Washington State Dahlia Society (WSDS)

Washington State Dahlia Society (WSDS) Your local dahlia club for Tacoma and Pierce County! WSDS promotes the appreciation, cultivation, exhibition, and hybridization of dahlias. J.W.

We have monthly meetings, run the Trial Garden at Point Defiance, and have an Annual Show every Labor Day weekend. The WSDS meets monthly, runs the Tacoma Trial Garden at Point Defiance Park, has an annual dahlia show on Labor Day weekend, has tuber sales in the spring, and promotes the appreciation, cultivation, exhibition, and hybridization of dahlias. The WSDS began as the Tacoma Dahlia Society

in 1912 after a successful show in 1911. In 1926, the club was reformed and renamed the Washington Dahlia Society. Our final name change came in 1934 to the Washington State Dahlia Society. Although still a Tacoma club, we set out to start other clubs in the state. Over the years, new clubs and come and gone, but several remain in the Federation that were started by WSDS members. A dahlia score card was devised in 1934 by a WSDS member, Mrs. (Lillian) Lee and started the first Trial Garden in Puyallup at the Washington extension farm. WSDS continues to support the Northwest Trial Garden at Point Defiance Park. The Trial Garden, which helps others to get their new originations into the dahlia mainstream is a great source of pride for our club. It promotes dahlias and is one of the jewels in a large metropolitan park district. Annually, we host a Table Show in August. Members and guests from across Western Washington are invited to bring their blooms and compete. The judges educate new exhibitors by explaining why a specific bloom was chosen.

Q & A Monday! [Part 2]Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!Q: What are the special entr...
06/22/2026

Q & A Monday! [Part 2]
Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!

Q: What are the special entries at the WSDS Show?
A: There are 21 Special Entry classes at the WSDS Show, and any novice, amateur, and open exhibitors can enter!

Class 274: Foreign origination, single-bloom entry
Class 275: Foreign origination, triple-bloom entry
Class 276: Australian introduction, single-bloom entry
Class 277: Challenge Flower, Bull's Blood, single-bloom entry
Class 278: Laciniated dahlia, single-bloom entry
Class 279: 2026 introduction, single-bloom entry
Class 280: Garden Vase with Dahlias (awarded $50 prize by random drawing)

Full show rules, details, and special entry information can be found at https://www.nwdahlia.org/shows/
What are your Dahlia Show questions?
Comment with your questions and we can answer them in future Dahlia Show Q & A posts.

The WSDS Dahlia Show is on Labor Day Weekend, September 5 & 6 at the Waller Road Grange in Tacoma.

Q & A Monday!Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!Q: What are the special entries at th...
06/22/2026

Q & A Monday!
Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!

Q: What are the special entries at the WSDS Show?

A: There are 21 Special Entry classes at the WSDS Show, and any novice, amateur, and open exhibitors can enter!

Class 261A (Novice), 261B (Amateur), & 261C (Open):
Dahlia of the Year, Sandia Bertha (WL-PR), single-bloom entry
Class 263: WSDS Home Member origination, single-bloom entry
Class 264: WSDS Home Member origination, triple-bloom entry
Class 265: Collection of 3 different waterlilies
Class 266: collection of 1 each ball, miniature ball, and pompon
Class 267: collection of 3 different Medium (B) dahlias
Class 268: collection of 3 different Small (BB) dahlias
Class 269: collection of 3 different Miniature (M) dahlias
Class 270: Washington origination, single-bloom entry
Class 271: Washington origination, triple-bloom entry
Class 272: American origination, single-bloom entry
Class 273: American origination, triple-bloom entry
More classes in the next post.

Full show rules, details, and special entry information can be found at https://www.nwdahlia.org/shows/

What are your Dahlia Show questions?
Comment with your questions and we can answer them in future Dahlia Show Q & A posts.

The WSDS Dahlia Show is on Labor Day Weekend, September 5 & 6 at the Waller Road Grange in Tacoma.

Thanks to Anne Maria Jacobson and Christine Tareen for coming out to our meeting tonight to present! We enjoyed a wond...
06/17/2026

Thanks to Anne Maria Jacobson and Christine Tareen for coming out to our meeting tonight to present! We enjoyed a wonderful presentation from Anne Maria about garden flowers and show flowers and Christine gave a practical demonstration about making dahlia arrangements for shows, including helpful tips and tricks to make your design stand out!

Q & A Monday!Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!Q: What does the show weekend look li...
06/15/2026

Q & A Monday!
Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!

Q: What does the show weekend look like?

A: Friday is for picking blooms, staging, and completing tags at home
Saturday morning is when you make your entries and judging occurs
Sunday is for awards and cleanup

What are your Dahlia Show questions?
Comment with your questions and we can answer them in future Dahlia Show Q & A posts.

The WSDS Dahlia Show is on Labor Day Weekend, September 5 & 6 at the Waller Road Grange in Tacoma.

Full show rules and special entry information can be found at https://www.nwdahlia.org/shows/

Happy Dahlia Form Friday!Let's start at the top of the list: Formal DecorativeIn a Formal Decorative dahlia, petals are ...
06/12/2026

Happy Dahlia Form Friday!

Let's start at the top of the list: Formal Decorative

In a Formal Decorative dahlia, petals are generally flat, broad & smooth in a regular arrangement that gradually recurve toward the stem, giving an overall globe shape to the bloom. The analogy here is that the petals should be like "shingles on a roof" that lay flat.

Formal Decoratives can look similar in overall shape to Ball dahlias, but the difference is in the details. Individual Formal Decorative petals will lay flat, whereas Ball petals will roll upward forming a circular shape for each petal. Of course, there are some varieties that fall somewhere in between these two petal shapes as well.

This picture of Rock Run Ashley (4004, M - FD - PK: Miniature, Formal Decorative, Pink), shows how Formal Decoratives have the petals that lay flat. You want to pay attention to the petals around the equator of the bloom, rather than the less developed petals toward the bloom center.

Formal Decoratives split into 6 size categories, so, depending on their bloom size, can be classified as Giant, Large, Medium, Small, Miniature, or Micro. (see previous post about size for more information).

What are your favorite formal decorative dahlias?
Post your pictures with names below. Bonus points if you include its size, color, and classification number. Use the Online Classification Guide linked below to look it up!

The more you learn about dahlia forms, the easier it is to identify form and appreciate the wide variety of dahlias in the world.
https://www.dahlia.org/docsinfo/ocg/

We had a great group of volunteers at the trial garden today. We had five WSDS members and four from PSDA! Two of the WS...
06/09/2026

We had a great group of volunteers at the trial garden today. We had five WSDS members and four from PSDA! Two of the WSDS members left before the picture was taken. We were able to get work done in the garden in 1.5 hours! Thanks to all the volunteers!

Q & A Monday!Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!Q: What types of entries can you make...
06/08/2026

Q & A Monday!
Where we help you learn about our dahlia show and how YOU can enter!

Q: What types of entries can you make in a dahlia show?
A: There are many types of entries, including single-bloom, triple-bloom, 5-bloom, baskets, arrangements, seedlings, and special entries!

Full show rules, details, and special entry information can be found at https://www.nwdahlia.org/shows/

What are your Dahlia Show questions?
Comment with your questions and we can answer them in future Dahlia Show Q & A posts.

The WSDS Dahlia Show is on Labor Day Weekend, September 5 & 6, 2026 at the Waller Road Grange in Tacoma.

Our booth is not at the trial garden, but we did swing by to see how the plants are doing! Check it out, 2 of our trial ...
06/06/2026

Our booth is not at the trial garden, but we did swing by to see how the plants are doing! Check it out, 2 of our trial varieties blooming!

Swing by our booth anytime 11am to 6pm today!

Happy Dahlia Form Friday!We have one more overview to introduce before diving individually into the different dahlia for...
06/05/2026

Happy Dahlia Form Friday!

We have one more overview to introduce before diving individually into the different dahlia forms.

Today we talk about color! Just like we introduced the 15 overall forms of dahlias, there are 15 colors for dahlias. No, you can't find any blue or green dahlias, but they can come in just about any other color!

The colors are numbered 01 to 15, which correspond with classification numbers. You can learn more about classification numbers on the ADS online classification guide website, linked below.

Here are the 15 colors, colors 1-9 and 11 are self-explanatory, the rest require some explanation.
White (W)
Yellow ( Y)
Orange (OR)
Pink (PK)
Dark Pink (DP)
Red (R)
Dark Red (DR)
Lavender (L)
Purple (PR)
Light Blend (LB) - where there are 2 colors blending, but the primary color is a specific shade that is considered a lighter color. White doesn't count when determining a blend.
Bronze (BR)
Flame Blend (FL) - where there are specific shades of red or orange colors blending in with specific shades of yellow.
Dark Blend (DB) - where there are 2 colors blending, but the primary color is a specific shade is considered a darker color. White doesn't count when determining a blend.
Variegated (V) - where there are flecks or stripes of a different color different than the primary color.
Bicolor (BI) - where there are distinct tips or stripes of a different color than the primary color.

How many colors do you grow in your garden? What are your favorite colors to grow?

If you know the names of your varieties, you can look them up online on the ADS Classification guide, and learn more about all of the form, color, and size definitions.
The more you learn about dahlia forms, the easier it is to identify form and appreciate the wide variety of dahlias in the world.
https://www.dahlia.org/docsinfo/ocg/

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