DAHLIAS IN THE MIDDLE WEST 
GEORGE WM. VEDITZ 
Three Great Belts Where the Dahlia Grows Best—Colorado’s Plan for 
an August Parade—The Lure that Lurks in Seedlings for the Section 
IHERE seem to be three great strips or 
sections of territory in which the Dahlia 
thrives naturally as climatic and soil 
conditions lend themselves to its culture 
—the Atlantic coast, the eastern slope of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, and the Pacific coast. 
In the two intervening strips there has been more or less 
difficulty in growing Dahlias to the perfection that has been 
attained in the three regions indicated, and it is here that 
man must help out nature by counteracting or removing ad¬ 
verse factors. 
Such missionary work in behalf of less favored localities has 
largely had its inception in Denver and Colorado Springs. In 
both of these cities the Dahlia has become the most popular of 
all flowers, scarcely a garden existing that has not several va¬ 
rieties. Probably the main factor in creating the popularity of 
the Dahlia in this region has been W. W. Wilmore, with only 
seven years less that half a century of Dahlia culture and more 
than one hundred varieties originated to his credit. It is 
largely from his originations that Colorado gardens have been 
recruited. Mr. Wilmore has been ably seconded by his as¬ 
sociates—notably R. T. Davis, Jr., B. D. Townsend, and 
George W. Gero—and with their cooperation organized a move¬ 
ment which has resulted in the formation of the Dahlia Society 
of Colorado with nearly one hundred enthusiastic members. 
This society staged the first Dahlia Shows ever held in the 
Rocky Mountain country. 
Heretofore the object of breeders in the mountain section has 
been not so much to produce varieties bearing blooms of great 
size as to secure charm of color and delicacy of form. The 
Peony-flowered variety Laura Barnes seldom exceeds eight inches 
in diameter, but its perfect form and its dazzling flame color and 
golden button suggestive of a Pike’s Peak sunset, make it con¬ 
spicuous in any Dahlia assemblage. There are few Cactus 
Dahlias preferable to Justice Bailey, with its attractive form 
and glowing pink shading into lilac, and more than one visitor 
to my garden has pronounced this the loveliest and most ap¬ 
pealing Dahlia ever seen. 
But size has had more attention from Rocky Mountain breed¬ 
ers during the last few years, and the apricot fawn pink Decor¬ 
ative Pahaska (the Indian name of Buffalo Bill) easily attains 
twelve inches in diameter, while its shaggy appearance adds to 
its attractiveness and justifies its name. The canary yellow 
Ruth Jacqueline bids fair to hold its own in any collection of 
Hybrid-cactus varieties irrespective of color, the cleft petals 
enhancing its attractive individuality of form. 
Though Denver is the recognized center of Dahlia culture 
in this region, the smaller city of Colorado Springs, seventy-five 
miles south at the foot of Pike’s Peak, is performing an extraor¬ 
dinary service in spreading the cult of the Dahlia. 
Fully one hundred thousand tourists visit this city every 
year during the summer, the great majority coming from sec¬ 
tions of the country where the Dahlia has been only indifferently 
successful. There are several large commercial gardens in this 
locality, the largest being that of Mr. C. W. Igo, who has be¬ 
come a skilled hybridizer and has produced a number of seed¬ 
lings of merit. 
Former Governor Oliver H. Shoup, whose home is in Colorado 
Springs, is sponsor of a movement to have an annual Dahlia 
Day parade toward the end of August and the effect has been 
to greatly stimulate interest in this flower, the Governor offer¬ 
ing as a prize for the most attractive float a fine Van Briggle 
art vase. This parade devoted to the Dahlia 
promises to be the first of its kind in the country 
and is to be followed by a show in the municipal 
auditorium free to all comers. 
T LIE object of the Dahlia breeder should be not only to 
improve on existing varieties, but also to extend the terri¬ 
tory where the Dahlia can be grown with the same measure of 
success as in localities that more nearly approach the original 
home of the Dahlia in its climatic and soil conditions. The 
complaint in the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas valleys 
has generally been that Dahlias do not thrive there, as the in¬ 
termittent spells of hot, dry weather burn out the vitality of 
the plants, resulting in undersized, dull-colored, unattractive 
blooms, that frequently revert to the original small form of the 
flower. Such obstacles can be overcome by proper cultural 
procedure and with protective care Dahlias of the finest quality 
may be produced even in places where the summer heat dries 
and cracks the soil to the depth of ten inches. The plants must, 
however, be sheltered from excessive heat during the day by a 
protective shade or awning, and the soil kept cool and moist by 
a covering of straw, leaves, lawn-clippings, or similar light ma¬ 
terial spread several inches thick around the base of the stalks 
and the area of the tubers and roots. 
The West is also yielding to the tendency to produce new 
varieties. At the last show in Denver practically every exhibit 
included a number of seedlings. In Colorado Springs every 
grower of any pretensions is trying to produce new and more at¬ 
tractive varieties. 
The era of the hybridizer seems to be only beginning. Within 
the last half dozen years varieties of all types have been pro¬ 
duced on a larger scale than in the entire previous life of the 
Dahlia. This ease of propagation and these constant changes 
are not without their drawbacks, and they may constitute a 
real menace to the cult of the Dahlia, which threatens to assume 
a kaleidoscopic character, always interesting, always colorful, 
always beautiful, but never stable. One California grower an¬ 
nounces thirty new introductions for the present year, all of 
them meritorious in having some quality or other to place them 
ahead of older varieties. 
It is a fascinating game, probably the most fascinating and 
speculative in the entire garden year, and no one will blame those 
who have space and facilities for playing it to the limit, espe¬ 
cially as there is always a gambler’s chance of finding some 
world-beater among these Dahlia foundlings. Last year 1 had 
some fifty seedlings from 200 seeds obtained from reputable 
California growers, and do not exaggerate in saying that ninety 
per cent, of these seedlings surpassed in beauty and color any 
of the Dahlias in my garden fifteen or even ten years ago. It 
seems desirable, however, to call the tendency to produce 
immense size and to fix a diameter limit for each of the various 
types. 
The production of seed is becoming one of the outstanding 
features of Dahlia culture. Many of our foremost hybridizers 
offer seeds from their finest varieties, and great is the tempta¬ 
tion to try one’s luck. Practically all the old established seed- 
houses list Dahlia seed, guaranteed to have been obtained by 
hybridizing from the foremost varieties, and these houses more¬ 
over carry fine selections of standard varieties of tubers and 
plants. As the possibilities of these seeds become better under¬ 
stood it is not at all unlikely that small garden owners will 
order Dahlia seed in the same manner as they buy Aster, Sweet- 
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