2024 Summer Celebration
2024 Summer Celebration
Our Alberta Dahlia and Glad Society “Summer Celebration” was held on August 10, 2024 in Red Deer at the Piper Creek Trial Garden. The big tent had been set up a few days earlier by Mike and his crew. We need to remember, for next year, to put all the poles together (including the cross-bracing) BEFORE the tent top goes on!
The weather was perfect for our Summer Celebration. The day started with Ken Jensen (Judging Chair) giving certificates and pins to the members who are advancing to the next dahlia judging level. Mike Walliser advanced to Senior Judge, Terri-Lynn Dodd and Shirley Cullum advance to Accredited Judges, Ron Dodd, Cathy Steele and Diana Shandro are accepted as Candidate Judges.
Ken Jensen explained how to use the Glad judging form for the All American Select gladiolus trial garden entries and gave a history and background on the AAA committee. He pointed out that these glads are judged for beauty and perfection and not necessarily for show. On the judging form, the “Date Flowered” is when at least two florets are open. The “Total Florets Open” should be counted when the bottom floret starts to fade.
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Reg and Marlene Powys-Lybbe came from High River, Alberta to give us training in glad spike judging. He is the ONLY glad spike judge in Canada. He advised that everyone at the course will qualify to be a ‘Canadian Glad Society’ judge (the different levels are to be advised). Lorne & Marilyn McArthur have been glad (and dahlia) judges for years although they have not been officially recognised in the NAGC publications. They will now be recognized as senior glad spike judges in the Canadian Glad Society. Reg went through the entire NAGC spike judging form and brought glad spikes to demonstrate the different judging standards.
Some of the points he made were:
- You should remove the side shoot when showing a spike
- If you remove a floret you should leave the sheath
- It might be better to remove one or two florets to get a better balance
- Deduct 2 points for removing one floret, 5 points for 2 florets and another 2 points for every one after the first two.
- A “Perianth” attaches the floret to the calyx (also known as a Bracts)
- If flecking on the floret looks metallic it could be virus
- Clarity means no flecks in the color
- Exhibition spikes are judged differently than Decorative spikes
- Most hybridizers hope that their spikes will be judged as exhibition spikes
- To measure the size of a floret, go horizontally or vertically, never diagonally
- Ruffled florets usually have good substance
- Don’t try to manipulate a ruffled floret or it will break off
- If the tip on a spike is broken off, the glad is disqualified
- If you cut the spike close to the ground to get the required handle length the corm will still be ok but won’t grow any bigger
- Deduct 2 points for a handle that is too long or too short
- You don’t deduct for too many open florets but it might negatively affect the balance
- The perfect score for a glad spike is 100
- When you stage a spike it should have 2 leaves (or more) and they don’t have to be attached but it is not ok to trim the leaves
After a quick lunch it was on to the “Arrangement” class. Shirley introduced Marilyn McArthur, a senior Dahlia and Glad judge, who has years experience growing both glads and dahlias, showing, judging, and making arrangements for weddings. Marilyn did an arrangement while she explained the basic concepts and then walked around and helped whoever wanted some tips. Shirley explained how you can use all sorts of foliage materials that can be obtained locally in the wild (even in the ditches) and demonstrated how to use leaves and stems from our garden plants that you would never have considered in an arrangement. Everyone had fun and then we numbered the arrangements and had a “Viewer’s choice” ballot. Amy Sergeant won first place and Susan B won second place. All the dahlias, glads and fillers were provided by members, especially Shirley, Terri-Lynn and Andy Schalk.
