DLP Project
Author: Mary Nelson
Dahlia Legend’s Full Name: Gordon Jackman
Gordon Jackman can identify over 10,000 dahlias by sight. It’s a talent and a hobby. Over the years, he’s helped scores of people identify their mystery flowers. But it’s his arrangements that make him a legend among dahlia growers. His creativity is unparalleled, and he consistently wins at dahlia shows. In fact he’s won best of show three times: the first in Seattle; one in San Jose; and the third in Long Island.
His interest in arrangements sparked years ago, when he made a basket for a Portland show. Florence Mason liked the basket, and encouraged him to make an arrangement next time. He did, and started winning ribbons regularly. His mentor, Jeanette Benson, used to add a new type of arrangement to the Portland Dahlia Show schedule each year—an addition Gordon found a welcome challenge.
During the show season, he takes it one week at a time. First, he looks in his own garden to see what’s blooming. Next, he goes to a nearby friend’s garden to see if he has anything interesting. Gordon used to pick seedlings at Myrtle and Bob Bloomfield’s garden. These days he goes out to Hollyhill to see what Margaret and Ted Kennedy have to share.
Gordon cuts blooms Friday morning and stores them in a cool, dark room. On Friday afternoons, he starts making his arrangements. He drives to shows with cans placed in between blooms so that they don’t touch each other.
He enjoys making weathered wood arrangements, and has a collection of interesting wood that he finds at Kelly Point Park. The dahlia colors should complement the wood, he says, so he usually uses orange and red cactus type dahlias. The colors go well with the Douglas fir and pine he also uses.
For water arrangements, he adds three textures along with the waterlily dahlias: flax, reeds and vine maple. Try to use greenery that naturally grow near water, he says. If you don’t have the type of greens that you want, trade dahlia blooms with a neighbor for greenery.
In mass arrangements, Gordon usually uses five to seven blooms. The flowers should have varying levels of height and depth, and there should be spaces between them.
This year, at the national show in Portland, Gordon plans on entering arrangements in all ten classes. He advises those new to arrangements to study the show book, and closely follow the requirements. In 2004 he won at seven out of eight shows. At the show where he didn’t win, he didn’t follow all of the instructions. Other tips: join a garden club, and refer to flower arranging books. The Federation of Northwest Dahlia Growers has a book with pictures of the different types of arrangements. There are also books on the market that explore design by type.
Gordon’s love of dahlias began in his grandmother’s Tualatin garden. He started raising the flowers in high school. He bought his first dahlias from Ray and Polly Miller of Hillsboro. These days he raises about 700 dahlias on a double city lot, although he has planted as many as 2,000. His favorite dahlia is Chilson’s Pride. He finds Akita the most interesting dahlia, because the tips curl in. Hollyhill Black Beauty is his most successful show flower. He has also won in every show where he made arrangements using Hollyhill seedlings.
Gordon studied at Linfield University on a vocal scholarship. When the music department burned down, he transferred to Portland State University. Over his career, he sold shoes, worked for a bank, and then he unloaded United Parcel Service trucks for 19 years. He’s old school all the way—he doesn’t own a computer or a cell phone. He lives in the same North Portland house that has been in his family since 1953.
Because of severe mold allergies, he doesn’t dig up all his dahlias in the fall any more. He digs and stores his favorites in vermiculite in a cool room. The remainder he leaves in the ground and covers with a tarp. He trades tubers with friends and buys other tubers from local clubs. His favorite tool is the hula hoe. He waters overhead with sprinklers. Gordon fertilizes twice a season; once when planting and once mid-season, using Harrell 12-12-12, a time-release fertilizer. In addition, he sometimes uses a water-soluble fertilizer with a similar formula. He doesn’t consider himself a hybridizer, but he did create three originations that are not around anymore.
Gordon enjoys helping people. He helped advise Ted Kennedy on which Hollyhill seedlings to keep. In fact, he’s responsible for rescuing Hollyhill Spiderwoman when Ted didn’t like it much. Gordon has helped countless other dahlia club members over the years. He mentored Louise and Diesel Gulbranson. He helped Louise stage her triple peony dahlias at a national conference in Vancouver B.C., where she won best in show. At a different show, another friend was so disappointed in her arrangement; she decided not to show it. Gordon made some suggestions. She entered the show and won the category.
In 1981 Gordon joined the Portland Dahlia Society (PDS) and is now a lifetime member. He also belongs to the Federation of Northwest Dahlia Growers, the Pacific Northwest Dahlia Conference, and the American Dahlia Society (ADS). He has served as the PDS president and vice president, and he now serves on other dahlia club boards where he represents the PDS.
Gordon entered his first dahlia show in 1982. He has attended 19 national shows, as far away as Kalispell, Montana. In 2011, he won a national trophy using Hollyhill Lavender Blue, a dahlia that is no longer available. At a show in Fraser Valley, Canada, he won best bloom, best three-bloom arrangement, and best nine-bloom arrangement, all using Chilson’s Pride. Now he goes to seven shows a year, most of them in Oregon and Washington.
Gordon started judging in 1989 or 1990. He has helped teach judging classes and has written articles for the ADS. He has led seminars and does annual demonstrations at PDS meetings on how to put together baskets, how to make arrangements, and how to stage dahlias.
He also raises chrysanthemums. He’s the current president of the Vancouver, Washington Chrysanthemum Society. His latest article is called “What Made Me Think I Was Smart Enough to Raise Chrysanthemums?” a piece he wrote for the National Chrysanthemum Society.
In the dahlia world, Gordon says Roger Walker and Phil Traff were especially helpful to him. Gordon’s best advice to novices: follow what the show schedule says to do, and if you have questions, call somebody. Make sure you have correct names on your dahlias. And if you don’t know the name, he could probably help.
Gordon Scott Jackman obituary by Ted Kennedy:
Gordon Scott Jackman was born September 3, 1951 and died on October 14, 2024 at age 73. He grew up in North Portland. Gordon was a student-athlete and lettered in tennis at Linfield University in 1970. He had many jobs and finished his working career at UPS on Swan Island. Pictured right: At the Lane County Dahlia Show in 2023, Gordon with Larry Smith, Camille Noel, and Eric Toedtli.
Gordon was one of the most active dahlia enthusiasts of all. He was a Senior Judge, an ardent competitive flower arranger, and a competitive show exhibitor. Gordon was also an instructor who always shared everything to help you be successful. He was a mentor for numerous successful exhibitors.
Gordon began showing dahlias in about 1981. In those days, he enjoyed showing in the sweepstakes classes where exhibitors brought tons of entries to the shows to amass lots of sweepstakes points. Gordon said he liked to specialize in miniature flowers as he could bring more of them to the show. He said when he first started to show, many classes still required triple entries and there were very few single entry classes. He was a very successful exhibitor. Gordon told a story of exhibiting successfully in the “100 poms in a container” class and commented that the old-time judges counted the poms in the entries to be sure they had the full 100 poms. He was known for his ability to transport hundreds of entries to a show in a sub compact car.
Gordon was also known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the thousands of dahlia varieties. At the club meetings, people would line up with bouquets of unknown flowers and Gordon would identify more than anyone. Gordon eventually concentrated on showing in the design competition at the dahlia shows. He had been employed for a time as a florist, putting together designs. He once said that his most cherished accomplishment was that he won best design at three ADS National shows. He had hoped extend that winning record and always tried to enter as many National shows as possible.
Gordon was known for entering as many shows as possible in the design classes. He exhibited in both Oregon and Washington and on a few occasions showed at two different shows on the same weekend. During a typical year, he would enter at about 10 shows and show about 4 or 5 designs, but many times would exhibit entries in every class. He was known for his oversized entries that could be as tall as 5 or 6 feet.
Gordon was an excellent Senior Judge of dahlias. He always volunteered to judge at the shows and frequently helped with the final head table decisions. Gordon was an avid judge in the ADS seedling classes at the shows and judged many hundreds of seedling entries over the years. He was probably the most prolific judge at the two trial gardens here in the PNW. His goal each year was to judge every eligible entry and he frequently achieved his goal. I remember him saying that he could only judge 22 entries at our trial garden that year and was disappointed that some of the entries did not have enough flowers so he could do them all.
At the National ADS show in Portland in 2023, Gordon was awarded the ADS Silver medal: “Gordon is a well-known member in the Northwest dahlia world and beyond. His ability to create spectacular artistic floral designs is his claim to fame. Gordon has been a frequent participant in ADS National Shows; winning awards wherever the show may be. He is a recognized floral design expert, but most importantly, it is Gordon’s willingness to share his knowledge that makes him a true dahlia ambassador.”
Gordon is survived by his sister, Christine Jones, and his nephew, Brian Jones.
