Dahlia Folks - Kinda Like Family

Following up on last week's post....There is something so familiar about people who are committed to the life cycle of this lowly tuber. I was fortunate to be able to spend yesterday with members of the NW Conference of Dahlia Growers, at a workshop in Seattle. The first thing I noticed, as I tiptoed in just as the program was starting, was how many people there were in attendance....I guess I should have expected that after searching for parking near the Lutheran Church where the workshop was being held. The church parking lot was packed, and all on-street parking within blocks in all directions was taken, leaving a very small lane in the middle of the century-old streets for car travel. The blocks were separated by roundabouts that forced drivers to accommodate traffic from the other direction, thus avoiding collisions on the now one-lane streets. I finally found a spot about 2.5 blocks away, and made my way to the entrance of the church basement. There were around 100 people, already listening to President Dick Parshall make his way through the day's agenda. I saw a few familiar faces, but by and large, these were people I'd never before met. Most were from somewhere in Western Washington, although one couple had come from California, and right up front was a contingent from Portland (and Washougal - not Oregon, we were reminded!) I was the only one from Eastern Washington - there are so few societies east of the Cascades, and Inland Empire (Spokane Valley) is not yet affiliated with the conference. There used to be a society in Yakima, but they dissolved some years back when the leader of the group passed away. Wenatchee has had an ADS affiliated society off and on ever since our family moved to Wenatchee in 1964. Dad wasted no time prowling around town to find fellow afficionados who might be interested in joining together to promote dahlia culture and showing in Eastern Washington. Our current society is the latest incarnation, and I think our future is bright, due to enthusiastic members who are generous in their time, labor and knowledge. A great group of people here in NCW - we may be small, but our hearts for dahlias are enormous!

Anyway, as Dick was calling on Federation Representatives for their monthly reports, he worked his way through almost all of the member societies. When he came to NCW, he said "Not present.." not having seen me come in or met me prior to the meeting. I interrupted him, to let him know I was present and that I had a report. The room erupted with welcoming applause, and I felt a bit like the prodigal son! I gave our report of our upcoming tuber sales, our show dates (mentioning that we still need judges), and news of our new website. I ended my report with information on our dahlia quilt raffle, and let them know I would be selling tickets during the break if anyone was interested. People on either side of me welcomed me as I sat down, and I felt all warm inside.

The workshop was just great, focusing on the new numbering system, how to complete entry tags, and changes in the judging/clerk sheets. People had some questions and a few concerns, wanting to fully understand and be able to picture how this would all look come show time, and most were assured that this would all work out just fine as the process evolves. The message was "Trust Us", and I did. We took a break mid-morning. I was planning to see if Bernie Wilson, a grower who had been friends with Dad, was somewhere in the crowd. However, before I had a chance to do that, several people around me came up to find out about the quilt and our raffle, and to buy tickets. Someone from the Federation was also selling raffle tickets for the bottle of rhubarb wine that one of the growers had made and donated for today's meeting. As I was trying to talk to everyone around me (I felt like a rock star!), up came Bernie! I was so happy to see him, because I had brought him three tubers of Cascade Myrt for him. He has expressed an interest in growing this last hybridization of Dad's, but has not yet had any success. Last year, when he came to Wenatchee as a show judge, I promised him I would save some tubers for him. He also gave me some great tips on how to get a seedling like this into the classification guide next year. If he is successful in growing it this year, he will enter it in shows, hopefully garnering a blue ribbon or two. I gave him a hug and handed him the box with the tubers in it, so glad that one of the great growers in Western Washington was going to be pampering this beautiful baby.

The meeting continued with a tuber auction, with most of the tubers being 2011 introductions. One or two tubers of each variety were donated by the local hybridizers, and the bidding became very competitive for some of the cultivars. I ended up winning 4 new varieties that I hope to have some success with here in NCW. I got BJ's Hilde, a yellow/red variegated incurved cactus, Clearview Tammy a B-SC white, AC Ring of Fire, a beautiful A, yellow ID, yellow with bright red tipped petals, and Camano Stroll a BB-FD Yellow. This was a lot of fun, and I was especially thrilled to see junior grower Hayley win a great variegated water lily, Hollyhill Tigress, with a very bold bid of $40. She really wanted that one, and she intends to grow it and hopefully will be able to show it in our show in September. She and her mom introduced themselves to me during the morning break, and told us that they were planning to come and enter in our show - that is so cool! The Federation raised over $800 auctioning off these premium tubers, and a great time was had by all! During the break Jerry Morris, of BJ's Dahlias gave me a second tuber of BJ Hilde, and I also got a root for BJ's Emily, a pink stellar, which I'm sure I will love.

Good things just kept on happening as the day wore on.....Dick and Danielle Parshall came up to me during the lunch break to let me know that they would like to come over to Wenatchee to do an Introduction to Judging workshop, just for us. They will be doing one in Mt. Vernon on July 30, and would come to Wenatchee the following day, the 31st of July(a Sunday), since none of us are judges, and also recognizing that traveling over the mountains is not always something a lot of us can do. Then, Dick Porter, from Whatcom County, found me to ask me if we need tubers for our sale....They are doing their sale on April 2, and would like to share some of their leftover tubers with us. I told him "Yes!" It would be great to have some new varieties in our inventory, and the quality of the tubers will undoubtedly be excellent. I told him I could come pick them up, but he said that would be too expensive, and he would take care of getting them over to us. Then Bernie Wilson asked me if we would like to have some of his tubers - he suggested that he could donate some for us to have in a tuber auction, to raise a little money at our next meeting. This is a great chance for us to get some very nice and newer dahlias in our gardens, and would certainly help our slim treasury. He promised to help us out, and asked me for information on our next meeting date and tuber sale. I also had several people find me to tell me they would be at our show this year!

The day finished up with a session on judging arrangements, where I learned a lot about how to arrange dahlias for entry in shows, and a session on photography, where Colin Walker shared tips on getting the best shots of our beautiful blooms and gardens. Colin had given me pointers a few weeks ago, on getting our website set up, and I was able to thank him for his advice. He told me to be sure to send him the link so he can make sure it gets out there for others to access. All in all, people just could not have been nicer. I ended up selling 32 raffle tickets for the quilt, and coming home just loaded with ideas and plans. It was a day very well spent!

I've always believed that dahlia folks are just a little different - you know, weird, but in a good way? I hope no one is offended by that, since I count myself among these great people. These are the people I grew up around, in the dahlia gardens of the Everett and Monroe train depots, and in Floral Hall at Forest Park in Everett - they are people like Herman Droppert, Jess Cavendar and Mae Evans, in Everett, and then Bill Campbell and Kenny Keiser in Wenatchee. So when I walked into the basement of the Faith Lutheran Church in little ol' Lake City yesterday, I felt, in a way, like I had come home. And the people there treated me like family. Not a bad way to spend the last Saturday of Winter, 2011 - not bad at all......