July 2003 Newsletter
Program: CDS Annual Picnic
The June meeting in Elizabeth Park was well attended, as members were able to tour the park grounds, dahlia display garden and choose from a very nice selection of plants. Thanks Marge! We discussed several items of business including the symposium that your society will host next month at the Park in August.
Another agenda item at the June meeting was our annual picnic details. I’m happy to report that we will travel to a new destination this year. Matt Hardisty has graciously volunteered to hold the picnic at his residence. Look for details and directions later in this newsletter. One change we will see at the picnic is the elimination of the cup auction. It will be replaced with an expanded raffle. If you have an item you would like to donate, preferably of a gardening nature and in new condition please contact Nick Paternostro, our Ways & Means Chairperson at 203-574-3945.
This year the weather has produced some interesting growing conditions. Cold and rainy weather is not really what we dahlia growers consider optimal growing conditions. Nevertheless we need to move forward with our growing plans and keep up on the garden chores so that we will be rewarded with some fabulous blooms later in the season. Being adaptable and finding ways to recover from a possible bad start is what makes this hobby so interesting.
See you all at the picnic. I hope you’re gardens are growing some championship blooms for the show season later this year. Happy gardening!
Jesse Peterson, CDS President
Display Garden
News
The garden is
off and growing. All plants have received their first side dressing of 5-10-10.
A few have been replaced and we will continue to monitor for progress and
address growing issues as they arise.
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, President
CDS Annual Picnic, Sunday,
July 13
54
Clermont Street, Oakville, CT.
Hosted
by Matt Hardisty
Once again we look forward
to seeing each of you at the CDS Picnic. We are asking that you let Jane know
prior to July 10th if you
are planning to attend so that we can get an idea of the number of people to
expect. Hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments and beverages will be
provided. We will also provide an
alternative entrée for those of you not so fond of the traditional H & H.
Also, we are asking that you bring a side dish or desert to share. We are going to try and coordinate this
so that we get a good variety of eats for everyone.
July 13
Annual Picnic – Patty and
Matt Hardisty’s Oakville,
CT
August 23 CDS 45th. Anniversary
Show &
33rd. Annual Show of the North
Atlantic Dahlia Conference,
Pond House in Elizabeth
Park.
From the Thomaston Savings
Bank on Watertown Avenue (our regular meeting place):
Continue north on Watertown
Avenue, past the Bank, and the Waterbury Municipal Stadium. Watertown Avenue
then becomes Rt. 73 into Oakville.
In Oakville, travel past the
Pin Shop Pond and take your next
left onto Davis Street. On Davis Street go past the 7/11 Store and take a right
onto Colonial Street. Clermont is the 3rd. left off
of Colonial and it is across from Swift Middle School.
House is #54, the third one
on the right with a boat in the yard. Please leave the driveway open for those
who are handicapped. Tel: 860-274-8528 if lost.
.
CDS to Host the NADC Judge’s
Symposium in the Park on August
10th.
All of our members are
invited to attend this program if they wish to actively strive for their judge’s
accreditation. It is also designed
for Accredited Judges so that they
may become acquainted with the new
Judge’s Manual and also for those who would like to do some practice scoring
towards attaining their Senior Judge’s Accreditation.
We expect a good turnout of
members from our other societies in the North Atlantic Dahlia Conference to be
attending this symposium as well.
Program for the Judge’s
Symposium
on Sunday, August
10th.
The program will be held in
and around the Visitor’s
Center in Elizabeth Park. It
will start at 10:00 AM, break for lunch at noon, and then continue until 2:00 PM
when our regular CDS August Meeting will take place there.
There will be both an AM and
a PM session on the scoring of ADS Seedlings with Senior Judge, Bill Allgeier,
so that all who are interested may attend one of
these two sessions with him.
Bench judging
practice will be held during
both sessions with Judge’s, Roger Miller, Kevin Wasilewski, Barbara Kantor,
Steve Nowotarski and Marge Schnerr. As many sizes and formations as we can have
available will be covered.
In order for this program to
be a success, we need blooms! We
will stage them in our regular show containers that morning and there will be
help available for you to do this. They need not be of tricolor quality, not
every bloom is at the shows and imperfections are important for us to
assess. We especially need
seedlings, even if you have only one bloom, we would appreciate
them.
Requirements for one to
become an Accredited Judge are as follows:
Grow and exhibit dahlias for a period of five years. Be a member of the American Dahlia
Society. Student judge 5 shows
within a three-year period. Pass a
written exam on the Judge’s Manual, Classification Book and Seedling Score
Card. For any further information
on this process, please contact Marge Schnerr, CDS Judge’s Evaluation
Chairperson.
Marge Schnerr,
Editor