About Us

The Alberta Dahlia and Gladiolus Society is a group of dahlia and gladiolus enthusiasts in Alberta, Canada! We like to keep our group simple and informal and we meet often at the Piper Creek Trial Garden in Red Deer. In the early Spring we get all our dahlia tubers out of winter storage and swap with each other and sell the extras. In the later Spring we all meet to plant the dahlia tubers and gladiolus corms in the trial garden. Some of these tubers and corms are sent to us from all over Canada and the United States to see how they do in our climate (zone 3). 

During the summer we meet weekly to maintain the garden and judge the blooms that have been entered in the Trial Garden  as they open and mature. In the late summer we have an annual show where we all exhibit and judge our own dahlias and glads.  We also have a summer garden party which is open to the public and where we sell the dahlia and glad flowers. We offer courses on all manner of dahlia and gladiolus planting, storing and judging. We get together for other social events also, often lingering over coffee with Lorne & Marilyn McArthur at whose home the trial is located.