Best large & Best small with Veca Lucia and Altar Cloud, as well as staying on the head table with Camano Pet, Matthew Juul, Juul’s AllStar & a gay basket of Mi Wongs.  Lou Paradise scored with Pink Jupiter (x1, x3!), Hamari Accord, & a magnificent x8 Porcelain. Serge displayed several new seedlings we hope to see more of.  Bodacious – AA 26-roared like a lion;  WL China Doll—610—beguiled  in pale yellow with pink lined petals.  Stiers’ Laura Marie—506—a red ball, curved fully back to the stem.  CG Mist—328-- resembled a lavender tutu, such cute laciniation.  Scarborough Brilliant, Little Jack, Valley Porcupine, Mingus Wallace & Normandy Orange Fluff also caught my eye.

ELECTRIFYING NEWS: BLACKBERRIES & DAHLIAS
Your venerable society joins the millennium.  If you would like to receive your fascinating newsletter via email instead of  snail mail, please update your web address with Ted:  Ted@Marr.org. Please provide separate email addresses for each member of your family membership.

THE PERFECT PICNIC  blessed by glorious weather.

Erik rented tables, chairs, a balloon twister & the indefatigable Gigi the Clown, who painted exquisite body parts for hours.  Kids clambered all over a REAL Fire Truck, clanging the bell & donning fireman's’ hats.  Friends & families thronged the Dell to reduce to bones Erik’s 4 baked hams, a turkey, and a variety of salads and desserts brought by members.  Lou & Thelma designed a Tower of Dahlias, luring people to the Dingwalls’  membership table.  Brilliant!  The Juuls led tours for the Bloomerati, including the Mortons & Curtis.  Coming clear from Napa, Mike W. disbudded with Judy, the Marrs, John G. & Penny.

SUBLIME SEPTEMBER  Pick! Cut! Snip!

Bestow bouquets on all your friends!  Practice dahlia bondage: tie up your plants or the wind will make you weep.  Take the low laterals off now—they will break off when they are heavier, so get them now and send that energy to the branches where you need growth & flowers.  Aphids, caterpillars & diabrotica beetles abound.  Try the  traditional cocktail for the first two: Malathion, Orthene. a fungicide, Superbloom, & liquid dishwashing soap applied in a sprayer.  For diaBRATicas, try painting Dixie cups with Tanglefoot atop your stakes.  Squishing with fingers works satisfyingly, too. 

Water when your plants show heat fatigue; this could be once a day or once a week depending on the weather.  Check names against ADS Classification descriptions.  Rogue:  when in doubt, toss dubious plants out!    Where to deadhead?  Cut clear back to the next growth-producing flowers.  The more rigorously you cut back, the more your plant will flourish.  Take in the John Stowell Show @ Vallco Fashion Mall, Cupertino, Sept. 6-7 & Monterey’s show @ the Capitola Mall, Corralitos, Sept. 20-21. 
 

 

Annual Dahlia Show


The judges worked really hard

.

Amateur Sweepstakes Winner, The Juuls


Hall of Flowers lives up to its name


Best of Show for Large Fully Double and for
Small Fully Double, Lou Paradise



The Court of Honor


View additional pictures of the Annual Show
 


The Picnic


The Fire truck and the Clown


Rec and Park Director Elizabeth Goldstein dropped in
to wish Erik Gaensler, Picnic Organizer, a Happy Birthday



Ron drumming up membership

   Monthly Newsletter of Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA
   Editor: Deborah Dietz
    Please address your editorial questions to
ddietz@ibius.jnj.com
    Please address your email circulation questions to
ted@marr.org