Divine dahlias!

Yesterday I toured the dahlia garden of Buz Carter in Marysville and, wow, he had amazing flowers.

I wasn’t just dahlia gazing, however: I gathered all kinds of details about the upcoming Snohomish County Dahlia Society’s free annual show and competition of blooms set for Aug. 22-23, next Saturday and Sunday.

This isn’t just any year for the society.

Everett, Snohomish County and Washington have all officially proclaimed 2009 the Year of the Dahlia in honor of the club’s 100th birthday.

Snohomish County’s society is the only one in the nation to have hosted 100 consecutive shows. In honor of the occasion, it was chose to host the American Dahlia Society’s national show (Aug. 20-24), an event typically held in larger cities.

Last year it was in Philadelphia.

Dahlia die-hards are flying in from across the globe, including enthusiasts from England, Australia and New Zealand.

Though the local show usually features about 3,000 blooms at Floral Hall in Everett’s Forest Park, this year’s expanded event may mean more completive cut flowers from attendees driving in from Canada and California.

“This year we don’t know what we’re going to get,” Carter said. “We may get 5,000 flowers.”

If you want to attend the national five-day national show, there is a registration fee, but it’s free to look at the blooms next weekend at Forest Park.

I promise you will be inspired to grow more dahlias.

You can read the full story on the upcoming events at www.heraldnet.com/garden on Aug. 20

But, for now, drink in these pix of Carter’s blooming beauties below.

(PS: If vegetables are more your thing, check out my story today on vertical vegetable gardening tricks. Yes, you, too, can grow pumpkins into the sky!)

‘Little Beeswings,” a dahlia that is only 2 inches across, was introduced by an Austrailian in 1909, the same year the Snohomish County Dahlia Society was formed. It’s also growing in Buz Carter’s front yard in Marysville.

Buz Carter’s cutting garden features many blooms he’ll cut next week for the dahlia show and competition.

This scrapbook, started in 1910 to document the newly formed Snohomish County Dahlia Society, features a photo of the first show’s blooms.

Admission to the society’s first show, held in downtown Everett in 1910, was 10 cents. Next weekend the show, as usual, is free.