The Dirty Work

Every job we do has "up" sides and "down" sides. For me, the best part of growing dahlias is my morning walk through the garden, disbudding things that popped out overnight, or deadheading a bloom that has truly passed away......I love to be among these floral personalities that seem to interact with me - each has its own way of being, and as the season winds down, I have come to know them as I might know my own children. Our September show has come and gone, and it was certainly a huge success. I was looking back at a picture of Dad at our show in 2006, and I can see the tables behind him. The tables are arranged in a long rectangle, taking up a small space in the center court, but nothing more. The number of flowers on the tables is remarkably less than what we have had in the past couple of years. The comparison is dramatic when you realize that we had over 300 entries this year, and multi-level tables that filled the center court, and spilled into a second space beyond the customer service desk. The enthusiasm of the growers, as well as that of the public as they viewed the flowers, was palpable. I think we were all very proud of the work we were able to do this year.

But dahlia shows are not just about the flowers - they are also about records and reports. In order to be affiliated fully with the American Dahlia Society, there are policies and procedures surrounding award winners, seedling introductions and reporting formats. During the early years of this society, we were small and didn't always get the paperwork and reports done, thus failing to be included in the ADS Annual Show report issue. Now that we are working in all aspects as a bonafide ADS affiliate, we want to do it right. For some reason, the task of reporting has fallen to me, maybe because I am retired, or because I am comfortable working with a computer. At any rate, this is the second year that I have had the honor of recording information on all entries and awards. This has included the creation of the report for which a format is provided in the Show Season issue of the ADS Bulletin. Fairly easy, although I had to decide what awards to omit, since the entire report is limited to one page. But I got that done, and sent off in time to be part of the report issue. However, the true monkey on my back has been the report for the classification guide, called "Blue and Higher Awards." Directions for doing this report are provided, but the resemblance between large, established dahlia societies and our neophyte baby society is vague enough to make these directions difficult to follow. If only I had been able to look at an example of one of these reports, like I could with the ADS report, I would have understood better what to do. As it was, I had to totally reformat all the information that I had entered in the database, as well as dissect the meaning of each award within the context of this report. Last year, we failed to get this report together, so I didn't even have our own to use as a point of reference. That said, I finally managed to get something that I felt would provide the information needed by Lou Paradise, ADS Classification Chair, after working for many hours yesterday and the day before. I came very close to losing my patience, and submitting something that really didn't do this. I'm glad that at one point a couple of days ago, I just decided to step away from the job, and give myself some space to recharge my brain. I did this using an excel spreadsheet, and hope that it will be acceptable to Lou. I will mail it out this morning.

I do have some good news about my seedling, which I have tentatively named "Maggie." Maggie has bloomed twice now, and the second bloom was even lovelier than the first. It is a bright yellow to red blend, informal dec with fluffy petals that make me think about lopeared bunnies. It is truly a pretty flower with a nice stem, and I think it has possibilities. When I cut the first bloom and took it over to give to Mom, I was surprised that one of her first comments was "Have you checked out your competition?" This, as much as anything, indicates what a "dahlia gal" she is, and how ingrained the culture of seedling development is in the hearts of people like my mom and dad. She immediately opened up her copy of Bill McClaren's Encyclopedia of Dahlias (a "must-have" bible for dahlia growers), and when she couldn't find a flower that looked similar to Maggie, she was encouraged even more. (By the way, "Maggie" is named after her - her middle name is Margaret) Whether we prefix the flower "Cascade" or "Columbia" will depend on whether she has sprung from a "Tony" seed which gave us a few tubers last year, or whether she has sprung from seed that I planted this year....time will tell. Won't know 'til we dig her up, and see whether the tubers are labeled from last year.....

Now that I finished the classification report, my next task, prior to our meeting on the 21st, is to get the budget done. This is the first year where we will be able to compare projected (budgeted) amounts with actual expenditures and incomes. This will be interesting, and will give us a better picture of ourselves as a society. Right now, though, I want to get out in the garden, since the killing frost is still, hopefully, a couple weeks out. Need to get labels on things in bloom, so the tagging will be accurate this year!