The Encyclopedia of Dahlias

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Summary: Review of Encyclopedia of Dahlias by Bill McClaren
Review: Bill McClaren's Encyclopedia of Dahlias is the first full length book about dahlias written in North America in the past 50 years. For the serious dahlia grower, a book based in North America is important, because many cultivars from other continents are either difficult to obtain in North America or may not perform well in our area. In addition, the book has the most up to date history of the dahlia published anywhere. The book corrects lots of misinformation from other sources. For anyone interested in taking seeds and trying to hybridize new dahlias, the chapter on hybridizing is also the best available treatment of the subject.

A useful feature of this book is hundreds of color photos of the top scoring dahlias, arranged in order by classification by the American Dahlia Society. One can find good color photos of the vast bulk of dahlias from the Cream of the Crop and Fabulous Fifty lists of the most recent (at the time) American Dahlia Society lists (based on show results for 2002, as published in March 2003). Since these lists turn over fairly slowly, one should find most of the top dahlias from North America for the next few years.

The approach in this book is for a backyard gardener who wants high quality blooms but also wishes to avoid using harsh chemicals. This organic gardening approach is a useful supplement to the "organic chemistry" approach of the Bulletin of the American Dahlia Society.

Dahlia enthusiasts in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have had volumes based on their countries from top experts in these areas. Because classification can be quite different between North America (American Dahlia Society) and these other countries (which follow the National Dahlia Society of the United Kingdom), many dahlias that are popular here are of no interest in NDS countries. For example, in NDS, the interest is in miniature ball dahlias that grow a bit more than 4 inches or ball dahlias that grow a bit more than 6 inches in diameter. A dahlia with a diameter of 5 or 3 inches is of no interest for exhibition in these countries -- yet dahlias of these sizes are valuable for exhibition in North America. Many prize dahlias in North America therefore would not appear in any publication from Australia, New Zealand, or Europe, yet one would find them as cherished dahlias in North America. One would need to go to Bill McClaren's book to find these dahlias.

The author is one of the most highly respected and outstanding mentors and teachers in the American Dahlia Society. He received the Gold Medal of the American Dahlia Society in 1994 for a lifetime of achievement in dahlias and service to the American Dahlia Society. He has been a leader in starting dahlia societies (Montana and North Idaho), training judges from Spokane to eastern Montana, and every other aspect of dahlia culture and exhibition. He was responsible for numerous growers in Kalispell, MT becoming commercial growers. A few years ago, Kalispell, MT had more commercial dahlia growers than any other metropolitan area in North America!

Bill McClaren's Encyclopedia of Dahlias is an essential part of the library of anyone interested in dahlias. I cherish my copies of this outstanding book.

Alan A. Fisher
Rockville, MD
Membership Chairman, American Dahlia Society