A picture perfect location, great weather and fabulous hosts made for a memorable day of relaxation and fun for this years CDS picnic. Matt and Patty Hardisty hosted the event at their home in Oakville and on behalf of the society I would like to thank them for allowing us into to their home for the day. Judging from the laughter, everyone had a fun time.

It is hard to believe that show season is once again upon us. Our show in August will be one of the first of many in the area. This year promises to be a good one. We will host the NADC conference show. I’ve also spoken to several area growers that are reporting this to be a “good year for growing dahlias”. That should make the show interesting as well as colorful. We can always use volunteers and you can do that by calling Kevin, our Show Chairman. If you are exhibiting this year for the first time we will offer help with the set-up process at our meeting on the 10^th as well as show day. My advice is to come, learn and apply those leanings for future years. Let the judges decide at the show whether your blooms are worthy of a prize and never pre judge your own blooms in the garden. As in previous years we will have a novice section that will allow you to enter blooms without entering the open categories.

The show allows us another opportunity and that is to promote the dahlia. So if your neighbors look at you in a puzzled way as you labor in the garden in some of the worst weather or ask what kind of seeds you use to grow umbrellas here’s a perfect opportunity to invite them to the show and have them see first hand why you spend some much time in the garden.

Another key aspect of the August Meeting is the election of the Nominating Committee. Five members in good standing will be elected at the August meeting with the task of bringing forth a slate of officers at the Annual Meeting in November.

With the show season under way we will not have a meeting or Newsletter for the month of September.

I hope to see all of you at the shows. Good luck and happy gardening.

Jesse Peterson, CDS President

Display Garden News

The garden has continued to grow and prosper and at my last visit there the first bloom was about to burst forth. We continue to need volunteers to help with the watering duties and as the season progresses it will be important to keep the plants deadheaded. If you would like to volunteer please contact me by e-mail at jessepj@aol.com or phone 860-485-0326. I will work with any of you that are not familiar with the garden.

Jesse Peterson, Display Garden Coordinator

45^th Annual Dahlia Show of the CDS, hosting the

33^rd Annual North Atlantic Dahlia Conference

Show, Saturday August 23, 2003 at the Pond House, Elizabeth Park, Hartford

Entries may be made on Friday from 6-9 PM and on

Saturday from 7-11 AM.

Judging begins at 11:00 AM.

Show open to the public from 1:30-5:30 PM, ask your relatives, friends and neighbors to attend.

N.A.D.C. Judge’s Symposium

10:00 AM- 2:00 PM, Sunday, August 10, 2003

Hosted by the Connecticut Dahlia Society

Elizabeth Park, West Hartford, CT

This year the Connecticut Dahlia Society will host the N.A.D.C. 2^nd. Annual Judge’s Symposium. Last year we had a great turnout in Long Island when the Mid Island Dahlia Society hosted our 1^st. Symposium and we hope to have as great a response to this one.

Success for this event will depend on the number of blooms that people can bring to work with. We therefore ask everyone to bring as many blooms as you can to help out. The program will be held indoors in the rooms of the “Visitor’s Center” in the park. The program will consist of the following:

ADS Scoring:

There will be both a morning and an afternoon session so that we can accommodate everyone who is interested in working towards their Senior Judge’s status. Bill Allgeier, Senior Judge and Eastern Trial Garden Chairman will chair this session.

Bench Judging:

AA, A, B, BB, and Miniatures and 3 blooms - Roger Miller, Kevin Wasilewski and Marge Schnerr.

Pompons, Balls, Miniature Balls - Barbara Kantor.

OT’s, Novelties, Stellars - Steve Nowotarski.

We would especially like to have as many seedlings as possible, even single blooms are acceptable as this will give the ADS scoring section something to work with and in addition, their evaluation of them may prove to be worthwhile to you.

Now that we have the new ADS Judge’s Manual, we encourage everyone to bring your manual along with any questions that you may have regarding it.

We have our show containers stored at the Visitor’s Center, so be prepared to stage any blooms that you may bring and arrive early enough to do this before 10:00 AM. We will also have some of our members available to help you expedite your set-up.

We will provide a luncheon at 12 Noon outdoors in the Park.

In order to accommodate everyone planning to attend, we would like you to call Joe Jasonis, NADC President by August 3^rd to make reservations. Telephone: 860-379-6463.

For our Connecticut Members, we would like you to bring along your lawn chairs also.

Marge Schnerr, Coordinator

The Connecticut Dahlia Society, Inc.

Meeting Date: Sunday, August 10, 2003

Time: 2 PM (business meeting), 10 AM to 2 PM (judges symposium)

Place: Visitor’s Center at Elizabeth Park, Hartford

President’s Message.... its show time already and this meeting will be in preparation of our show. Please plan to attend and note the meeting location.

N.A.D.C. Judge’s Symposium