DLP Profile

Dahlia Legacy Project

Dick and Patti Matthies Profile

Compiled by Dick & Susan Ambrose – March 2023

Dick and Patti Matthies were the heart and soul of Snohomish County Dahlia Society for years.  The first time I saw Dick he was heatedly arguing the merits of a head table winner with someone.  I thought “I will never get that passionate about a flower.”  And yet here I am.  After I got to know Dick I began to share his passion for the flower.  He and Patti were our mentors when we started out.  It was he who gave us the seed from which Camano Cloud emerged.

Dick and Patti lived in Anacortes when we first knew them.  Dick had been an engineer at Oak Ridge during World War II and then moved to Anacortes where he drove a cement truck.  Dick was a hybridizer and since Anacortes was on Fidalgo Island, he used Fidalgo as a prefix.  Prefixes for dahlia names was not a common practice in the 70s as it is now.  In fact, Dick was the second one to use this way of naming dahlias in the States.  His most widely grown origination at the time was Fidalgo Splash, a dark blend ID.  I remember him and Patti discussing the merits of Fidalgo Magic.  Magic had pleated petals and neither of the Matthies knew how the judges would react.  Since the dahlia did not fit any of the definitions, they were hesitant to introduce it, but it was too darn pretty to ignore.  So they did introduce it and gave it to Connell’s Dahlias to sell.  It was an instant hit.  Magic was followed by Fidalgo Blacky, an almost black miniature semi cactus.  Fidalgo Olympus was a gorgeous purple and white blend ID.  Together Dick and Patti introduced over 40 originations.  Dick was always pushing the envelope: as with Fidalgo Magic.  He wanted to see how far you could stretch a dahlia.

Dick and Patti got their passion for growing seedlings from Tony DeRooy, who started Snohomish County Dahlia Society on the map as a hybridizing hub.  Since they bridged the gap between Tony and the new wave of hybridizers, without Matthies there would have been no Dick and Susan Ambrose, no Gordie Leroux, no Bernie Wilson, no Dick Williams, no Dick and Danielle Parshall, no Mike Alexander, no Walt Jacenko, no Alyssia Obino, no Ken Greenway, no Bill Bonneywell.  Matthies were the ones who mentored many of the seedling growers.  They patiently taught each of us the qualities to look for in a seedling — form of the bloom, stem in proportion to the flower, straightness and strength of the stem, symmetry, the color quality, perfection. They taught us the score card for ADS and how to apply it to our seedlings.  They taught us that pretty did not necessarily transfer to show quality. Dick and Patti made sure we knew what we were doing and instilled in us a passion for growing seedlings which inspired others in the society to grow seedlings.  That in turn inspired others and it just snowballed.

We spent many enjoyable afternoons and evenings at Matthies’ house in Anacortes, going through their dahlia patch looking for promising candidates. They in turn came to our place to see if we had anything worth keeping.  There was one day when they arrived and our two-year-old son ran past them with no clothes on, yelling “Look Matthies.  I’m a streaker.”  This was about 1976 when streaking was the rage.  Dick and Patti were not even fazed as I grabbed him and reclothed him.

Dick and Patti were among the founding people of the Federation of Northwest Dahlia Growers.  They helped hammer out the bylaws and the rules for the shows and for the judging advancement.  Previously an exhibitor could only show one dahlia of each variety.  You could show Kenora Canada, Hamari Accord, Light Accord in one show.  But you could show only one Kenora Canada.  That changed so that an exhibitor could show as many Kenora Canada in the section as he wanted.  This made for lots of flowers at a show.  Previously, an aspiring judge had to ask his senior judge for a recommendation to advance.  Many times, the aspiring judge was brushed off – sometimes out of spite, sometimes out of tiredness, sometimes because the senior judge was busy – but it was off-putting.  That changed and no senior judge recommendation was needed.  Matthies spent many hours helping to form what is the basis of the Federation.

When Dick and Patti moved to the Lynwood house, they continued working with dahlias, but also began hybridizing rhododendrons, which became a passion.  Snohomish County Dahlia Society owes a great deal to Dick and Patti for instilling in the members the desire to create new dahlias.

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