196 



The Garden Magazine, December, 1921 



Society of American Florists. Many varieties 

 of flowers were shown but the Dahlia room drew 

 the crowds from all over the world, who saw and 

 marvelled and then wandered into the grounds, 

 to be convinced that the plant bloomed in the 

 open and was not a greenhouse product. 



Two Dahlia societies were organized with large 

 memberships the following spring, and each 

 society issued a Bulletin, but they were finally 

 combined under the name of the Dahlia Society 

 of California. This organization gave two shows 

 in the fall of 191 6 in the ballrooms of the Palace 

 and St. Francis hotels in San Francisco, and 

 since then has given an annual show at the Palace 

 Hotel. At this yearly exhibition California va- 

 rieties are the principal feature. Special prizes 

 are offered for them, and among these are three 

 silver cups given by Mr. T. A. Burns, the first 

 president of the Society, for the best twelve 

 Californians. These prizes are divided among 

 the professional, semi-professional, and amateur 

 exhibitors. 



The show averages a paid attendance of five 

 thousand people who come from everywhere. 



Though the flowers exhibited are principally 

 of California origin, it must be admitted this 

 Western state does not originate every type of 

 Dahlia. For instance, we are weak on the Show 

 type of which we have only two, General Haig 

 and Maritana, of the highest quality. Also there 



WHEN THE EAST WON HONORS IN THE WEST 



Break O' Day (Hybrid Cactus Dahlia) grown by W. H. Shorey, an amateur of Seattle, won the sweep- 

 stakes at the First Annual Fall Flower and Dahlia Show at Leschi Park Pavilion, September 26th and 

 27th, as the best bloom in the show of more than 35,000 blooms. Being an Eastern variety, its success 

 is testimony that Dahlias stand on an equal footing East and West 



DAHLIA OSAM SHU DOW 

 (DECORATIVE) 



This superb flower, shaded old rose, 

 yellowish centre, honors the memory 

 of a worthy worker in the California field 



are only three Cactus of the English 

 standard, Los Angeles, Amber Glow, 

 and Ballet Girl, but there is an 

 abundance of Decoratives, Peonies, 

 Pompons, and Collarettes, and both 

 Hybrid and American Cactus. 

 Singles are not popular. 



The term American Cactus must 

 be explained. A new type of Cactus 

 has sprung up. The bloom is too 

 heavy in the petal to be exhibited 

 among the English type and not 

 coarse enough to be classified as a 

 Hybrid, so a new classification has 

 been adopted by the Dahlia Society 

 of California. We all know the weak 

 point of a true Cactus is its pendent 

 stem. Well, the American variety 

 must have an absolutely stiff stem. 

 And speaking of stem, that is one of 

 the strongest features of the Cali- 

 fornia introductions. 



A few words on size. Californians 

 take pride in producing the biggest 

 fruits and vegetables, so naturally 

 have developed the biggest Dahlias. 

 Personally, 1 rather deplore the fad 

 for big flowers, and believe they are 

 getting too big for beauty. 



California growers have been crit- 

 icized for their descriptions of colors 

 and type. The facts are that true 

 Peonies often assume a Decorative 

 form in the East, and the color is 



