Canby, Oregon - Swan Island Dahlia Festival

For the first time this year we went and visited Swan Island Dahlia Festival in Canby. So many dahlias!

I am being careful to note that they are in Canby, because the news segment initially called it the Sauvie Island Dahlia Festival and quickly corrected himself after a pained look from the interviewee, but also because there is a major flower market on Swan Island, and these things can get confusing.

(This is even more true because while Swan Island was originally an island, landfill has connected it to the mainland.)

Nonetheless, the dahlias are in Canby, and there are thousands of them.

We only went down one path of rows in one field, but across the street there was another one.

Each field has a path cutting down the middle, with different varieties on either side.

And you are strongly encouraged to notleave that path for photos or picking. I saw many people disregarding the rules, and many trampled flowers. Don't do that.

The other thing we neglected to do was go into the covered area. There were vendors there, but also cut flower displays, and of course boards with paintings of dahlias that you could stick your head through. Every flower festival has those; we should have known and gone. (We did not park in the best possible place.)

We still enjoyed ourselves. One part of the fun is to see the different names of the varieties.

You just know some of them have a story.

One interesting contrast with the lily festival we recently attended was that we didn't notice any scent. This makes dahlias a good option for many with a sensitivity to smells.

Obviously there was variety of color, but it was also interesting to see the variety of petal arrangements, from little puff balls to more tousled ones that resembled chrysanthemums.

That led to a little bit of research that could be fun reading for you"

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-chrysanthemums-dahlias-76851.html

https://www.dahlias.com/annualdahliafestival.aspx