Pretty and prettier.
That’s what Dan Phipps calls the varieties of dahlias that Karen Richards, his partner of 27 years, grows in their Marysville yard.
Richards, of course, knows the proper names in her garden spread of 200 dahlias, but Phipps is spot-on: These supersized flowers make some of the prettiest blooms ever.
She’ll be showing off some of her giants bursts of color at this weekend’s Snohomish County Dahlia Show in Everett.
Snohomish County Dahlia Society’s two-day show at Floral Hall in Forest Park is for dahlia devotees as well as dahlia wannabees.
Admission is free. So is advice from the experts.
“It’s our 106th consecutive year for the show,” club spokesman Hills Collins said. “I expect we’ll have a lot of good blooms this week. We expect to have 2,000 blooms.”
Yep, even with the dry summer. “They started blooming awful early,” he said.
The bushy, tuberous perennials are native to Mexico and its national flower.
With their lanky stems and big blossoms, dahlias are like the giraffes of the garden.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work, too,” Richards said.
She enters her dahlias in competitions such as this weekend’s and hopes for the best.
“One year you might do good and next year you won’t,” she said. “I call it a crap shoot.”
It’s a friendly contest. It’s more about kinship than winning.
Her daughter, Allison, of Silver Lake, is also a member of the dahlia society. In fact, Allison got hooked on dahlias first and got her mom started.
Mom has more. “I’m retired and she works,” Richards said. “You can spend a lot of time out there.”
The payoff is priceless.
“Once they start blooming they’ll bloom until the first frost,” Richards said. “They are fairly easy to grow once you get the idea what they need and what they like. They like the heat and the sun but they don’t like the 90 degrees. It affected some of mine.”
Phipps is her right-hand man.
“When the year starts I till it for her. I put in the poles, with her supervision,” he said. “At the end of the year I take the poles out and I cover it.”
Dahlias are her hobby, but he enjoys the floral masterpieces.
“I love them because it continuously gives you flowers all summer long.”
Like he said: pretty and prettier.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
If you go
The Snohomish County Dahlia Show is 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Floral Hall at Forest Park, 802 Mukilteo Blvd., Everett.
For more information, visit www.scdahlias.org or call 360-659-8687.
The website has tips on planting, dividing and storing dahlias, disbudding, including numerous how-to photos.
The club has a tuber sale in April in Everett.
Want to join the club?
Snohomish County Dahlia Society meetings are 7 p.m. on the second Monday of the month at Lions Hall at Forest Park Hall, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett. When the group moves back to Legion Hall, possibly in January, the meetings will be on the second Thursday of the month.
Caring for dahlias
Source: Snohomish County Dahlia Society
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.
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