Dahlia Society of California -
July, 2004

VZ,, Joanne & Bill promise palate ticklers.  (Joanne & Bill & Thelma do this almost every month.  More members should volunteer more often……please).

 

Also...
The Cornishes will bring ADS Classification books as well as other books for sale.  Bags of calcium nitrate will be available for $5 each.  The latest Show schedules, with all the categories, special classes & rules will be available.  There will probably be some “emergency” plants for sale as well. 

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 13th July, 2004 @ 8 pm @ 9th & Lincoln. Program:  Staging your specimens, choosing the right containers, cutting appropriate  stem lengths, mounting x3 or x5 or gulp! X7!  Elsie will bring Bottle of Ink in a Pencil again for $1 each.  

 

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AMAZING GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
Given only 4 hours to winnow 80 slides from over 1000 in her extensive dahlia collection, DSC member, Carol Hemingway of Front Porch Photography graciously agreed to share her secrets of success.  Although she had been interested in photography since childhood, Carol took the professional leap only 3 years ago.  She has produced two spectacular dahlia calendars, postcards & a line of greeting cards which she discounted for our evening. 

Carol advocated early morning or overcast days for photographing because the diffused light diminishes “hot spots” in pictures.   Ms. Hemingway shot most of her pictures on a tripod with a 100-320 lens using Fuji Sensia 100 slide film. 

Tinnee assessed some of the slides as she would when judging at our upcoming August Big Show, She reminded contestants that photos must be framed or mounted, 4”x 6” to 8”x 10.”

Pictures must be from the last 2 years.  Tinnee stressed “ease of view” or balance in composition.

DJ, multiple national show winner,  recommended “mug shots” for the national photo competition for the single variety category, He said to include the entire flower—no fancy angles, cropping or artistic license. 

The flora & fauna category includes dahlias with any other living presence—primarily butterflies & bees in Carol’s pictures—but let your imagination & luck go wild.

John slyly suggested buying realistic looking bugs which would stay where you place them. Craig & Tinnee, professional photographers, valiantly answered some digital queries.

Martin Rivero of Adolf Gasser Photo Shops apologized because sickness bushwhacked him at the last moment. 

 

Various illustrative shots. Classic shot of "Sean C"
on right
 
 

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2004 SHOW SCHEDULE

 

Society and Date
San Leandro on Aug. 7-8   DSC on Aug. 21-22
National Show on Aug. 28-29
Monterey on Sept. 4-5
San Jose on Sept. 11-12

Location
San Leandro Library
County Fair bldg, GG Park
Seattle, WA
Capitola Mall
Valco Mall

Flower of the Year
CG Coral
My Robynn
 ---
Bar Proclaim
Mingus Whitney / Pooh

My Robynn
 

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Dietz Hedgehog,
r/w novelty

DAHLIA DELL DOINGS: Green thanks to all the volunteers in the Dell, including DJ for vacation watering & to Joan, Apryl, Virginia, Frank & VZ for disbudding & answering all the visitors’ questions. Deborah is often at the Dell on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 12:30 in case anyone has questions about disbudding, deleafing, underbrush plucking or general dahlia queries. 

Your help & great conversation enable everything to thrive.  What a wonderful confluence one Saturday with Erik & Gerda, Tinnee,  Melissa, Erik G, Deborah & several wonderful volunteers.

Joan and John attending Deborah's Dell Seminar

 

 

 

 

 

                          Blue Bayou,
new very dark purple annemone

Pink Suffusion
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SHARE THE BOUNTY:    
The Dingwalls distributed 2 boxes of 2 kinds of luscious lemons from their garden.  DJ reported that a quiet group turned into a roiling throng when the first of Deborah’s 9 flats of dahlias entered the meeting room.

Shoppers munched happily on Thelma’s muffins, Joanne’s oatmeal squares, and Bill’s lemon cream pie.         Please comment to DJ & Rudy regarding the photos in the newsletter so they’ll keep on capturing such great moments.
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JULY IS BUDDING OUT ALL OVER!    

Disbudding, dead-heading, clearing out under leaves & spraying demand your time now.  Leave just one bud & its first pair of leaves to a stem.  Dead-head is cutting the spent bloom when you see pollen in the double varieties or when the open centereds appear withered.  Cut back to the crotch where the plant v’s into new growth.  Cut before petals start dropping or the pretty litter grows gunk.  When your plant is @ 24” tall, begin taking off the bottom leaves. 

 


Finding the Central bud and leaf pair


Carefully Disbudding


Perfectly disbudded


Deborah's Dahlia godparents, the Bloomfields, shower her with new introductions

The branches which come off the lowest part of the stalk soon fall prey to gravity & break.  You might as well get rid of them when they are small & let all that energy go instead into the flowers at the top.   Examine your leaves as you strip; are they clean or bug bitten?  At home, Deborah sprays a cocktail of Malathion or Orthene (for aphids or caterpillars),   and FungiFighter,  Funginex .

Lou C suggests ‘Rose Defense’ (by  GREEN LIGHT) for powdery mildew, a water soluble fertilizer, & a little liquid dishwashing soap (not detergent) as a sticker.  Begin staking  & tying up your dahlias.  Don’t let one nasty wind wipe out months of growth.  When you cut blooms, put them immediately in water; each day cut off ¼” of the stem to keep them lasting over a week.


Bloomfield's Tricolor
eNewsletter of Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA
   Editor: Deborah Dietz. Web-Layout Editor: Ted Marr
    Please address your editorial questions to Deborah@SFDahlia.Org
    Please address your layout, circulation and other web questions to Ted@SFDahlia.Org