Dahlia Society of California
March , 2005

NEXT MEETING: 
March 8, @ 8 PM @ 9^th & Lincoln. 
Program:  Kevin Larkin will instruct on how to build “Fertigation” a fertilizer cum irrigation system.  Lou Lombardo will share his scientific system for small home gardeners.  He will debouch his first luscious cuttings from his garage greenhouse. Sara & Melissa helped him snip & pot up his first crop. Deborah will have some milk cartoned dahlias for sale as well.  Maybe the Juul/Paradise consortium will bring the earliest of their cuttings. Tubers will be $3 & plants $4.  We will discuss our Annual April Tuber Sale strategy & Pacific Southwest Dahlia Conference Highlights. 

Diana is still collecting 2005 DSC & ADS dues.

Flower of the Year is Formby Alpine, so make sure you grow at least one!

SF COUNTY FAIR HISTORY:  Karl Leipley, president of both the San Francisco Begonia Society & the San Bruno Fuchsia society, left his 17 cats at home to share his 3 carousels of SF County Fair slides.  The bare rooms looked the same in 1978 as they do now.  However, who would have thought they would bulldoze in tons of dirt to mound all over the halls?  At its height, 21 societies—including Bonsai, Carnivorous Plants, Gesneriads, Cacti, African Violets, Orchids, Begonias, Carnations, Roses, Fuchsias, Lilies, Geraniums, Pelargoniums, Succulents, Bromeliads and DAHLIAS—participated.  

There were huge gazebos, waterfalls, fountains, Mayan murals, massive walls, and elaborate structures so that plants were in dirt on tables and hanging from the ceiling.  With $65,000 for setup and premiums, these remarkable gardeners utterly transformed our venerable County Fair rooms for 3 days each year. 

Miss San Francisco inaugurated a fancy wine and cheese Preview Night.  The Sixth Army band, bagpipers, string trios or other musicians added to the total experience.  There was even an edible pastry in the shape of the Conservatory.  Tripping along this Memory Lane, we spotted a radiant Elsie & her husband Carl. 

DAHLIA DIRT:  Enid & Bonnie “socialized” their 2 new dachshund/Chihuahua puppies in lots of friendly DSC hands.  Joan House donated back to DSC all her prize money from our SF show—how philanthropic!  Bill, the Cornishes & the Dingwalls helped KQED-TV raise $94,000 on pledge evening.  Call Lou if you’d like to help the public TV station with their pledge drive in March.

Sunday morning, Lou & Thelma heard an announcement for a lecture on dahlia culture at a nursery in San Anselmo.  Who should they find explaining how to place stakes, but our own guru, Lou Paradise!  Gerda brought a spectacular black Voodoo Lilly to assuage our flowerless hearts.  Thanks to Joann for the scrumptious chocolate chip & coconut bars, to Baker Bill for the divine Bacardi rum cake, & to Deborah for the mint meringues.

DUDLEY AWARD HAT TRICK:  Congratulations to our own Erik & Gerda for winning their third Dudley award for new introduction: Juul’s Amethyst, M BA, PR.  Wow!  Add this to their Viking trove of silver medals!

HUGE LANDSCAPE &
GARDEN EXTRAVAGANZA: 
Cow Palace March 15-20.  Volunteers for the SF Parks Trust will get in free if they man the booth for a few hours on one of the days. Call Michelle Canning at 750-5105 or email Michele@sfpt.org.  Erik G. will attend the Preview, assembling a major dahlia “item” to be auctioned off.  Once again Dan’s Dahlias & CG Dahlias from Corralitos Gardens will be selling their dahlias there. 

TUBER SALE EXHORTATION:  Friends, Gardeners, And Dahlia Growers: we need your tubers!  While the GG Dahlia Dell yielded good tubers, it did not yield a lot of tubers.  We would greatly appreciate your bringing your extra tubers IF they are labeled with names.  The Juuls report that the cool weather has slowed the cutting bench, so there will not be as many verdant sales as last year.  Your donations keep us operating: paying rent for our meetings, show & sales rooms, insurance, prize premiums, & tables for our picnic.  Traditionally those who help set up the tuber sale from 7-8:30 am, get to “shop” a half hour before the public comes in.

GERMINATION TIPS:  Thank you again, Bill, for all your expertly sliced milk cartons;. Many members walked home with armfuls after conferring with Deborah as to the right potting medium (1/3 soil, 1/3 sand, 1/3 perlite or vermiculite. Fill the carton an inch deep, place tuber in horizontally, cover about seven-eighth of the tuber mass with mixture. 

Deborah stacks 300 closed cartons in her toasty loft until they sprout, then she pops them into her greenhouse on an 18-hour light timer.  Last year Tinnee showed everyone how to build a nifty, inexpensive, break-downable greenhouse from a bookcase and shop lights.   

When the tiny plant roots fill their egg cup, transplant them either into 4”x4” containers or directly into the ground.  Placing milk carton cylinders (bottom & top cut off to yield a tube) around a burgeoning plant helps it get established.