NMDS Meeting at the McCall Garden

Aaron Greenwood

Dahlias brought to the gathering by the Dahlia Clan.

The monthly meeting of the New Mexico Dahlia Society was held on October 5, 2025 at the home of Howard and Sue McCall nestled in the Sedillo Hills. Howard’s garden is renown for having wide variety of many hundreds of dahlias, never mind hundreds of other plants too. Having the meeting there signals the dahlia season is coming to end, but before that end Howard’s dahlias are in full bloom.

This year has been different. Nature struck a blow on September 28th. An unusually long and destructive hail storm rolled across the Sedillo Hills wrecking havoc on Howard’s garden. I was stunned, but not surprised. Nature is unpredictable.

Blooms Before The Storm

Below is a selection of blooms from Howard McCall’s Garden on the day of the hail storm. These blooms were cut in the morning before Nature wrecked havoc on the garden with hailstones and entered that day into the Dahlia Festival.

Dahlia Bride To Be
Class 10 WL Water Lily

Dahlia Valley Porcupine
Class 21 Five of a Kind

Dahlia Clearview Sol
Class 9 Stellar

The Sharing of the Dahlias

In the aftermath of the storm Howard McCall let us know that he and Sue wanted to go ahead with the meeting. He laid out plans for an education session while we were at his home, but also for more sessions latter in the fall, such as a tutorial on dividing tubers and the process of storing them for the winter. Many of us and especially novices like myself look forward to leaning more from top growers like Howard and Tom. Their willingness to share knowledge is appreciated.

Howard requested that, “If everyone that still has Dahlia’s blooming, cut several to share with the group, I know they would greatly appreciate taking them home. Just bring them in a bucket or like you were going to a show.”

The sharing of dahlias is one way of shaking your fist at lighting. Members of the Dahlia Clan came through. The arrival of the dahlias was a spectral of color and form.

Declan Padget arriving with his contribution to the sharing of Dahlias

It is hard to believe these are random dahlias in a transport bucket.

What is art? The dahlias know.

One sees what one sees, but these dahlias give off a Mediteranian vibe.

Highlights of the October Meeting

NMDS President Edith Iwan gave a tutorial on exhibiting multiple identical dahlias. Beyond staging, she covered key areas including form, condition, color, stem and foliage.
Our treasury is sound with a balance of $4,066.83.
We made $450.00 selling dahlias at the Dahlia Festival.
Eldon Wilson’s two sons and their families attended and were pleased with the show.
Election of new NMDS Board Members will be in November
Sue Isley & Aaron Greenwood offered to host the NMDS Holiday party on Sunday, December 14.
Howard McCall would like to see more members donate tubers and help with the sale as it is our only revenue for the club.