For the love of Dahlias

Who needs football when you can see things like the Floater Exhibit and fire-engine red ali oops and, of course, the Flower of the Year.

Almost 60,000 people might have filled Autzen Stadium yet again for another Oregon Ducks’ home football game on Saturday, but flower lovers could be found at the Lane Events Center’s Wheeler Pavilion on the first day of the 52nd annual Lane County Dahlia Society’s Dahlia Show.

People love dahlias, a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial native to Mexico, because of “the variety of forms and colors, in a nutshell,” said Cheryle Hawkins, the society’s co-president and chairwoman of this year’s show.

The show continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, and attendees can see what Hawkins and other society members judged best in various classes on Saturday.

“Dahlias are broken into so many forms, it’s not even funny,” Hawkins said as she and fellow society member Deb Gilmer judged yet another table of stunning dahlias.

They come in 21 forms, from “Ball” to “Novelty Open” to “Novelty Double Flower” to “Waterlily.”

There also are 15 color classes, from bronze to dark pink to dark red to just plain, old white, which can be stunning nonetheless.

Dahlia tubers are planted in May and bloom from August to October, said Hawkins, who along with her husband, Michael Canning, the society’s vice president, has been growing dahlias at their home off River Road since 2003.

“October, boy, that’s when the color is really beautiful,” Hawkins said. “Especially if there’s been no rain.

“This is incredible — who brought this?” Hawkins said as she looked upon a foot-wide dahlia with an “informal deck” of curved petals with a deep-red color on top and a pale-yellow color underneath, one of the section winners.

She flipped open the description tag, which hides the name of the grower underneath, so as not to bias the judges, and it was grown by Christy Parks, who runs Parks Dahlias in Azalea.

“What makes this so unique,” Hawkins said, “is even as it’s wavy, it’s got gold (color) on its back, which really adds to its dimension.”

There was also a People’s Choice table on hand.

“I just think it’s amazing,” said Cheryl Cooper of Cottage Grove, who came Saturday with her husband, Dave Cooper. “And while the husbands are watching football on Sunday, the ladies should come out because it’s well worth it.”

But there were plenty of men at the show on Saturday.

“Absolutely stunning,” said Ron Platt of Elmira, who attended the show with his friend, Diane Boyles of Veneta, while looking at one of several tables of dahlias.

Platt was wearing a green University of Oregon Ducks baseball shirt, and both he and Boyles said they support Duck sports, including football, but the crowds at Autzen Stadium can be “massive insanity” with plenty of misbehaving adult fans, Platt said.

They turned a corner and viewed some more stunning dahlias as Boyles said: “God has created a beautiful thing here.”

Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkBakerRG . Email [email protected] .