Snohomish man patiently tends to demanding dahlias

Working with divas requires patience, and fortunately, Bernie Wilson possesses it in spades.

The Snohomish man breeds and shows dahlias, a flower long-loved for its Carmen Miranda qualities.

These flowers feel exotic with their hot hues and crisp, tailored forms.

Take Trelyn Kiwi, a dahlia judged best in show at last year's Snohomish County Dahlia Show. The white, lavender-twinged petals explode from the center like a Fourth of July firework. Dahlias also come shaped like pincushions, sea urchins or long-petaled orchids. The American Dahlia Society lists 18 classifications just for form, and colors are nearly as numerous.

Wilson, a 62-year-old retired firefighter, grows about 110 kinds of dahlias, from itty-bitty dainty types less than 2 inches across to big mamas nearly a foot in diameter.

His devotion to the flower began more than 30 years ago when a neighbor shared a few tubers. He had gardened all his life, but something about the bold colors and blooms, especially the large ones, appealed to him.

"I got hooked," he said. "I just like them."

Now he spends hours during the growing season pampering about 650 dahlias in neat, long rows in his sunny backyard. He'll take just the best to shows around the area, including the Snohomish County Dahlia Show, set for this weekend in Everett.

Dahlias have captivated American gardeners for decades, and there are no real secrets when it comes to growing a show-stopper, Wilson said.

"It's a lot of luck and it's a lot of TLC," he said. "As far as that bud opening to a show flower, it's just Mother Nature."

He'll shelter certain blooms under umbrellas to slow development or so their colorful complexions won't fade. He'll water, fertilize and fight moles. He'll spend hours removing by hand all the buds but one on each of his hundreds of plants, so the remaining blooms grow robust.

Despite all the devoted attention, only a few dozen of these will make it onto the showroom table.

The difference between a fabulous dahlia and a bad one can be as little as a spot, he said. Before a show, he'll wander through the rows of dahlias in his backyard, looking for blooms at the perfect point of development and with the best mix of desirable qualities. The day before the show, he'll cut 60 to 80 and put them in buckets of cool water under his carport. The morning of the show, he'll select 10 to 20 of the best to carefully pack into cans, which will get strapped into the corners of milk crates for the drive.

In the more than 30 years of competitive dahlia showing, he has won best of show twice. It's a rare feat, sort of like winning the Miss America crown, that involves besting hundreds of other flowers. He is perfectly content, he said, just to see his flowers win their category.

At this week's show, Wilson may show one of his introductions. The process involves four years of selecting, growing and testing, and a large heap of rejects that get piled in his field. He said the stems are too woody to compost and too squishy to run through the shredder.

"Sometimes you grow them for years and then you have to bite the bullet and throw them away," he said.

Wilson has introduced 10, including Lakeview Peachfuzz, a dahlia with feathery, peach-colored petals. All of his introductions begin with "Lakeview," a homage to the view from his back yard. He gets a modest portion of the proceeds -- it comes out to about 5 cents an hour, his wife, Jan, chimes in -- but that's not what motivates him. It's the good feeling, he said, of knowing he picked a good one.

And, of course, all those beauties blooming in the backyard.



Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com. Visit her blog at www.heraldnet.com.

CARING FOR DAHLIAS
In summer

Remove old or spent flowers.

Water deeply every four or five days during the summer heat.

As the blooms develop, fertilize with a low or no nitrogen fertilizer, such as one labeled 0-20-20, to encourage flower and tuber development.

Control for slugs, snails and other pests.

Remove two side buds at each budding tip to encourage better blooms.

Digging dahlias

Enjoy the flowers until the first frost kills the foliage.

If you have good drainage, leave the tubers in the ground, cut off any dead foliage, and cover with 3 to 4 inches of mulch. Clumps should be divided every third year for bigger, better flowers and stronger stems.

If you choose to dig the tubers, cut off the stalks to 3 or 4 inches above the ground and leave in the ground for a week or two to allow eyes to set before digging. Begin cutting down and digging by November even if no killing frost has taken place.

Dig around each tuber clump with a shovel or garden fork and lift gently. Hose off the dirt from the tuber, clip off the feeder roots with garden scissors and let dry overnight.

Dividing and storing

Divide clumps in half by splitting with pruning shears.

Cut off tubers using hand pruners, garden scissors and a sharp knife. Wear protective gloves. Each tuber should have an eye you can see. The tuber eyes are located at the swell of the crown near the stem.

Soak tubers in a solution of 1 cup of bleach and 3 gallons of water for 15 or 20 minutes to kill bacteria. Allow tubers to dry several days on newspaper in a cool, dark place.

Label the tubers before storing with a permanent marker or no-blot pencil. If you don't know the name, just list the flower color.

Store cut tubers in plastic bags with a few handfuls of vermiculite, wood shavings or potting soil. Another method is rolling tubers in a long strip of plastic wrap, making sure each tuber isn't touching the others.

Keep tubers in a dark, cool place that does not freeze. A crawl space, root cellar or old refrigerator are good locations.

Source: The Snohomish County Dahlia Society. Find more information its Web site, www.scdahlias.org. The next meeting will be 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Legion Hall in Legion Park, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett.



Earwig contol

Earwigs can chew holes in a perfectly good dahlias. Grower Bernie Wilson gets rid of them by laying two wet boards down near the dahlias overnight. The earwigs are attracted to the dark underside of that cool, wet wood. In the morning, rub the boards together and smash the earwigs that have crawled in, he said.