DAHLIAS AND DAD....MEN WHO LOVE FLOWERS!

It's Father's Day again, and that always sets me thinkin'. Today I'm wondering just how much luckier can a girl get, than to have a father who loves flowers? I never realized until I was much older, that many men see flowers as something that women want, and some even expect. A wise man learns that if he wants to win the heart of a fair maiden, posies go a long ways towards endearing you to your intended. And this belief, as a general rule, is correct, and worth keeping in mind. However, as a child growing up in Everett, Washington, it wasn't my mother who was responsible for all the floral stuff we always had around the house - ribbon, floral tape, greens and fill, oasis foam, floral frogs, wire - It was my dad's stuff, and he let us kids play with it! We were making little dandelion, daisy and clover corsages before we learned to read! I remember also that Dad used to collect those square cans that opened with a turn-key. I think these cans contained processed ham, and I remember the gelatinous consumme and the congealed white fat that filled the spaces between the compressed lumps of ham. I'm not sure how old I was before I realized that these cans were the ones that Dad and the other members of the Snohomish County Dahlia Society chose to exhibit their largest dahlia blooms. Since the "dinner plates" were my dad's favorites, we had a lot of these cans around, painted a shade of mint green, in accordance with the club's show requirements. Later, after we moved nearer my dad's work at the Great Northern Greenhouses in Monroe, I would often stop by to see Dad in his office on my way home from school. Located in a wood frame building just west of the tracks and the depot, this space provided direct access into the greenhouses from his large workspace where he made corsages, floral baskets, arrangements, and prepared cut flowers, potted poinsettias and Easter Lilies for shipping. Every possible color of ribbon was arranged on spools above the workbench, as was floral tape of green, silver, white and gold and colored foil to wrap around the terra cotta pots he used back in the day. Garden twine and green, silver and copper wire of varied weights were also there, as well as clippers, shears and pliers. As I still vividly recall walking into those spaces, I realize my memories are much more about feelings than thoughts, as I took in this room full of rainbows with pots of gold everywhere! Can there be anything more visceral than the permeation of the organic aromas of soil, geraniums, carnations, humidity, vermiculite, marigolds, ferns into the human soul? Certainly not for me....... Outside on the grounds of the greenhouses, were gently curving beds of the most wonderful dahlias anywhere. We also had a very large dahlia garden at home, and it was a very common happening for us to bring armloads of these beautiful things into the house, to make bouquets for people, or for church, or just because. My dad loved sharing flowers, and all manner of growing things - no doubt - but there was never any question as to what he loved the most - and it was the this magnificent and diverse flower called "dahlia." I would not be surprised if I discovered that it was one of the first words I ever learned to speak, while other children were learning things like "doggie" "ball" and "cookie." The point of my blog today is just to note the interesting fact that it seems like dahlias have an allure for men that roses, iris, glads, etc. just don't seem to have. In my years of observing the my dad's dahlia buddies as I grew up, as well as the people I have encountered in my own dahlia life, I am amazed at the high proportion of men. Our local dahlia society is an exception, made up of more women than men, but our members of both genders do a yeoman's job of making our club successful. But Federation-wide, most of the key leadership positions are currently held by men. Most of the award winning dahlia hybridizers in my experience have also been men, and as a general rule, when I deal with leadership at a national level (ADS),9 times out of 10, I am dealing with a man. When we have our tuber sales and our shows, the interest shown by men is overwhelming. This is not to say that women are not at least equally key to the leadership of the clubs at all levels - I am convinced that the women and men who pursue the most excellent dahlia are critical to the success of what all that we do, especially when it comes to show time, meetings, tuber sales, marketing and just getting down in the dirt. The dahlia women I've met are brilliant and creative, and amazingly fun to play with! The point of this blog is not to generalize and compare boys to girls, but simply to remark on the interesting phenomenon of men and their attraction to our favorite flower. My dad taught me to love this dahlias, and he taught me to crave the smell of greenhouses, and to always have proper sets of hand tools as well as garden tools. Of course, we also need our "dividing" instruments, including oyster knives, snippers large to teensy, blades of varied sizes and function,and larger clips/shears of different shapes. Tags, stakes, indelible ink pencils, label makers, markers, wire, fertilizers, twines, are just a few of the indispensible things this girl has learned to keep at hand because of what my father modeled for me. We still have a few of those old green ham cans around, and they are precious to my sisters and me. This Father's Day I am reminded that having my dad as my first love was a deeply embedded gift that will continue to influence me for the rest of my life. Dads who love flowers? Wonderful! But a dad who loves DAHLIAS? Even better!