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Hard work yields striking dahlia blooms
By SEAN CLOUGHERTY
Managing Editor
For John Spangenberg and Nick Weber, the question isn’t “why grow dahlias?”
It’s “why not?”
“I love the bloom in the fall,” Weber, a retired FDA scientist, said a few weeks ago, while checking on his dahlia patch.
Prior to moving to Maryland about 30 years, Weber, of Brookeville, Md., said he grew dahlias and has only gotten back into it about seven years ago.
“I missed the beauty and the excitement of the fall bloom,” he said. “That rekindled the obsession.”
For Spangenberg, the dinner-plate-sized blooms and sharp colors make growing dahlias an easy choice.
“I love overdoing it a little bit,” he said, holding up a large yellow, cactus-type bloom. “This you can cut and people drop their jaws when they see it.”
With each growing hundreds of plants, the two friends are some of the larger exhibitors in the Maryland State Fair’s dahlia and gladiolus flower show on Sunday, Sept. 4. Both are also members of the National Capital Dahlia Society which will hold it’s 75th Anniversary Show on Sept. 24 and 25 at Brookside Gardens. The society also holds tuber sales thoughout the year to attract new growers. Sale information can be found at it’s website, www.nationalcapitaldahlia.org.
The state fair’s dahlia show dates back to at least 1949, according to Bill Langlotz, Farm and Garden Building superintendent.
“I’d say it’s the biggest (of the fair’s four flower shows) and probably the prettiest,” Langlotz said.
The dahlia show brings about 500 cut blooms into the Farm and Garden Building, grown by local gardeners of varying degrees. The show is divided into two groups: Growers with 50 plants or less and those with more than 50 plants. Within those divisions, there are dozens of categories a gardener can enter depending on bloom size and type.
“The State Fair is very good that they have so many places to enter their flowers,” Spangenberg said, walking among the raised beds of dahlias in his backyard.
Taking blooms to the fair not only helps prepare Spangenberg and other growers for upcoming shows in the fall, but it’s also a chance to engage people who are curious about growing the flower.
“I like to fill tables up at the fair,” Spangenberg said. “Not everything I bring is a winner but I try to bring enough to attract people to the flowers.”
“(John) is probably one of our largest exhibitors,” said Langlotz. “He’s one of those guys who wants to make sure the show continues.”
Spangenberg, of Damascus, Md., got introduced to dahlias through his grandmother who grew them. As a tribute, he named a variety he developed from seed after her and in 2009, Crazy 4 Jessie was a Derrill W. Hart Medal winner by the American Dahlia Society for having the highest average score from trial gardens throughout the United States.
As friends, the two growers remain competitive with one another and waste few opportunities to compare score sheets, throwing in a few playful jabs here and there.
“I think we razz each other because we’re so close as friends,” Spangenberg said. “If we didn’t like each other we probably wouldn’t say a darn thing to one another.”
Any competitiveness fell by the wayside, however, last winter when Weber fell behind in getting his dahlia tubers dug up for storage to plant next year and Spangenberg came over to help finish the job before a killing freeze.
“We’ll share each other’s joys and triumphs,” Weber said.
As the summer goes on, the workload on maintaining dahlias increases. Each plant must be staked and tied to the stake as it grows. Debudding the plants is a summer long task to ensure large blooms along with pest and disease control.
“By the time September comes around when they’re approaching maturity, that tells you how much you’ll be able to take care of through the season,” Weber said.
Getting blooms ready for show is a task unto itself.
“One thing that amazes me is when they come to the fair, they all bring their flowers in air conditioned vans,” Langlotz said of the more serious growers.
Spangenberg said he tries to cut his blooms the day before he has to enter them and stores them overnight in a cool dark place. He’s added air conditioning to his garage to handle the volume of flowers. In an average year, he may bring about 20, five-gallon buckets filled with different blooms to the fair.
It may sound like a lot of work to some but “I think the beauty makes up for it,” he said.
By SEAN CLOUGHERTY
Managing Editor
For John Spangenberg and Nick Weber, the question isn’t “why grow dahlias?”
It’s “why not?”
“I love the bloom in the fall,” Weber, a retired FDA scientist, said a few weeks ago, while checking on his dahlia patch.
Prior to moving to Maryland about 30 years, Weber, of Brookeville, Md., said he grew dahlias and has only gotten back into it about seven years ago.
“I missed the beauty and the excitement of the fall bloom,” he said. “That rekindled the obsession.”
For Spangenberg, the dinner-plate-sized blooms and sharp colors make growing dahlias an easy choice.
“I love overdoing it a little bit,” he said, holding up a large yellow, cactus-type bloom. “This you can cut and people drop their jaws when they see it.”
With each growing hundreds of plants, the two friends are some of the larger exhibitors in the Maryland State Fair’s dahlia and gladiolus flower show on Sunday, Sept. 4. Both are also members of the National Capital Dahlia Society which will hold it’s 75th Anniversary Show on Sept. 24 and 25 at Brookside Gardens. The society also holds tuber sales thoughout the year to attract new growers. Sale information can be found at it’s website, www.nationalcapitaldahlia.org.
The state fair’s dahlia show dates back to at least 1949, according to Bill Langlotz, Farm and Garden Building superintendent.
“I’d say it’s the biggest (of the fair’s four flower shows) and probably the prettiest,” Langlotz said.
The dahlia show brings about 500 cut blooms into the Farm and Garden Building, grown by local gardeners of varying degrees. The show is divided into two groups: Growers with 50 plants or less and those with more than 50 plants. Within those divisions, there are dozens of categories a gardener can enter depending on bloom size and type.
“The State Fair is very good that they have so many places to enter their flowers,” Spangenberg said, walking among the raised beds of dahlias in his backyard.
Taking blooms to the fair not only helps prepare Spangenberg and other growers for upcoming shows in the fall, but it’s also a chance to engage people who are curious about growing the flower.
“I like to fill tables up at the fair,” Spangenberg said. “Not everything I bring is a winner but I try to bring enough to attract people to the flowers.”
“(John) is probably one of our largest exhibitors,” said Langlotz. “He’s one of those guys who wants to make sure the show continues.”
Spangenberg, of Damascus, Md., got introduced to dahlias through his grandmother who grew them. As a tribute, he named a variety he developed from seed after her and in 2009, Crazy 4 Jessie was a Derrill W. Hart Medal winner by the American Dahlia Society for having the highest average score from trial gardens throughout the United States.
As friends, the two growers remain competitive with one another and waste few opportunities to compare score sheets, throwing in a few playful jabs here and there.
“I think we razz each other because we’re so close as friends,” Spangenberg said. “If we didn’t like each other we probably wouldn’t say a darn thing to one another.”
Any competitiveness fell by the wayside, however, last winter when Weber fell behind in getting his dahlia tubers dug up for storage to plant next year and Spangenberg came over to help finish the job before a killing freeze.
“We’ll share each other’s joys and triumphs,” Weber said.
As the summer goes on, the workload on maintaining dahlias increases. Each plant must be staked and tied to the stake as it grows. Debudding the plants is a summer long task to ensure large blooms along with pest and disease control.
“By the time September comes around when they’re approaching maturity, that tells you how much you’ll be able to take care of through the season,” Weber said.
Getting blooms ready for show is a task unto itself.
“One thing that amazes me is when they come to the fair, they all bring their flowers in air conditioned vans,” Langlotz said of the more serious growers.
Spangenberg said he tries to cut his blooms the day before he has to enter them and stores them overnight in a cool dark place. He’s added air conditioning to his garage to handle the volume of flowers. In an average year, he may bring about 20, five-gallon buckets filled with different blooms to the fair.
It may sound like a lot of work to some but “I think the beauty makes up for it,” he said.