Showing a few dahlias

I like to grow a few varieties of dahlia to show locally as I find them a reasonably easy bloom to show to fair standard. I'm growing the following varieties, 6 plants of each:

Trelyn Kiwi - small cactus, white with pink blends.
Jomanda - small ball, orange/terracotta.
Lismore Moonlight - Pompom, yellow
Kenora Sunset - Medium semi-catus, yellow with red/orange flashes.

The top growers will perhaps grow 50 varieties, 20 or 30 plants of each on an allotment, all covered over with polythene etc to keep the rain off, but mine are grown outside and inevitably have the odd blemish here and there.

You need to start cutting in the 2 or 3 days before a show as soon as the bloom starts to look it's best for the particular variety. I store them in my garage out of sunlight and they seem to hold in good condition. When you cut you need to pierce the side of the stem with a knife about 2 or 3 inches up from the cut whilst holding it under water. This allows any trapped air to escape and again allows the bloom to last longer.

Staging at the show needs to be practised beforehand to save time on show day (see pic above). For a class of 3 blooms, 2 need to be staged at the front with the 3rd in the back middle. There should be space around each bloom to show it off at it's best and foliage showing also. Any petals that are nibbled can be carefully plucked out if needs be but don't take out too many. In the case of cactus dahlias they should be fully reflexed to the rear of the bloom to give the effect of a spiky ball, with no centre or 'daisy eye' showing. You can use newspaper to pack them in the vase (which is fiddly) or better still oasis. Most shows provide their own 'bikini' vases so you need to check this out beforehand, otherwise you will need to take your own.

Make sure you show the correct amount of blooms for each class.........and a word of warning, those tiny little buds in the leaf joints need to be pinched out. If not you will be disqualified as that counts as a bloom! You only make that mistake once!