2020 Year in Review
Tuber Prep Day and Tuber Sales
Generally we would all get together for a fun day at Lorne and Marilyn’s to sort out all the dahlias which had been stored at Lorne’s for the winter, trim them up, inspect them, bag and label them. The people who come and help usually get first choice of the tubers they want. However, this year we were all very cautious about the pandemic especially as no one knew how it was transmitted and, of course, seniors were the most susceptible. So only a very few of us went, one at a time to get the job done. When they were all bagged, the list with photos was emailed out and put on our facebook page. Sales were brisk and we ended up selling all the tubers in short order. People picked up their orders in the driveway or we delivered. It actually worked out pretty good since we didn’t have to rent a venue for the sales.
Glad sales were handled the same way. Lorne had ordered about 2000 corms from his commercial supplier and when people picked up their dahlias (or when we delivered) they also got their glad corms. Funny thing that we didn’t know at the time was that 80% of the corms were either purple or orange. Not surprisingly there were many orange and purple arrangements at our flower show!
Summer Celebration 2020
We wondered if we would be able to have a ‘Summer Celebration’ but by summer it seemed that the pandemic was slowing and the rules allowed for an outdoor gathering of up to 50 people so we went ahead and planned a fun 2-day weekend (Aug 2 and 3rd) full of classes, social events and judging training. As in past years the weather was perfect, hot with sunny skies and no wind. We were worried about the wind (and deer) because we left the dahlia ‘show’ on the tables under the tents but not one was tipped over or eaten. Deb, Ken and Reg provided insights into judging dahlias and glads, Marilyn put on an ‘Arrangement Making’ course and supplied all the flowers, fillers and baskets. We had a mini judging show and everyone was able to go into the gardens and snip a few blooms of different types to be judged by the class. It was a lot of fun! A smoked brisket supper (smoked very seriously and diligently all day by Darrell Hatt) with salads and desserts was provided by the members and served by only two people in keeping with the COVID health regulations. Some people brought trailers and stayed overnight which made for a festive evening. The next day consisted of more classes and a lunch of left-overs. All in all it was a wonderful time.
Flower Show 2020
The summer celebration was such a success with good attendance that we decided to go ahead with our annual flower show on Aug 22 and Aug 23, 2021. This posed a few challenges though. Generally we would rent a venue in Red deer and everyone would bring their flowers to stage and show them with the public invited to see the beautiful blooms with flower sales following. The hotels could not hold inside events so we decided to have it at Lorne and Marilyn’s in the garage and outside under tents. We advertised the show and we did have a number of people come to see the show but we mostly had it just for us to admire the result of each others’ hard work and green thumbs. It was hot, hot and sunny but we stayed cool under the tents although the flowers that were in the sun suffered somewhat. The wind came up a few times which sent us all scurrying to protect the vases and arrangements but was all good fun. Shirley Cullum treated us to a ‘Farmer’s supper” of sausage, baked beans, buns, salads and desserts! The next day the flower sales were brisk and we wrapped up early. Again, we saved money by not renting a venue and for a small club we put on a spectacular show!
We had a late autumn but eventually we had to think about pulling up our dahlias and storing them for the winter. We had several workbees at the Trial Garden and we did videos of Lorne showing us how to dig, trim and store the tubers. We also did a road trip out to Anna Rynsburger’s farm and did a video of how she stores her tubers.
