August, 2006

NEXT MEETING:   August 8th  @7:30 PM @ 9th & Lincoln.  Program:  NOVICE ONLY MINI SHOW.  Single blooms in AA, A, B, BB, M, BA, MB, P, MS, S, AN, CO, NO, NX, O, P, PE, S, ST, WL.  x3 and x5 of the same flower variety. Please limit your entries to two per category.  This is a wonderful opportunity to practice staging and to hear the judges evaluate your blooms.  All entries should have the first leaf pair included and showing above the container.   Come early, say 6:30, to be set up by 7:30.  Be able to name and ADS number your entry.  Bring containers with pin frogs, paper or cloth towels for spills, scissors or clippers, water pail, and a bucket to pour your excess water into at the end of the competition.  Who will win BEST IN SHOW? 

SPECIAL DELIVERY:  Deborah, Tinnee and Lou brought various methods of transporting dahlias safely.  Tinnee transformed a wine case into a Dixie cup condo.  The 12 plastic cups held water to transport individual dahlias.  She cut down the edges to customize for shorter dahlias and left the box intact for the taller dahlias: simple and recyclable.  Lou first experimented with pvc pipes, hacksawing the lengths to fit a plastic container.  He assembled various diameters to carry various size dahlias.  To decrease the weight of all that water, Lou began fitting pvc pipe into plastic hot water pipe insulation.  Evolving finally to 100% pipe insulation material, his solution proved light, simple and succumbing to very little water slop.  Deborah utilized milk cartons with their tops cut down an inch to provide water guards for bringing bouquets to friends so they don’t have to return the “vase.” She likes to add rosemary sprigs to “scent” her gifts.)  For competitions, she  utilized trays designed to grow tree seedlings, popped into plastic carriers.  Deborah spreads a tarp across the entire back of her van when she transports boxes of flowers; she was very glad the one time she had to slam on the brakes—what a mess but at least the water was contained.

 

TIPPED OFF NOT TIPPED OVER:  Deborah demonstrated matching containers to blooms.  Do not use large tall containers, not practical!  Look for HEAVY shallow vases just a bit higher than your pin frog.  A tall heavy flower requires a heavier "keel".  Pin frogs can be purchased at Soko Hardware on Post Street in Japantown or at the FlowerMart on 6th and Bryant.  Aftosa.com is an online spot.  Use green florists’ clay to affix their frogs; to permanently attach a pin frog use aquarium cement.  Put your name on the bottom of all your vases!  Shallow containers are especially prized when you have short stems: the first set of leaves must be over the top of the vase.  Deborah showed how a crooked stemmed Bea Paradise with scraggly leaves can be shown as floating water lily.  The other 2 places leafless dahlias can be entered in competition are: People’s  Choice and in displays with 7 or more blooms.  Experiment with the length of the stalk/stem/bloom ratios in a vase for the most aesthetic.  Have fun at home combing unusual combinations; Martha Stewart featured a great bouquet of dahlias and black berries!  Deborah uses maiden hair ferns, purple fountain grass or ivy as fillers.  Have fun!  Michael Gesundheit uses Crystal Clear Floralife (800-323-3689 ); this “embalming fluid” keeps the flowers fresh longer.  Maintain quality control now. 

REASONS TO COMPETE IN YOUR FIRST SHOW:  Go for the gold!  Glory and fame fly to the proud owner of Best in Show.  At our mini show, every blue wins $1.50; red wins $1; and green wins $.50.  Fame and fortune accrue to the bold and fair!  Moreover, each time you exhibit a dahlia you help promote “better” dahlias and push the germ plasm one more step into the future.  Each entry is a “vote” for that particular variety. You can read in the ADS Classification Book just how many “votes” certain dahlias have garnered.  The healthier the plant, the more disease resistant, the brighter the colors, the better attitude the head, and the fuller the bloom, the more likely it wins.  Showing dahlias pushes your ingenuity as well.  Figure out transportation needs, ferret out containers, aquarium cement the pinfrogs correctly, and  decode the ADS color/form/numbering grid.  Any flower you bring to exhibit educates the rest of us.  We all love to see new flowers and how our favorite flowers fare under your growing conditions.  Lastly, by entering into a competition you participate more fully in your DSC Society.  More people notice you; they want your horticultural secrets; and they want to swap tubers with you.  Please bring flowers to the Novice Only Mini Show—even just a couple!

SNIPS AND SPRIGS:  Welcome to new member, Michael who grows 240 dahlias in South San Francisco.  Wow!  Thanks to DJ for bringing in so many 4”x4”s to share.  Frank’s final tubers sold out quickly.  Lou reports that his famous Christmas shovel smites wretched gophers—34 at the latest count.  Vermin. Grrrr..  The Colorado Dahlia Society posts this summer’s show circuit.  If you’re going on vacation, check out where you might catch another society’s dahlia show. Frank wondered if we would be interested in buying t-shirts featuring Skipley Spot and “Ask Me about Dahlias.”  They come in all sizes and several colors. He thinks they would cost @$15; sweatshirts would be more. John brought in an article about a woman in Nanimo so devoted to growing dahlias, that even when she had gone blind, she continued to divide them by Braille; she could feel the eyes!  Gerda reported that Safeway sold cut dahlias: 5 for $5.  Carol Hemingway brought a sample version of her 2007 dahlia calendar—gorgeous!  Thank you Joanne for the lime bars, to the Cornishes for the Cadbury fingers (I hadn’t seen those for years!), to Marilyn for the delicious apple pudding, and to Mary for the crunchy cookies.  Who brought the chocolate chip ones?  Thank you all for sharing with your friends.

FLORIBUNDA: OUR BIG SHOW:  Elsie ( 415 566 5222) requested everyone to sign up to help with our show.  We need people to help set up tables on Friday night August 18 at 5 pm and tear them down after the show at 5 pm on Sunday.  Please volunteer to “host” for a couple hours during the show to answer the public’s questions or to man the membership table.  Volunteer to clerk at 9:30 Saturday morning.  A clerk accompanies the judges and records the decisions—fascinating and educational.  Come early 5-6 am on Saturday and help “run” participants’ entries to the proper tables.  The more you participate the more fun you have—really.  Please try to show—even if it’s only a couple flowers!  Put up posters at your work place, library, nursery, hospital or wherever to invite the public to this phenomenal event.

Sponsoring Society

Date & Location

Flower of the Year

Other Information

San Leandro Aug. 5-6 at SL Library, San Leandro
Pam Howden 
Download Show Schedule
Dahlia Society of California
(San Francisco)
Aug. 19-20 at Golden Gate Park,  9th & Lincoln
Bea Paradise
Download Show Schedule
Dahlia Society of California
(San Francisco)
DSC Picnic at Golden Gate Pate, Dahlia Dell    
Monterey Bay Labor Day Weekend at Capitola Mall
Just Married    
 
John E. Stowell
(San Jose )
Sep. 9-10 at Valco Mall, San Jose Mailyn M;  Honka  
ADS National Sep. 14-17 at Long Island, NY    
South San Francisco Fair September 23    

ASTOUNDING AUGUST:  Mildew has already begun dusting leaves; spray now!  I mixed up a batch of Bayer’s Three in One soil drench with some Super Bloom and squirted it at the base of all my home dahlias with a turkey baster as Rose suggested.  It works great!  I imagined I could tell a difference within 2 weeks.  Who knows?  I also suggest spraying with a cocktail of bugicide (I use Malathion), fungicide (Monterey Fungi Fighter which was spotted on the shelves of a nursery in the Castro recently), super bloom (I use Schultz), and dishwashing soap as a sticker ( I like Ivory).  I use a 3 gallon back pack sprayer (@$100 at Home Depot).  Weeny teeny caterpillars have hit my secret garden so they may be looking for your luscious dahlias, too.   Begin assiduous dahlia bondage—the windier the more tied up.  Keep disbudding.  Leave only the central bud on a three-some.  This produces a stronger longer stem and a bigger bloom.  Start collecting milk cartons to use as “vases” so you can delight friends, fellow employees, librarians, shut-ins, and relatives with glorious bouquets.  Take pictures!  Enter the photo section of our Floribunda as well as the ADS National Photo contest.  For our show pictures must come from this year or last year.  For the national competition, photos must be taken this year.  Check your dahlia labels against the ADS Classification Book descriptions.  Exhibit at the Novice Only Mini Show, at the San Leandro Show, at our Floribunda, and come to the picnic.  Wow!  Bloom on!  Yours in bloom,  Deborah

Looking ahead on what you might need to do in the coming months? Check out the Monthly Calendar.


Click to return to DSC Home PageDahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA  -- Copyrighted
Chief Editor: Deborah Dietz
eNewsletter Editor: Ted Marr

Acknowledgement: Photos in this issue by Andy Iseri, Deborah, and Ted.