The Connecticut Dahlia Society

October 2014 Newsletter

Date: Sunday, October 12th, 2014
Place: Thomaston Savings Bank, 985 Watertown Avenue, Waterbury
Time: 1:00 pm Digging, dividing and storing dahlia tubers
          2:00 pm 2:00 pm Regular Meeting & October Bloom Competition

President’s Message:

We held a very successful show with high quality blooms gracing our Court of Honor. It was one of the biggest shows CDS has had in many years. Many visitors came into the show and were amazed at the variety that we have to offer with the many classes and colors of the dahlias. As usual we will do a critique of our show at this meeting so that we can make any improvements that may be necessary for next year.

A number of our members on following weekends attended other neighboring North Atlantic Dahlia Conference shows and received many higher awards. It is this cooperation between societies to have their members attend, exhibit and judge in other societies’ shows that help to have everyone have successful shows. We encourage our new members next year to consider attending and exhibiting at some of these other shows to further our CDS commitment to cooperate with these other societies. Marge and I have traveled to several sister society shows and Provincetown, MA this year to attend the shows of NADC societies and exhibit and judge in them as well. It was very nice to see some new exhibiters travel to our out of town shows. Best of all they have won high awards. Congratulations to them!! Also thanks to our regular members who also traveled and made a great representation of our CT. growers. It was great to see Joe Jasonis back exhibiting and winning a clean sweep of higher awards in The Provincetown Show. Great job, Joe! Also, special thanks to Jesse Peterson and Steve Rutkampp for bringing their monster blooms to our out of town shows. It takes a lot of patience and gentle handling to exhibit the larger varieties and do such a spectacular job.

At this October Meeting, we do two things besides having our usual business meeting. First, we offer a demonstration on digging, dividing with appropriate tools and storage of tubers and this demonstration will be done by Dave Crockett. So come at 1:00 pm if you would like to take part in this most important phase of dahlia culture in learning how to save your tubers.

Secondly, we will have our October Bloom Contest which always brightens our meeting room and brings a large turnout of members. Read the specifics and rules later on in this Newsletter. Following the judging of the winners, our judges will be asked to report on their decisions as a learning experience for our newer members.

We look forward to seeing you all on October 12th.

Donna Paternostro

October Bloom Competition:

One prize will be awarded for the best single bloom for each of AA/A, B, BB/Ball and one prize for the best 3 blooms in any of the other formations. A special prize will be awarded this year for the best bloom in the Competition.

Remember to bring your bloom(s) staged in a single container provided. We will do a brief review of the judging afterwards.

2015 Meeting Dates:

(All Meetings are at the Thomaston Bank unless otherwise noted). The programs for new members are open to any members who are interested.

Marge Schnerr, Editor