Dahlia Societies and Other Dahlia Groups

bloomhjelm

I am sitting here thinking today about the particular social media-based dahlia "club" I am a member of now, and how it differs from, or is similar to, established regional dahlia societies. I'm interested in thoughts from people who have participated mostly in dahlia societies rather than in social media groups, to compare the pros and cons and understand how to build in some of the best features of each respective type of group, into the other one.

My group is called Amelia's Flower Library and is an assembly of about 500 people, about 200 of whom are active. We're from all around the States and Canada. The group started as a "take a tuber leave a tuber" group for sharing tubers and seeds, essentially, and has a very high level of participation and daily chat, much like this forum. Members have donated or traded thousands of tubers and cuttings, given early access to each others' sales, and the founder Evelyn manages a website/web shop with free seed packets as well as facilitating many of the trades and donations.

What I like about this group has a lot to do with why it's different from (my limited experience with) PSDA, although there are areas where the PSDA and other official clubs have a leg up.

Pros of the Flower Library:

Makes it easier to find trades across many different states and regions, among a group of similarly-minded addicts who meet a sort of minimum bar of hobbyist fervor
Very high level of engagement in chat, filled with lots of knowledge sharing and just general silliness
Chat covers all topics of hybridizing, showing, propagating, cultivation, and anything else you can think of
At least one helpful member keeps up a very comprehensive list of openings, restocks, and hidden gem dahlia sales which goes above and beyond the listings here at DA
Established with a charitable purpose and with a kindly group of admins and moderators
The group has crashed a few PDS meetings by now and shows up anywhere a DS Zoom is to be had

Cons of the Flower Library (vs Dahlia Societies):

The reliance on Facebook Messenger for active members can exclude those who are not active (multiple times daily) on mobile devices
The founder and admins are facilitating things out of their own personal free time and budget, since the club is not 501(3)(c) and doesn't collect dues
There is no focus on growing for exhibition and only a few members are active exhibitors, although many are interested
The membership has to be limited due to limited number of admins handling everything for the group

So what do you think my little online community could do, to synthesize learnings from established clubs? What do you think societies could do to reach out to these avid online groups?

Teddahlia

The Portland Dahlia Society has gone from an old fashioned in person group(founded in 1928) that had about 100 members 1990 through about 2022. In 2025 the club now has 550 members. Why is that and what did the club do to get more members? Gotta go now but to be continued.

Teddahlia

Portland Dahlia Society-Why? We sell tubers. We set up a discount for our annual online tuber sale for members. People joined our club in droves. Our on line sale had some really nice(I cannot emphasize that enough) varieties for fair prices. People joined our club. Many of them are still members. We bought an expensive set up to do Zoom broadcasts of our meetings and you do not have to drive to the meeting to participate. Then we cancelled the member discount for the on line sales and switched to an in person auction. We did a whole lot of other things too like good presentations, outside speakers, lots of food at meetings. Outside speakers: The photographer was a professional who judges pictures. The garden tool person owns a small "boutique" garden tool company and is a blacksmith. People enjoy our meetings. Rivers Dahlias did a presentation with his "superhero" Rosie on breeding dahlias. We have an off site meeting at Swan Island Dahlias each year. Lots of food there and 45 acres of dahlias.

MissyWeitzel

I met many of my favorite people and closest friends through West Michigan Dahlia Society and the Midwest Conference!
I found that joining a dahlia society has really given me a lot of knowledge I couldn't easily find online or in books. It also pushed me into trying new things I was nervous about at first - like exhibiting and starting the path to becoming a judge. (Just became a candidate judge!) Other members encouraged me and I guess it seems like at this stage in my life there really aren't a lot of other situations where people actively encourage me to try and learn new things and to step out of my comfort zone. And I get to encourage others too! Just today actually two fellow WMDS members confided in me that they weren't sure if they should register for or exhibit in the national show this fall. I told them they damn well better! 😉

LoveLanguageDahlias

I wish I lived closer to a Dahlia Society - it's a 6 hour drive to get to the New England DS meetings or show. But, there are dahlia folks everywhere and I'm looking forward to meeting more of them!