By Chéye Roberson
Sentinel Correspondent
According to those in attendance, the Dazzling Dahlias show held on Sunday at the Garden Education Center of Greenwich lived up to its name, showcasing the flowers’ vibrant pinks, oranges, violets, and limes, among other colors.
“People are just amazed when they see the size, the color, and the intricacy of the blooms. One gentleman actually asked, when he was looking at one of the round balls there, if they had been cut with scissors because he really thought that somebody had cut it as part of the competition,” said Niall McMorrow, executive director of the Garden Education Center. “He couldn’t believe that nature did that.”
The show was also a competition, with first, second and third place awards in several categories. “There’s a lot of variety and we were surprised with how many people entered the show,” said Barbara Collier, a chair of Dazzling Dahlias and vice president of governance for the Garden Education Center.
Some of categories in the expert level have very specific rules. “Over there are the baskets, and the baskets are arranged not for beauty, necessarily, but there are strict rules about how many blooms there are in each basket, and they’re all the same type of flower, and the blooms aren’t allowed to touch each other,” Collier said.
Big winners included Steve Ruttkamp from Wilton (10), Susan and Peter Hut from Greenwich (10), Karen Grund from Riverside (1), Maureen Carson (novice with the most blue ribbons), and Frank Sparks from New Canaan (1).
The contest was not only for experienced flower growers. There were plenty of chances for beginners to win big as well. There was a category, for example, for people who had never grown dahlias before.
Margery Scotti, who entered the contest for the first time this year, won a blue ribbon for her pink dahlia.
“I was surprised to see how many entries there were, and I knew that this was a beautiful flower, but I wasn’t expecting it to win a blue ribbon,” said Scotti. “This is my one and only dahlia I’ve ever grown.”
The number of entries from novice contestants has increased since last year. “This year we probably have at least double what we’ve had in previous years, and we would love and highly encourage new people to give it a shot,” McMorrow said. “If you come and enter, you stand a very strong chance at winning at the novice level, and depending on what you do there, then you would move up to the more expert level.”
At the Dazzling Dahlias show, exhibiting their appreciation for the beauty of nature isn’t just for adults. The event has added a special section for children to get involved as well. The Garden Education Center hopes that the new category will grow and become a way to help young people learn about nature.
“Also, we started this year a young exhibitors section. We only got two… So, we’re going to really encourage this,” said McMorrow. “We have a youth education program here. So, we did advertise this to the schools but we need to spend a bit more time and attention to it next year. But we’d love to have more kids join and we’d love to have a lot more people join as well.”
The Dazzling Dahlias show gives Greenwichites the opportunity to see spectacular flowers without having to travel far. “It’s just a great community event and it’s very unique,” said McMorrow. “As far as a dahlia show, the closest you would go to would be in Hartford, and pretty much Long Island, New Jersey, so you’d have to travel long distances to see a show like this. And the quality is amazing.”
