A new garden with deep Flathead Valley roots is blooming at the Conrad Mansion Museum.
Near the southwest corner of the Kalispell mansion grounds, inside the small garden set among the manicured landscaping dahlias in hues of pinks, yellows and reds are making their appearance.
The garden is the work of the Montana Dahlia Society and volunteers who spent spring days constructing and planting, and summer days tending to the flowers that have risen from cloth garden bags. As the garden nears the peak blooming season in mid-September, passersby walking along the nearby path offer delighted remarks about the beauty of the multi-layered flowers.
“It brings a big smile to people’s faces,” said Eileen Schmidt, president of the society.
Longtime dahlia gardener Martin Rippens has assisted with volunteer projects at the museum grounds and has long thought that a dahlia garden would fit the corner.
“We really want to be more visible for people,” Rippens said while standing in rows of flowers ranging from waist-high to towering overhead. “They will just keep growing from here.”
“It’s neat to see this explosion of color,” Schmidt adds.
The mountains of Mexico and Guatemala are considered the origin of today’s dahlia ancestors before the Spanish conquest when the plants were brought to Europe. The American Dahlia Society recognizes 18 classifications of dahlias and 15 different color or color combinations of the flower.
In her ninth year of growing dahlias, Schmidt said the waterlily is her favorite with its tidy saucer-shaped blooms that resemble floating water lilies.
“I adore them,” she said. “Dahlias come in so many different shapes and every color — even black, though that’s really dark red. If you have a dahlia garden you can have a different bouquet every week.”
Dahlias have tuberous roots that are not frost hardy, so require being dug up in the fall and replanted in the spring in areas with cold winters. The flowers grow well in Montana provided they are given proper care including watering as the flowers like humidity, according to society members.
The mansion has always viewed its grounds and the gardens as an important part of the museum and its connection to the community, said Brit Clark, executive director of the mansion and projects like the garden allow the grounds to continue evolving while also preserving and sharing history. When the society approached the mansion about a display garden, it seemed like a wonderful fit.
“It gives the Dahlia Society a highly visible place to showcase and preserve these beautiful flowers while adding something special for mansion visitors and members of the community who enjoy our grounds,” Clark said. “Our gardens are free and open to the public, so we also loved the idea that people don’t necessarily have to take a tour of the Conrad Mansion to experience and enjoy the dahlia garden.”
THE DAHLIA has a lengthy history in the Flathead Valley. The late Flathead High School teacher Bill McClaren founded the Montana Dahlia Society in Kalispell and wrote “The Encyclopedia of Dahlias,” which was renowned nationwide in dahlia growing circles. He opened Alpen Gardens growing tens of thousands of tubers and hybridizing countless varieties.
“The dahlia is a very striking plant,” said five-year society member Pat Rankin. “The society would like to bring those plants he created back to the valley. This is an opportunity to keep dahlias a part of the community and allow them to thrive.”
The connection to local history made the garden a meaningful addition to the Conrad Mansion grounds, Clark said, and as a historic site, the mansion seeks to tell not only the story of the Conrad family but also the broader history of the Flathead Valley.
“Having a permanent dahlia display at a historic property gives us an opportunity to keep that piece of local history visible and introduce it to people who may not have known about it otherwise,” Clark said.
In the spring the dahlia society holds a tuber sale, which is well attended by longtime dahlia enthusiasts and new gardeners, along with an annual competition in mid-September.
Founder of the dahlia show at the Northwest Montana Fair, McClaren began the annual tradition that for decades has introduced many fairgoers and future gardeners to the flower. It remains one of the ways the dahlia society, which has about 35 members, gets the chance to compete and meet fellow flower enthusiasts.
“Even though we compete with each other, we are sharing information with each other,” Schmidt said.
Before a meeting of the group on a recent evening, society members walked the garden talking about the different varieties, favorites and lessons learned in their home gardens. Some mislabeled plants and one planted as a mystery tuber create the opportunity to pull out guidebooks and discuss the plants in depth.
Flowers are often shared with friends and family. Members take bouquets to hospitals and care centers, and the society recently provided bouquets for the tables at Sykes diner.
“Our members are willing to share and give of themselves,” Rippins said. “People are happy when they get a flower and nobody doesn’t like them.”
A COMMUNITY effort made the garden at the Conrad Mansion come to fruition. Society members put in labor and donated dahlia tubers making up the various varieties in the garden. Western Building Center and Box of Rain donated materials to the project.
Ashton Lyle, of Whitefish, worked on the garden as part of an Eagle Scout effort. Lyle served as the project manager and created a budget and plan, met with business management for donations and interfaced with the society’s members. He organized fellow scouts and volunteers to assist in the construction of the garden.
Serving as Lyle’s project coach, Rankin said an Eagle Scout project should benefit the community.
“An Eagle Scout is about leadership, not just leading Boy Scouts, but also adults,” Rankin said. “It takes a special young man or woman who have committed to the values of scouting and leadership to complete. It’s an opportunity for youth to learn about the importance of giving back.”
The goal is to have raised garden beds created by Flathead High School students ready for spring planting of the dahlia tubers to once again fill a corner of the mansion grounds with colors connecting to the gardening tradition of the Flathead Valley. Society members hope to double the number of flowers in the garden next year.
“It feels good to share the garden and not ask for anything in return,” Rippens said.
Deputy Editor Heidi Desch can be reached at 406-758-4421 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.
Dahlias bloom inside the Montana Dahlia Society garden at the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
A group of flowers from a gay princess variety of dahlia blooms in the garden at the Conrad Mansion. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
The Montana Dahlia Society, with help from volunteers, constructed a dahlia display garden in the southwest corner of the Conrad Mansion Museum grounds in Kalispell. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
Members of the Montana Dahlia Society inside the dahlia display garden at the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
A variety of dahlia called Picasso blooms in the dahlia display garden at the Conrad Mansion. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
Members of the Montana Dahlia Society with the dahlia display garden at the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell. Society members, along with other volunteers, created the garden this spring on the grounds of the mansion. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
A pink dahlia blooms inside the Montana Dahlia Society garden at the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
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