Dahlia Legacy Project

John Ruud is a long-time member and leader in the North Central Washington Dahlia Society. He first became interested in growing dahlias after visiting his brother Carl in Cheney, Washington. Carl and his brother Francis both enjoyed growing dahlias and gave John some tubers to grow in his home garden. John Ruud’s entry into dahlia society life in the 1990s, when he was contacted by Tony DeRooy, founder of the Wenatchee Valley Dahlia Society in the late 1960s. Tony had heard about a dentist in Waterville who loved growing dahlias. As was his regular strategy for recruiting members, Tony took a drive up to Waterville to meet this dahlia-crazy dentist. It didn’t take any time at all before John joined the Society and then became one of the most active members of his new club. As sometimes happens, the Wenatchee Valley Dahlia Society eventually faded away due to many members aging out or passing away. For a time, John and Tony continued to tend their respective gardens in Wenatchee and Waterville, until they were able to establish the North Central Washington Dahlia Society (NCWDS) in 2003 with a few other local dahlia stalwarts.

John was born in Waterville, Washington to Oliver and Eloise Ruud. The Ruuds were among the earliest families to settle the town in the late 1800s. John grew up in that small towning farm with his six siblings, located on the high plateau of the Big Bend of the Columbia River. After graduating from Waterville High School in 1948, John attended college at Eastern Washington State College in Cheney and then the University of Washington (UW), where his high school classmate Alice Malloy was a student. While at college in 1950, John was called on to serve America in the US Navy during the Korean conflict. While he was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska in 1952, he and Alice were married. During his time in the Navy, he had the opportunity to learn about many aspects of dentistry, and when discharged in 1954, he decided to complete his DDS at the UW. Graduating from dental school in 1960, John went back home to set up his practice in general dentistry. Later in his career, he pursued a specialty in periodontics and moved his practice to Wenatchee.

Clubs & Shows

Following the founding of the NCW Dahlia Society, John and Tony were committed to finding a suitable space to set up a public demonstration dahlia garden. From his office windows, John kept looking out on the vacant lot right across the street, adjacent to the Numerica Credit Union. Finally, he and Tony approached the powers that be and got permission to turn the vacant lot into a dahlia garden that would be maintained by members of NCWDS. Tending this garden, going to dahlia shows and helping lead the NCW club became his passion. Over the next decade, John served the club in a variety of leadership positions, including more than one term as President.

Hybridization

As time went by, John became acquainted with Bernie Wilson, a friend and hybridizer of “Lakeview” varieties from Snohomish County. Bernie and Tony had been friends for many years. Bernie was one of several of people who were senior ADS judges who would regularly support the Wenatchee club by coming over to judge their shows. John developed a friendship with Bernie, and would often call him to talk about hybridizing, and his latest seedlings. Bernie was very supportive of John’s efforts, and helped him learn more about how to breed exhibition quality dahlias. A big fan of the dahlia Jessie G, John harvested seeds from the many Jessie G plants as well as others that he grew in his garden He was very hopeful that eventually he would have good results from the seed of that excellent purple ball. John’s dream was to develop an ADS introduction, and after years of trying, he was successful with Big Bend Tony, BA Pr, in 2018. The name “Big Bend” was taken from the location of his home town Waterville, and “Tony” for his mentor, Tony DeRooy.

Dahlia Tips and Gardening Practices

John continues to garden in Waterville, a semi-arid, wheat farming area. He grows a wide variety of vegetables and flowers, but his dahlias are his real love. The garden is sunny, with excellent clean soil, where John grows from 150-200 dahlias each year not including seedlings. He is very deliberate about his watering practices, careful not to over-water. He uses a drip system that he activates a couple times a week, and more if necessary – he responds to how his dahlias are growing. He gets his stock from the NCWDS tuber sales, trading with other growers and buying tubers from other dahlia sellers. Products that he uses in his dahlia garden include alfalfa meal, Azomite and Osmocote.

John sees himself as a “country boy” and loves to putter around and work with his hands. He likes to create things out of what others may see as junk. Several years ago, he developed a method of tying up his dahlias, using an empty bleach bottle, a thumb-knife and twine. John actually wrote up his method for the American Dahlia Society Bulletin to share with other growers. At home, his favorite gardening tool is something he calls a “weed shaver” which looks like a hand-plow that has a broad thin flat blade across the bottom. He says this tool is his favorite, because he can walk up and down the rows, shaving those pesky weeds off just beneath the soil surface.

John and Alice continue to enjoy their life in Waterville, where they raised all four of their children, Jim, Dave, Ken and Carol. John credits Tony and Bernie for his development as a as a dahlia grower and hybridizer. It’s hard to choose, but of his personal favorites are Brookside Snowball, Spartacus, Kelvin Floodlight, Clearview Edie and Jessie G. He loves almost everything about growing dahlias, but his favorite things are attending dahlia shows and giving away dahlia bouquets to his friends and others in his community.