|
In 1983 at the age of ten, I started my business known as Dan’s
Dahlias. I never could have imagined how far growing and selling
dahlias would take me. I began by selling cut flowers and taking
orders for tubers from the garden. In 1984 I began selling dahlias
at the Olympia Farmers Market. The 2002 season was my 19th year as a
vendor at the market.
In high school, I was
actively involved with the Future Farmers of America organization. My senior
year, I was selected as the western region finalist in the FFA Floriculture
Proficiency Program and traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to compete at the
national level. Selected as the 1990 National FFA Floriculture Proficiency
winner, I received a scholarship for $500 and a three weeks all expenses
paid trip to Europe. In June of 1991 after high school graduation, I was off
on a three week trip touring agricultural sites in Belgium, Germany,
Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. |
| |
 |
|
Dan's
niece, Michelle, is "The Dahlia Queen" in a sea of giant
dahlias. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
"Sheba" the
Chocolate Labrador Retriever, rests at the edge of the lawn
with the dahlia fields in full bloom in the background. |
|
|
| |
| Since founding Dan’s Dahlias at
the age of ten, the earnings were deposited into a savings account
for a college education. In May of 1995 I graduated from Washington
State University with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape
Architecture. Currently, I work for a landscape architecture firm in
Olympia, Washington. Thank you to all of my past customers for
helping me to achieve my goals!
I continue to sell cut flowers and take orders for tubers from the
garden, and at the Olympia Farmers Market. I offer for sale over 500
varieties of dahlias through my price and description list. Through
mail-order sales, I have sold dahlia tubers to all fifty states, and
many foreign countries. In 1994 seeking to expand sales, I began
selling dahlia tubers at the large spring garden shows. This last
year was my ninth as a commercial vendor at the Northwest Flower and
Garden Show held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center
in Seattle. In addition to Seattle, in 1998 I began selling dahlia
tubers at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show held in March at
the Cow Palace in San Francisco. In 2002 I added the Portland Yard,
Garden & Patio Show to my growing list of Spring garden shows at
which I sell tubers. In keeping pace with the advances in
technology, the Dan’s Dahlias website has been on-line since August
of 1998. I look forward to many more years of growing and selling
dahlias.
|
|
|
|
