Monday, March 9 – General Meeting and Potluck Dinner 6:15 p.m.  at Oak Grove Lutheran Church Education Topic:  Members Vincent, Byron, Sandra, and John Enstrom talk about how they got into growing dahlias, their experiences, and how they grow dahlias and store tubers.

Byron uses raised beds and aggressive pruning to grow as many dahlias as possible in the few sunny areas of his yard. He also grows them in the ally. His neighbors invited him to plant in their ally spaces as well.

Vincent doesn’t use much chemicals for pests. He uses landscape cloth and close planting to reduce weeds. There is enough space in the walkways to allow air to circulate so he does not have issues with powdery mildew. He does not do a lot of pinching and pruning because he doesn’t show much and just wants lots of blooms.

Sandy says she is a lazy gardener, last year she never even watered her small garden. She has weeds but still gets great blooms. She learned as a child, gardening with her dad, that rabbits will leave the flowers alone as long as there is abundant clover to feed them. She has been in the club for a long time and used to write the newsletter when Carolyn’s father was the president.

John Enstrom is newer to the club but has been a commercial flower farmer for a long time. He grows on a large scale on his 180 acres. He has a private park where he holds many events, most support veterans.

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