San Francisco was in luck when Erik and Gerda Juul, on their way home to Denmark from British Columbia,  decided to stop over in San Francisco to visit some friends.  "San Francisco in the fifties was a magical place and we fell in love with the City immediately," recalled the Juuls. That stopover lasted decades!

Chatting with another Board member, Jytte Rasmussen

Judging at the 2004 Annual Show

Remembering their first encounter with Dahlias, the Juuls relates, "Our love of gardening probably 'took roots' in Denmark. Our families all had big gardens, and dahlias were a familiar sight for us. One day, probably in 1958, we happened to walk in to the tuber sale in the Hall of Flowers, and for the next several years it became an annual event for us. At a later tuber sale, we decided to join the Dahlia Society and attended the next meeting with some curiosity. Much to Erik's surprise, it was mostly attended by men and we ended up having a good time. After a couple of years we were urged to show our dahlias; our first show was in San Leandro where we entered 20 Dahlias and received 19 blue ribbons. Needless to say, we were hooked."

During the past thirty years, the Juuls have been innovating new Dahlia varieties, dazzling every visitor to the Golden Gate Park Dahlia Dell.  Besides the wonderful Dahlia plot they maintain in their Sunset home, they also manage part of the teardrop-shaped Dahlia Dell at the Golden Gate Park benefiting many who use the Park.

Lecturing on how to do cuttings

Discussing finer points of growing Dahlias with John McCloud of the New Zealand Dahlia Association, Auckland

What separates them from other Dahlia enthusiasts is their innovation. In addition,  their achievement has inspired all members at DSC through their leadership in all aspects of activities at DSC.  These short articles cannot adequately represent all that they have achieved and contributed to the promotion of the growing and enjoyment of Dahlias, and to DSC in particular. We shall concentrate on two aspects: Their hybridized Dahlia originations, and their innovation in "Plant Cutting Propagation".