Demonstration Garden Update 7-23-2012

First of all, my sincere apologies for not posting on our blog for so long.  I have updated with 3 new posts about the planting of our demonstration garden, our June meeting and now this peak at the progress of the demonstration garden.  

Please be sure to scroll down to catch up.

 What a beauty!!!  I still love her even if I can't remember her name.....Doris something I think.

 Mark tenderly disbuds one of our many dahlias getting ready to burst with more color.

 Our Miss Delilah bed is amazing.  I have decided this hard working variety is a must for any garden, maybe that is why we named her our Club Flower this year!    She is a low grower, blooms early and often until frost.  What's not to love?

 This is a new variety named Harvey Koop that Megan bought as a cutting.  It is unusual and gorgeous!

This is a new variety named Bert Pitt, yes Bert, 

not Brad but just as handsome;)

This year we did an experiment with tubers from out Best of Show plant, Wanda's Aurora.   The plant gave us many tubers; some small and others very large.  We planted one small tuber and one very large tuber side by side to see if there will be any difference in plant size and most importantly the quality and quantity of blooms.  So far (darn, wish I would have taken a photo) the plants are exactly like the tubers, the small tuber has given us a smaller plant compared to the much larger plant from the larger tuber.   It is proving to be interesting to track these plants through the season.  We may find out what others may already know.....SIZE DOES MATTER:))


If anyone has some photos of their dahlias they would like to show off here please e-mail me large file photos to my e-mail address at garykarencrook@comcast.net  (phone photos are not a large enough file....sorry)

JUNE MEETING

    Our June meeting was held at 42nd Street Greenhouse.   It was a lovely evening in the garden which gave us a chance to discuss our financials, ideas for our grant and other details the Dahlia Society needed to address.   We had ice cream treats that hit the spot on a warm evening.


    42nd Street Greenhouse is a ground up business started by Diane and Roy Angus.  It is a wonderful nursery and they were kind enough to host the Dahlia Society.  Besides growing beautiful annuals, vegetables, herbs and perennials they buy dahlia tubers from us each year and start them in pots.  It is great to have this backup just in case one of our precious tubers is a no show.  We all hate to have spaces empty when a beautiful dahlia could be growing.  The greenhouse is located at 4221 South 700 East and is open from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday, May through October.  You can check out their website at www.42ndstreetgreenhouse.com   
   
Please support them and let them know how much we appreciate their support for us.

Planting the Demonstration Garden

May 1, 2012 was the perfect day to plant the demonstration garden.  We had lots of volunteers to prepare the soil, install the drip system and finally to dig holes and deposit our hopes and dreams for the coming dahlia season.   This year we had funds to buy several new varieties of dahlias along with new cuttings.   It will be exciting to see how the new varieties will do and look forward to those new tubers being available for next year's tuber sale.

 Mark, Steve, Dave and Lumpy do the final touches of the drip system.

 Megan and Lumpy hard at work....

 Sandy's huge contribution was mapping the garden and making sure we knew exactly where each and every tuber was planted with name and other important information.  Each plant is mapped and tagged because remember, Mark can't love it unless he knows it's name!

 Dave Ross has many talents and thankfully willing to share them with the Dahlia Society.

Thanks to all our volunteers and the weather for cooperating this year.  

We will be tending the garden Monday evenings if you would like to help.