KITSAP COUNTY DAHLIA SOCIETY

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1 KITSAP COUNTY DAHLIA SOCIETY Inside this issue: KCDS Officers 2 KCDS Board Notes 2 ADS News 3 FNWDG News New Webmaster 4 My Dahlia Journey 5 Dates to Remember: January 15, 7:00 PM General Meeting February 5, 7:00 PM Board Meeting February 11-15, NW Flower & Garden Show February 19, 7:00 PM General Meeting March 21, 9:00 AM Federation Spring Workshop April 18, 9:00? Bag Sale Dahlias (tentative) April 24-25, 9:00 AM Tuber Sale (tentative) August 1-2 KCDS Show P. O. Box 502, Silverdale, WA KCDS Christmas Holiday Party-Thank You! I would like to thank the Brants for their generosity of a great place for our Christmas party, and thank Wendy for cooking. Thanks also to all of you who helped set up, decorate, and take down everything. The potluck food was yummy folks. We had a great time and good visits. I am sorry some of you missed it. It was awesome. Penny Armstrong (Past President) We could not have said it better, Penny! From all of us, THANK YOU Drew, Wendy, Kaile and Aurora for a wonderful evening! Embrace, BB SC BR By this time the holidays are past us and we start to Embrace the new year by perusing through catalogs and planning our 2015 dahlia gardens both for the club and for our own gardens. At this month s meeting, Drew will give us a presentation of the new introductions for This is always a very informative meeting which generates lots of good discussion on the merits of the upcoming introductions, as well as a look at what we may want to consider for the club gardens. As we consider selections for our gardens, good references of proven winners are the ADS Fabulous 50 (Embrace was top dahlia for 2013), and Cream of the Crop lists. Both of these lists can be found on the ADS website ( or in the March 2014 ADS Bulletin. Many of the growers have limited stock which sells out early. Members should be ready to provide suggestions at the upcoming general meeting as to which dahlias we should consider purchasing for We hope to see you there! 1

2 KCDS 2015 OFFICERS: President Dan Van Natta Vice President (programs) Drew Brant Treasurer Bill Jones Recording Secretary (minutes) Kim Van Natta Corresponding Co-Secretaries (newsletter) Allyn Arnold Debra Kurre Trustees Steffany Mootry Gary Johnson Bob Overly ADS Representative Leone Smith Federation Representative Drew Brant Contact any of these people regarding club events. Regular Board Meetings Held on the first Thursday of each Month at 7:00 PM LOCATION: All Star Lanes, Silverdale, WA Board Meeting Dates February 5, 2015 March 5, 2015 General Meetings Held on the third Thursday of each month at 7 PM EXCEPT FOR: July (Club Picnic) August (Club Show) LOCATION: Crystal Grange 2160 NE Paulson Rd Poulsbo, WA BOTH meetings are open to all. If you have an item for discussion, contact Dan Van Natta by the Tuesday before the meeting and he will put you on the agenda. BOARD NOTES KCDS NEWSLETTER ADDRESS Please forward all comments & suggestions to: REFRESHMENT SIGN-UP January Linda Rickaby February Bobby Merrick or call Allyn or Debra to sign up for 2015! Starting January, 2015, KCDS will reimburse members who provide snacks for the monthly meetings, not to exceed $15.00 per month. This cost will be added to the 2015 KCDS budget. Now is the time to check your tubers to see how they are faring during their winter slumber. Bob Overly will schedule a small group in January to perform quality check of tubers at the Grange. If you have tubers to donate to the sale, let Bill Jones know ASAP so he can ensure he has pictures and labels. The KCDS audit is scheduled to take place in January. It was rescheduled from December as only one trustee was present at that Board meeting. DUES REMINDER: 2015 Membership lists will be updated at the end of the month, with those who are not current with their dues dropped from the distribution lists. See our Treasurer, Bill Jones, to pay your 2015 dues. 2

3 ADS NEWS KCDS Representative: Leone Smith ADS Report The December ADS packet has arrived! It contains the Bulletin, with various articles regarding the 2014 National Show; a Supplement booklet listing the Show Reports from across the US and Canada and a second Supplement, the 2015 Classification and Handbook of Dahlias. These are valuable tools and an important benefit of ADS Membership. If you do not belong to ADS you are missing out! Here you will find a complete list of dahlias currently grown and shown, where they grow best and how well they compete at shows. Our society and others submit quarterly reports concerning our club s activities. Let me know if you want something featured and I will include it in my KCDS Report. I need those ideas ASAP! The Bulletin gives ADS members a voice to share ideas and information. (Just for fun, check out the article on page 66.) Submissions are due by January 20th for the Spring Bulletin. Do you have something to share? If so, send your article to adsbulletin@aol.com. Then send a hard copy to Judy Hines, 306 Bradley Drive, Valpariso, IN Leone Smith Editor s Note: Don t forget to vote for Dahlia of the half Century. The deadline to vote is February 1. Send your vote by e mail to: ADSDahlia@aol.com, or by U. S. mail to: Harry Rissetto 502 West Broad Street, #508 Falls Church, VA Additional information is available at FEDERATION OF NORTHWEST DAHLIA GROWERS (FNWDG) KCDS Representative: Drew Brant The 2015 dates are set for some of our favorite Federation events. Be sure to mark your calendars for the following The Federation Spring Workshop will be on March 21, 2015 at the Faith Lutheran Church, th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA, 9:00 am. 3 pm. The Federation Summer Workshop will be on July 18, at Mt. Vernon Senior Center, Mt Vernon, WA, 9:00 am 3 pm. The Judging Workshops will be on July 25, 2015 at the Mt. Vernon Senior Center, Mt. Vernon, WA and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Olympia, WA, 9:00 am 3:00 pm. Trial Garden Judging will be on August 2, 2015 at Pt. Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA, 11:00 am. Dahlia of the Year The Dahlia of the Year is a feature of the annual shows of the clubs within MAKS ROYAL RUBY the Federation of Northwest Dahlia Growers. It is a part of Section 29 WL, R featuring entries in the Novice, Amateur, and Open competition. This year's selection is Maks Royal Ruby, a Red Waterlily from Al & Shelly Kaas introduced in

4 MEET OUR NEW WEBMASTER Michael Lanning Kitsap County Dahlia Society Webmaster Hi, my name is Michael Lanning. After showing interest in being a webmaster, I was invited to be the club s webmaster. I am grateful for the opportunity to create a new Kitsap County Dahlia Society website. I have a technical background, with an engineering degree from BYU and have held many engineering positions. The latest technical position I held was an architectural designer over in Wenatchee, Washington. That all changed when the housing market crashed back in 2008 and Currently I am a caregiver for my elderly mother, who has dementia and requires 24-hour care. Life has a way of throwing curveballs at you sometimes. Prior to joining the club, I had made several attempts at growing dahlias. I realized there was much more to learn, so I got on the computer to see what information I could find. That s how I found the Kitsap County Dahlia Society. I have had a lot of fun participating in all the events, networking with many of the members, and learning from them. As a result my dahlia garden has grown exponentially, with a healthier and more beautiful selection of dahlias than I could have imagined. I would like at this time to say thank you to all those who helped me gain this result, and to the club in general. The main reason I joined the club was for creating cut flowers. I have had fun going to some dahlia shows last year, and even volunteered to help clerk at a show, which was very interesting. I do have a vision of how the website and the Internet can play a key role in promoting and communicating the mission of the Kitsap County Dahlia Society. I would love to start a forum and/or a discussion with other members to learn what your vision of the website could be. So, if you think a discussion or a forum would be of interest please let me know. You can contact me through the KCDS website, or call me at If you don t have a response from the website , my other more commonly visited address is ml883@yahoo.com. I would like to say thanks to both Debbie and Allyn for including the web corner in the KCSS Newsletter. Editor s Note: In addition to taking over the task as KCDS webmaster, Michael has attended nearly every KCDS event since he joined the club. He has cheerfully assisted in the planting, harvesting and dividing of the club s dahlias. He never tires of asking questions about dahlias, and is obviously putting the information to good use in his garden. The KCDS is very lucky to have him as a member. Thank you Michael! Debbie Kurre 4

5 MY DAHLIA JOURNEY January 2015 When I first started into my dahlia journey, in addition to the beauty of the individual flowers, I loved the stories behind the tubers. For instance, I loved the beautiful, soft blush shown on Chimacum Cathleen s saucer-like petals. To hear the story of the dahlia being named after the Smith s eldest daughter made it like a good friend in the garden. And who could not love the vibrant purple color of Wyn s Fiesty Freda, named after the tenacious mother of 13, hybridized by Walt Wynn. Although Mr. Wynn is no longer with us, his story remains in my heart as I look at the stunning purple ID. And what about the very hardy, prolific dahlias the backbone of the garden? We all know which ones those are. For example, who could not smile at the tenaciousness of Jomanda, poking up through mulch and grass to thrive in the most trying of circumstances. Certainly Jomanda demands respect, and a place in the garden. There are great cut flowers, some of which don t make the cut for show flowers. There are great show flowers, some which come early in the season for our show, and some that come on later in the season, in time for the subsequent shows. Then there has to be room for my current favorite novelty dahlias, characterized by their uniqueness and wow factor, such as Hollyhill Spider Woman or Valley Porcupine. Who could not be impressed by those additions, garnering new dahlia enthusiasts with their unique form and color? Looking for a vegetable garden pollinator? There are dahlias that are great workhorses in the vegetable garden, happily drawing pollinators from afar. I am attributing much of my vegetable garden success last year to scatterings of Pooh and Verrone s Morning Star throughout the garden, to which the bees joyfully flocked and once in the garden, made their way to my tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash. And there has to be room for new introductions, as the dahlia community continues to bring new and exciting varieties to us. Each year brings new favorites. Last year, one of my resolutions was to limit myself to no more than 50 dahlia varieties, and try not to sacrifice any more vegetable garden space to dahlias. As I look across my list of dahlias this year, I find it is harder than it would appear to stick to that resolution maybe my vegetable garden IS just a bit too big. Allyn Arnold Pooh CO BI RD/YL Wyn s Feisty Freda Hollyhill Spider Woman NX DB PR/WH Verrone s Morning Star OT, W Jomanda BB FD OR 5