The 2025 Hamilton Dahlia Society Show

Sometimes you just want to look at the pretty flowers. Today I have some of the prettiest for you courtesy of my local dahlia society.

A dahlia show isn't just a show and tell for people who grow dahlias. Think Westminster Dog Show but everyone's on stems and you prep by eating pizza.

The night before the show, growers are in a frenzy, shoving pizza into their mouths and stems into official competition vases. Yes, those exist. They're plastic now, but the old metal ones are my favourite.

The bases belong to The Hamilton Dahlia Society and are used for all the shows members participate in.

I tried to walk out wearing 2 of the metal vases on my hands as mittens but that just made me look like a robot. Robots attract attention so that thievery plan didn't work out.

Friday night and Saturday morning of the show, is set aside for all the competitors to get their blooms displayed just right, massaging stems to encourage them to stand straight and at the perfect angle.

The room had a low hum to it as people happily worked away when a terrifying scenario unravelled sending panic throughout the hall. The situation was contained incredibly quickly by a couple of brave participants.

Nothing can turn a good time bad faster than an earwig at a flower show.

Judging happens the next morning. When the judging is done, the public pours in-two days of photographing, gasping, and scribbling down future must-have varieties.

The Winners

Top blooms this year: Hillcrest Jersie, Clearview Edie, Wyn's Neon Dream, Ferncliff Lemon Aura, Kenora Wildfire, Taratahi Ruby, Tahoma Hope, Spartacus.

The Court of Honour

These are the top blooms of the show. Similar to a dog show, each category has a winner and those winners go on to be best in show and then they get a cookie. That's the simplified version.

These are the blooms that were the best of the best, judged by form, size, colour, condition, stem & foliage.

Form - Symmetry and the correct shape for the variety (perfectly round outline, petals evenly arranged).

Size - Within the official size class for that cultivar.

Color - Clear, bright, and true to type with even saturation.

Condition - Fresh, clean petals with no insect damage, bruising, or fading.

Stem & Foliage - Strong, straight stem of proper length with healthy leaves.

The close ups above give a good representation of the colour of the blooms. The shots below, show the full display, but the colour of the blooms aren't as accurate.

Notice how bright Spartacus looks in its full body shot. In real life it looks like the close up photo, much darker and less brilliant.

The Show

This is how it was all seen by the show visitors.

Above is John Mooney adjusting a vase that holds his own cultivar, "Colleen Mooney". These are serious dahlia growers. So serious they are the ones who develop and cultivate new varieties.

But also there are novices like me who just plant a dahlia, cut off a stem and bring it into the show hoping for the best.

Except I didn't actually enter a bloom because I didn't have a single bloom worthy of entering on that particular Friday. My blooms were either too mature, immature, bent, eaten or misshapen.

Next year.

After the awards were given I walked around taking photos of any blooms I loved along with blooms I thought some of you might love. There are at least 3 varieties I'd like to get my hands on for next year.

More Varieties

The winners went home with ribbons, the rest of us went home with a camera roll full of future plant orders and a mild case of "what do they mean you have to dig them up in the fall?"

Next year I'll be back-with an actual entry instead of just fingerprints on the competition vases. Until then, enjoy the photos. And learn about how you have to dig up dahlias.

Nothing says relaxing hobby like the sub-freezing digging up of demanding, diva dahlias, blasting them with ice cold hose water and hiding them in the basement as part of their tuber protection program.

Name your favourite so we can see if there's one in particular people are partial to. I bet there isn't. I bet it's all over the board. I'll go first. Of these, my surprise favourite is the Taratahi Ruby. It was so bright orange/red that it was almost impossible to photograph. You truly have to see it in real life to understand how it burns your retina with its exuberance.

I also really liked Otto's Thrill. And the huge dark red Spartacus, which i've grown before but would like to grow again. And Mocha Katie and Hillcrest Jersie and Lyn's Lexi. And a few others.

Now you go.