Central Carolina Dahlia Society | About Us

About Central Carolina Dahlia Society

About Us

Our Mission

The mission of CCDS is to promote the knowledge, cultivation, and interest in dahlias throughout the Central Carolina area.

The Central Carolina Dahlia Society was founded in July of 2021 for the purpose of increasing interest in dahlias. We accomplish this through meetings and public programs. Meetings include programs about dahlias, dahlia diseases and pests with remedies offered for these problems. Also included are programs on planting, growing for pleasure and show, digging and dividing tubers and the propagation of dahlias. Our public outreach includes a tuber sale in the spring and dahlia show in the fall. We also support other dahlia societies and gardening enthusiasts by sharing our program content.

CCDS History

In March 2021, Jimmy Speas spoke to the ADS New Society Coordinator, Rosemary Freeman about starting an American Dahlia Society chapter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In April 2021, we received our non-profit 501(c) status from IRS and in May 2021, we adopted our constitution and bylaws of the dahlia society. We established the name Central Carolina Dahlia Society. We decided we would meet the third Saturday of each month except December & January.
In June 2021, we were officially welcomed into the American Dahlia Society, and we started developing our newsletter. Glad Douse became the newsletter editor.
On July 17, 2021, we had our first meeting. We voted to name the newsletter, The Dirt on Dahlias. We introduced the officers and discussed the bylaws. Jimmy Speas, President. Paula Fisher, Vice President. Linda Ernst, Corresponding Secretary. Teresa Smith, Treasurer. Karen Chappell, Recording Secretary and Trish Summers, ADS Representative. We asked for volunteers for the committees. We had over 40 paid members and we established our Facebook page and Instagram page. Zoe Pye volunteered to manage our social media accounts.
We had monthly meetings with programs about growing dahlias, making dahlia arrangements, fertilizing and pest control, exhibiting dahlias, and dividing dahlias.
By December 2021, we had approximately 60 members and we started 2022 with over 100 members.
On May 14, 2022, we had our first public tuber sale where we sold 500 tubers and made $3400.00.
On September 17, 2022, we had our first dahlia exhibition show and members brought in over 100 blooms. We decided to have a dahlia exhibition show in September 2023 and opened it up to the public for viewing.
Our February and March 2023 meetings had the highest attendance with 48 members. Our 2023 Dahlia Challenge was “Growing Dahlias from Seed”.
In 2023, Ardel Meisinger became Recording Secretary and Kim Bauman became our ADS Representative. Becca Neilson and Brittany Russell became our newsletter editors.
In 2024, we began working on our website and our 2024 officers were elected: Jimmy Speas, President. Linda Ernst, Vice President, Zoe Pye, Corresponding Secretary, Teresa Smith, Treasurer, Ardel Meisinger, Recording Secretary, Kim Bauman, ADS Representative and Brittany Russell, Newsletter Editor.