2025 Dahlia Tuber Sale

Sue Isley

This year’s Dahlia Tuber Sale took place on Friday & Saturday, April 25 & 26, in conjunction with the annual Spring Plant Sale hosted by the Albuquerque Garden Center. NMDS members were encouraged to donate tubers to sell, and we definitely collected more tubers than we were able to sell. While a number of members donated, the largest donations were made by Howard McCall, Bill Shen, and Edie Iwan. We want to thank everyone who contributed for their much appreciated donations! Without these donations, there would have been no tuber sale.

NMDS President Edie Iwan

Pre-Sale Organization

Prior to the sale, ten NMDS members convened at the home of member Dina Bello on Tuesday, April 22nd to organize, bag, and label the thousands of dahlia tubers to be offered for sale. Present at this gathering were: Edie Iwan, Howard and Sue McCall, Dina Bello, Debi Harrington, Julie Moss, Sue Isley, David Wimsatt, JoAnn Miller, and Megan Padget. The crew worked in tandem for over two hours to accomplish this task, with Howard serving as the primary curator who was instrumental in identifying, categorizing, and labeling the tubers accurately.

Left to right, Megan Padget, Howard McCall, Sue McCall, Julie Moss, David Wimsatt, JoAnn Miller, and Edie Iwan.

Friday, April 25th

The first day of the sale began very early on Friday morning, with set-up beginning at 8:00am. The NMDS was provided with space on the front patio, along with several other gardening groups that are also members of the Albuquerque Garden Center, and were participating in the Spring Garden Sale. While the sale was officially opened to the public from 1:00-6:00pm, sales among members of the Garden Center commenced during the morning. NMDS members who participated in the Tuber Sale included: Edie Iwan, Howard McCall, Gil Quintana (who set up the large tent under which the boxes of tubers were displayed), David Wimsatt, Debi Harrington, Julie Moss, Sue Bond, Beth Goodson, Declan and Connor Padget, Aaron Greenwood, Sue Isley, Maureen Carson, Norm and Diane Kolb, and JoAnn Miller.

Any and all tubers were offered at $6.00 each, or three for $15.00. In addition, for every purchase of three tubers, buyers were rewarded with a free tuber of their choice: Clearwater Daniel (white), Ivanetti (purple), or Cornel (red).

Members Sue Bond and David Wimsatt.

Saturday, April 26th

The sale was open to the public on Saturday from 8:00am-noon. Members of the NMDS who were present included: Edie Iwan, Howard McCall, Aaron Greenwood, David Winsatt, Dino Bello, Miriam Anderson (who brought approximately 200 more tubers to sell), and Norm and Diane Kolb. Sales were not as brisk on Saturday as they were on Friday. At the conclusion of the sale, David and Dina joined Edie at the plot at the Garden Center and planted eight tubers.

Precise information regarding monies raised is not available at this time, but Treasurer Howard McCall estimates that a total of approximately $1,200.00 was raised from sales at the Garden Center. President Edie Iwan has plans to increase sales and revenue by selling leftover tubers at other venues, including the Albuquerque Farmer’s Market. Approximately 60 of the leftover tubers were donated to Bill Shen for his dahlia project at the Agri-Nature Center.

Members (from left to right): Maureen Carson, Aaron Greenwood, Howard McCall, Diane and Norm Kolb.

Photo Credits:
Sue Isley unless noted
Aaron Greenwood, images 2 and 10