National Dahlia Society Picture Archive

History It has taken many thousands of hours to collect and enter these pictures into a catalogue, together with editing and adding detailed captions, ones selected for the website are a fraction of what I have collected but have tried to select the best ones either of a person, event or named cultivar, I have at present over 31,000 pictures to select from. Not all the pictures are of top quality, obviously I can only select the best from what I have, many of you may have better pictures and or pictures of dahlia events, people or named cultivars that I haven’t got in my collection, also you may find mistakes in the pictures or captions or additional information, please kindly let me know, thank you. Your Help Please, if you have pictures, either slides or photographs and would like to lend them to me I will scan then into my collection or alternatively if they are digital please put them on a disk, either way I will return then to you as soon as possible, thank you. My e-mail address is: archivist@dahlia-nds.co.uk Thank You Please bear in mind these pictures are not only for people to look at now but are our history, reference and for identification. I also owe a debt of gratitude to others who have given or lent me pictures for my collection, together with items scanned from books, catalogues and illustrations, they all go towards this unique collection, they are too numerous to name them all but the main contributors are listed below. The items for the website will be entered in `groups` over the coming months and will be updated and added to as and when necessary, starting with History, NDS Archives and then Cultivars A to Z, the latter will be entered in alphabetical order and there is a search box for finding particular named dahlias if they are available in the collection, there will be some 8,000 named dahlias initially including duplications, unfortunately there are many thousands of cultivars I have no pictures of, however this is where some of you can hopefully help me. With regard to availability of some of the cultivars shown, I am unable at present to include this in my library but would suggest you look up the current websites of dahlia nurseries or other dahlia suppliers to see what is available, also website ‘ The Growing World of Dahlias ‘ run by David Bates, the RHS Plant Finder or for the USA ‘ The Big List ‘. Listed here are some of the people and organisations who have kindly helped me make this collection possible :- NATIONAL DAHLIA SOCIETY (NDS), ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (RHS), AMERICAN DAHLIA SOCIETY (CLAUDIA BIGGS) (ADS), PUGET SOUND DAHLIA ASSOCIATION (USA), MARK TWYNING OF THE NATIONAL DAHLIA COLLECTION (NC), CHRIS TIVEY, THE LATE LOU ECKHOFF (USA), STAN HALL, HALLS OF HEDDON, SWAN ISLAND DAHLIAS (USA) who have kindly given permission for me to reproduce pictures from their coloured catalogues. DAVID BATES and many others, these together with scanning of old Dutch catalogues of Messrs Bruidegom and Ballego, sadly no longer in business. Abbreviations Captions show in order, name of cultivar or event, classification (type), flower size, colour if black and white, raiser, country of origin and date raised or first seen if known, where picture was taken or came from or who took picture if known. Key to Dahlia Types (Classification) and Flower Sizes :- (G.D.) Giant Decorative. (G.C.) Giant Cactus. (G.S.C.) Giant Semi-Cactus. (G.Fim.) Giant Fimbriated. All Giant Flowered types have flowers usually over 250mm (10 in.) in diameter. (L.D.) Large Decorative. (L.C.) Large Cactus. (L.S.C.) Large Semi-Cactus. (L.Fim.) Large Fimbriated. All Large Flowered types have flowers usually between 200mm (8 in) and 250mm (10 in.) (M.D.) Medium Decorative. (M.C.) Medium Cactus. (M.S.C.) Medium Semi-Cactus. (M.Fim.) Medium Fimbriated. All Medium types usually have flowers between 150mm (6 in.) and 200mm (8 in.) (S.D.) Small Decorative. (S.C.) Small Cactus. (S.S.C.) Small Semi-Cactus. (S.Fim.) Small Fimbriated. All Small types usually have flowers between 100mm (4 in.) and 150mm (6 in.) (Min.D.) Miniature Decorative. (Min.C.) Miniature Cactus. (Min.S.C.) Miniature Semi-Cactus. (Min.Fim.) Miniature Fimbriated. All Miniature types usually have flowers not exceeding 100mm (4in.) Other Types :- (S.B.) Small Ball. Usually have flowers between 100mm (4 in.) and 150mm (6in.) (Min.B.) Miniature Ball. Flowers usually between 50mm (2in.) and 100mm (4in) (L.Pom.) Large Pompon. Flowers usually between 50mm (2in.) and not exceeding 75mm (3in) (Pom.) Pompon. Flowers usually not exceeding 50mm (2in.) Other Types, no size definition. (Single Fl.) Single Flowered. (Anemone Fl.) Anemone Flowered. (Col.) Collerette. (W.L.) Waterlily. (Single Orchid Fl.(Star)) Single Orchid Flowered. (Double Orchid Fl.) Double Orchid Flowered. (Stellar in the USA) (Paeony Fl.) Paeony Flowered. (Misc. Fl.) Miscellaneous Flowered. Dahlia which does not fit into any other category. (Novelty in the USA) Mignon Single is a very dwarf dahlia. Where a dahlia is dwarf growing, this will be shown and covers dahlias which normally do not exceed two and a half feet in height, if known. Fimbriated, means the ends of the petals are split (serrated) (Laciniated in the USA)