It's day 26 of the 100 Day Project.

Or is is day 27?  Holy crap, maybe it's even day 28.  I know for sure that it's not day 30, because if it were, I'd be doing a check-in with Andrea and BB. 

Soooooo.....that's my 100 Day Project current moment snapshot.  I'm not even totally sure what day I'm on.  Because somewhere between the Day 20 check-in that we did (as part of #100DaysWithABC), and today, I've sorta stalled out.

It's been weighing on me, but not in TOO terrible a way.  I've been able to come back to my Day 1 commitments: to be gentle to myself, to give myself grace, to remember that this is supposed to be a chance for FUN and a daily dose of creativity, NOT 100 Days of Beating Myself Up.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job of reminding myself:  

​So what is this information telling me?  That's what I want to figure out.  So I sat down to do some journaling and self reflection, and as with so much of this project, it is both challenging and also enlightening.  When I can stay in gentle, mindful self study, it's actually really helpful and offers a lot of insight that I can apply not just to this creative project, but to so many other aspects of my life.

Maybe you are also feeling a little stuck, stalled out, de-railed, or paused.  Need some help gathering information?  Let's go!

(a.k.a. let’s figure out what flavor of stuck this is)

You don’t need to answer all of these. Let one or two tap you on the shoulder.  Then take a few minutes to free write your answers.  (new to free writing?  There's a quick definition and some tips at the bottom of this post) 
​

• What's coming up for me when I think about feeling  stuck and returning to this project?
• What was happening the first day(s) that I missed participating?
• If I had to name the first resistance (not the most logical one), what is it?
• Does this feel like “I can’t” or “I don’t want to”?
• What part of this project currently feels too heavy, too vague, or too rigid?
• What am I afraid will happen if I do it badly today?
• Where have I quietly raised the bar without admitting it?
• Does my current life have the capacity for how I originally designed this?

Here are some categories I've identified that seem to be many of the basic reasons someone might stall out or subconsciously push pause.  There are probably many more, but these are a starting point.  

Take what you've written and re-read it.  (be sure you aren't wearing your judge-y pants!)  Just notice themes, words that reappear frequently, emotions that are simmering under the words, or common threads.  Do they fit into any of these categories?  (and if they don't, maybe a different category comes up for you, that's great information!)

1. Loss of Spark (a.k.a. the Middle is Boring AF)
The beginning had novelty. The end has payoff.
The middle is… oatmeal.

• Not hard, not impossible—just weirdly dull
• No dopamine hit anymore

2. Misalignment / Drift
What felt right on Day 1 might not fit Day 42-you.

• The project evolved… but your “rules” didn’t
• You’ve outgrown your own container

3. Too Many Micro-Decisions
This is like decision fatigue’s annoying cousin.  Not big overwhelm—just death by 1,000 tiny choices.

• “What should I make today?”
• “What counts?”
• “Where do I even start?”

4. Invisible Rules / Perfectionism in Disguise
You've told yourself that you're to be messy… but secretly you don't believe it.

• “It has to be meaningful”
• “It should look like X by now”
• “I can’t phone it in”
• "It doesn't look like everyone else's."

5. Disconnection from Why
You started for a reason… but you’ve lost the thread.

• It feels like obligation instead of devotion
• You’re showing up out of habit, not desire
• Your "why" has changed. (spoiler alert:  that's allowed!)

6. Energy Mismatch / Real Life Shows Up
Your project asks for a version of you that doesn’t exist today.

• Requires focus but you’re fried
• Requires emotion but you’re numb
• Requires time you don’t currently have

7. Fear of Being Seen (or Not Seen)
A spicy paradox, sometimes with a side order of imposter syndrome.

• “What if people judge this?”
• “What if no one cares?
• "It will never look like theirs."

8. Being a Lone Wolf
Or maybe a Sad Panda?  Either way, doing it solo can SUCK big time.

• "No one cares whether I do this or not."
• Wishing you had some company or someone to show off to (just a little)
• Wanting some external validation of your efforts (not a bad thing at all!!)
• Wishing for a pep talk or some cheerleading, or someone to bounce ideas off of

Ok, we've gathered some info.  We've begun to identify the roots of the pause.  Let's shift into revving back up again.

If it’s emotional (avoidance, fear, comparison, loneliness):

• What would make this feel 10% safer to show up to?
• What is the lowest-stakes version of today’s participation?
• Does anything change if I decide to show no one what I'm working on?
• What does the world's most encouraging "art bestie" voice have to say about this?
• Where can I find some community and art pals to help keep me going?

If it’s structural (your rules are the problem):

• What rule can I break today without the project collapsing?
• If I redesigned this project for my current life, what would change?
• What counts as “done” if I make it wildly easier?

If it’s capacity (energy/time mismatch):

• What version of this fits in 5 minutes?
• What would “showing up while exhausted” look like?
• Can I make a placeholder instead of a masterpiece?
• Would it be easier to do my project in a different location or with different materials?

If it’s disconnection (lost your why):

• Why did I start this, really?
• What part of this still feels alive, even a tiny bit?
• What's different for me now than at the beginning?
• What part of continuing feels sparkly to me?
• If I let this project evolve, what is it trying to become?

If it’s boredom / middle slump:

• How can I make this weirder?
• What would surprise me?
• Can I introduce a constraint or a wildcard?
• Who can I reach out to for a pep talk?

This entire post was (selfishly) created for ME and shared with you in hope that it is helpful if you are also feeling stuck.  No shame circle, no judge-y pants.  Just me reminding myself and  you:  a pause is not a personality flaw.

It's not about catching up, it’s about finding my spark and re-engaging in a way that feels good to me.

So if you’ve drifted away from your project for a few days (or a few weeks), here’s your permission slip:

You don’t have to catch up.
You don’t have to make it good.
You don’t even have to make it make sense.

This is your invitation to just touch it again.

MY ANSWER:
Feeling proud of myself for getting this far in.  Definitely feeling connected and grateful to my community of Andrea & Brooke as we are doing this together. I'm feeling more connected to my new(ish-to me) art space and having more reasons to be in the space and creating.  I'm also feeling pressure at times and sometimes a little anxiety about making sure to keep up.  I'm able to stay out of guilt and negativity on the days when I have needed a break, and that feels a little surprising and also really great to give myself the grace and kindness that I had committed to.

I do my best to avoid participating in capitalism in ways that line the pockets of businesses and bazillionaires with questionable practices (like actively harming lgbtqia+ folks, exploitative labor practices, ruining the planet, etc) so I avoid Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Amazon, etc as much as possible. 

We have a Goodwill Outlet about 7 minutes from our house here in Everett, and I love digging in the bins.  If you aren't familiar with the Goodwill Outlet, it's different than typical Goodwill stores.  The outlet is the place where everything that doesn't get sold on the floor at the local Goodwills (in our case, most of them in Snohomish County and some North Seattle too) gets sent for one last chance for a treasure hunter to snatch it up.  Everything is dumped (and I mean this literally) into big, table sized, waist-high bins that shoppers can dig through.  All items are sold by weight.  So it's a great deal and a fun way to treasure hunt, but it is truly barely a step above dumpster diving! We love "digging in the bins" and I find some of the best stuff there.  I also hit up other local thrift shops (like the Assistance League), estate sales, and watch my local Buy Nothing group for cool stuff. 

I took pics recently of a while bunch of my mask & stencil goodies so I could share with you a bit of this collection of unique-to-me artful tools. Finding cool tools thrifted is almost a hobby all by itself.  One of the things I love best about it is that the things I use to create texture and pattern in my art making are often completely one-of-a-kind. It's fun to have stuff that I know no one else will be using!  When I can't find things second hand, I usually try to look for independent and small sellers, like Joggles and Stencil Girl 

These were from a huge set of wall stencils that I found in the bins.  It was originally an ocean scene with several stencils intended for layering, featuring coral, fish, kelp, and other underwater things.  I didn't want anything recognizable, so I cut them into smaller pieces, purposely cutting across the middle of fish and other objects to break them up, but keep the interesting organic shapes.  Once I'd done that, there was quit a bit of edge pieces of the stencil material, so I used that to cut free form shapes that felt interesting.

These were packets of things I found that were intended for use in scrapbooking or other kinds of crafting or card making.  The feathers were metallic cardstock and had dimensional sticky foam on the backs that I removed so they would lay flat.  The scrapbooking elements are die cut cardstock.  When I used the various words, I layer them over each other in lots of ways, so often you can't really read the individual words.  I like the look of the fonts and letters in my art, and I'm often using only a small portion of the paper that gets printed.  These are more elements that will build up fun colors as paint accumulates and then can later be used as embellishment in your work.

Are you old enough to remember when teachers used overhead projectors in the classroom?  I was lucky enough to find an entire box of blank overhead projector sheets at an estate sale and I knew I'd be making some masks and stencils with them!  The stone shapes were drawn freehand and I love using them to create cairn type arrangements. The designs in the other pics were all drawn by me, using a sharpie or acrylic paint marker.  For the knot-type shapes and simple funky rings, I drew the shape and used a wide chisel tip to go over it to get it as wide as I wanted them to be and then cut using scissors + X-acto blade.  The sigils were created based on words and phrases that I wanted to incorporate into my art, so each one has a special and unique meaning.  This link gives some basic info about sigils and is close to the method I used to create mine. The knot shapes are something I doodle frequently.  I love having things like this that are highly personal and show up in different ways throughout my art making, giving even deeper layers of meaning and personalization!

I used gingko leaves I collected and photocopied them so that I could reduce and enlarge the sizes.  This way, I could get the true gingko leaf shape, rather than relying on my memory.  I liked being able to make some bigger and smaller, and then once I ran the copies, I used carbon paper to trace around the leaf shapes.  You'll notice I left the top of the paper that was pulled out of a bound notebook, because it adds more shape and texture when using as a stencil.  I also saved both the positive and negatives (so the masks and stencils) to use.  I don't worry about cutting through and leaving a line in some of my stencil shapes - the X-acto can start to hurt my hand and the stencil not being perfect doesn't bother me.  In order to get true, nice monstera leaf shapes, I laid plain paper under the leaves of my plant (still attached!) and traced around them with a marker.  If you don't have access to fun, tropical leaves, take some paper and a marker to Home Depot or a nursery near you and trace some of their plants! Then I used the copier to enlarge/reduce the monstera leaves to get a variety of sizes.

The foam sheets were hand cut into these funky shapes that match a shape I doodle frequently.  They are sticky-backed, so once I'm done using them on my gel plate, they'll be an easy embellishment for an art journal.  With the foam, you can also use a ball point pen or a poky tool to etch texture onto the surface, which will show in your print making.  The teacher tools are something that featured the entire alphabet.  I knew that the lamination would make them resist the paint and be a nice stencil/mask surface.  I hand cut these simple flower shapes with scissors and use both the positive/negative images. You can't really tell in the photo, but the circles are just cut into from the sides, no X-acto knife (hurty hands, remember?)  I found a bottle of dimensional glue and was actually trying to do something completely different with it (that didn't work) when I discovered that it dried really nicely on cardboard and I loved the seed pod shapes that I accidentally made.  The window clings are another surface type that resists paint nicely and you can often find lots of different shapes, or you could cut pre-made shapes into something more unique to you.

The craft kit pieces are made of crepe paper so they have a very interesting texture.  This is something else I love about digging in the Goodwill Outlet bins - want the leaf pieces in the craft kit, but not the rest of it?  Take out what you want and throw the rest back in the bin!  The nice thing about these leaves is that the wire allows them to be bent into shapes and makes them very easy to lift up off the gel plate when I'm done pulling a print.  The mystery plastic thinga-ma-bob actually came in a package about about 50 and I grabbed around 10.  I have no idea what it was supposed to be for, but the X shapes pop out and can be used as masks and the remaining square then makes a great stencil.

These hot glue shapes are super fun and easy to make.  I use silicone baking mats (also pulled out of the bins) and my hot glue gun and create all kinds of fun shapes.  I have lots like these flowers, but also big, sheet-sized stencils in random patterns.  Once the glue cools, you can peel it off the mat and use it on the gel plate.  If you don't have a silicone mat dedicated to art'ing, I've heard that freezer paper also works pretty well.

If I could make one request to everyone I know who is out there making art and getting creative:  PLEASE DON'T purchase paper new.  We need the trees (and water and other resources) more and there is SO MUCH PAPER out there in our world already.  I use lots of paper that is headed to the landfill or recycle bins.  Sources I find/use:  coloring book pages, old textbooks, graph and notebook paper, old homework pages, sheet music, cookbook pages, packing paper, office papers, posters, junk mail, outdated manuals for appliances, old employee handbooks....seriously this list could go on for a VERY long time!

Old books with outdated material are a great place to find cool diagrams, random drawings, or just text that often gets covered over.  Dig through your kitchen junk drawer, save the packing and wrapping paper that makes its way into your house.  I love finding old notebooks with handwriting or notes from years and decades before.  When I go into Seattle, I look for the phone posts with thick layers of posters and find the outdated ones and pull off big stacks of colorful printed and lettered paper.   I like the layered look of text and writing and little imagery peeking through.  And many times, if you are pulling gel plate prints, all of it gets covered up anyway!

These are the prompts that I came up with for Day 1 of the 100 Days Project, with my answers posted below.  If you want to, take a minute to write out some thoughts for yourself. I liked the idea of getting some of these things out of my brain and onto paper so that I could move forward confidently.

Today, Andrea, Brooke, and I went LIVE for our first check-in on Instagram for our 100 Days With ABC.  Check out the replay here if you missed us live.  If you want emailed reminders about the days we are going live (every 10 days), as well as other random ideas, inspo, and cheerleading, you can add yourself here.

You can comment here on the blog post, or over on Instagram if you want to share your answers to any of these questions.  I'd love to hear what you are doing for the 100 Days Project if you're participating, and anything else you feel like sharing.  If you're playing along with us, you can add the hashtag #100DaysWithABC. 

MY ANSWER:
What it means to me this time around is a commitment to myself and my creativity, a commitment to my friends to show up and be there for them as well throughout our check ins, and a commitment to my community of other creatives who are on this journey of tapping in to our beautiful artist selves!

What it does NOT mean:  performing (especially performing perfection), doing all 100 days, having some kind of finished project or collection, creating polished posts, emails or content.

MESSY and AUTHENTIC are 2 words that I wrote down that feel like important guides for participating across these 100 days.

The 100 Days Project starts this Sunday and I'm planning to participate!

In the past, I've barely made it through 10 days.  I tend to get very all-or-nothing, and give up when I miss a day or two.  This year, I'm giving myself the gift of doing it WITH FRIENDS to help keep me engaged and accountable.

My pals Andrea Chebeleu and BB Henry (the 'A' and 'B' to my 'C' - aren't we clever??!!?? lol) and I will be cheering each other on, sharing ideas, helping each other make it through the tough days, and just generally doing the 100 Days Project together, in community.

Because, ya know what's better than making cool arty stuff??  Doing it with other RAD humans!!!

Maybe you want to give it a go with us.  We'll be going live on Instagram every 10 days for a check-in and you're invited to play and create right along with us. #100DaysWithABC
​
I'll be sending out some reminder emails and I'm thinking there might be some fun happy mail on offer for folks who are participating.  I'm still noodling on ideas to make it fun for me AND you, but also to keep it doable and accessible (and not let the so-many-big-ideas gremlins get me carried away).  So definitely stay tuned!

I'm still deciding what exactly my "project" will be.  Right now, I'm leaning toward doing something with my gel plate and COLOR, and I have a few ideas, but more to come!  I know Andrea has a fun plan involving creativity DICE and making some spontaneous combos, and I think BB is planning to work in some simple art journals.  

The bottom line is that what I really want is just to HAVE FUN and get myself creating and showing up consistently.

Here's a great article on Tips & Tools for Creating a Successful 100 Days Project.  Spoiler alert:  one thing that is recommended is to do it IN COMMUNITY!!

Most of the live check-ins will be at noon (PT).  But we have a few that are different to accommodate our schedules.  All of them will stay up on Instagram and you'll be able to view them later if you can't make it live.  All times are Pacific.

• Sunday, Feb 22 @ noon
• Tuesday, March 3 @ noon
• Friday, March 13 @ 10am
• Monday, March 23 @ noon
• Thursday, April 2 @ noon
• Sunday, April 12 @ 3pm
• Wednesday, April 22 @ 9am
• Saturday, May 2 @ noon
• Tuesday, May 12 @ noon
• Friday, May 22 @ noon
• Monday, June 1 @ noon​

​Wanna do something slightly more productive than doom scrolling and screaming into the void?  Come hang out with us at Art Church.  The vibe of Art Church is chill community making time.  I'll bring something to each Art Church gathering for us to do together - previous sessions have included pulling cards for everyone or found word poetry, or an art or journaling exercise, or a simple follow-along type project.   Nothing will require any specific supplies, and it's 100% opt-in.  So if you just want to chill and watch or work on your own thing, or join the call for the later portion, that's just fine!

Loose schedule goes a little something like:

• First 15 minutes:  arriving, chatting, checking in
• 30-45 minutes for exercise/activity
• 1 hour for art'ing on your own project, chatting, etc.

If you'd like to skip the structured bits completely, plan to join the call about an hour after our start time.  People work on all kinds of stuff during Art Church - sewing, knitting, art journals, organizing their work space, making soup....it's all happened during Art Church!

The next dates for Art Church are:

• March 8 @ 11am (PT)
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• April 12 @ 11am (PT)
  
  
• May 17 @ 10am (PT)

Want more info about Art Church?  Here's a blog post I wrote about it.

Art Church is not religious or affiliated with any faith tradition.  The idea is that art and creativity are inherently beautiful, joyful, and sacred and that doing them together in community with others is a spiritual and revolutionary act.  Join us no matter what you believe.....as long as you believe in MAKING shit.

SKIP to the FAQ

We’ve been growing dahlias for about seven years now. It started the way so many good obsessions do — accidentally. A couple of bags of tubers from Costco, tossed into the ground without much ceremony. A few months later: color explosions, frilly petals, and the realization that we were in deep.

The next year we ordered a few fancy ones from Swan Island Dahlias (warning: once you start browsing their catalog, there’s no going back). Then we found our local dahlia society — which turned out to be full of the most generous, slightly obsessed, flower weirdos you could ever hope to meet.

In those early days, we had dahlias scattered all around the yard — little patches of color in random corners. Now, most of them live together in the lower yard, in a cluster of raised beds that look a bit like a patchwork quilt. We built the beds out of repurposed wood and stone, and last year finished a garden shed made from recycled windows and salvaged materials. It’s a little crooked and full of character — just like us.

Jars of flowers! Out for grabs!

Maybe you're a neighbor and you've walked by and seen this setup.  Maybe you have seen a post in one of the Facebook groups.  Possibly you are someone who has taken some of our flowers for yourself or a friend.  Maybe you had no idea that we give away hundreds of colorful blooms every year, but we sure do!

Every summer, the yard bursts into bloom — reds, oranges, yellows, and wild sunset blends. And every summer, we start filling jars. We grow about 200 plants now.  And with dahlias, every time you cut a flower, two more bloom in its place!  Seriously, the more we cut and give away, the MORE we have.

We’ve given away at least 400 jars over the past several years — to neighbors, teachers, fundraisers, strangers, friends.

Sometimes we team up with others: a teacher picking up bouquets for the first day of school, a volunteer taking armloads for an animal rescue fundraiser, someone decorating for a wedding or a party. Our blooms have been in at least a few weddings that I know of.

Why do we give them away?
Because it’s fun.
Because it spreads color and joy.
Because this world is heavy enough, and color, whimsy, and sharing are ways we keep our hearts open and tender.

It's just something that makes our hearts happy - to see, cultivate, and share the color of these flowers! A way to meet our neighbors, share a smile, and remind ourselves that we can all be a part of something beautiful together.  Sometimes it feels like a little act of resistance against despair.  Maybe we are trying to grow hope alongside the dahlias.

How We Grow

Our dahlia beds are fed by the same compost pile that eats our kitchen scraps all year long. Banana peels, coffee grounds, garden clippings — it all comes back as black gold that we dig into the soil each spring.

We usually fertilize once or twice a season with a liquid, fish-based fertilizer that smells absolutely atrocious but works like magic. (Seriously, if you walk by while we’re doing it — sorry in advance.)

Dahlias are thirsty creatures, so we installed simple drip lines to conserve water and make life easier. We’re hoping to set up a rain-capture system soon to make the whole thing even more sustainable.

What We’ve Learned (Mostly the Hard Way)

Every gardener has a heartbreak story, and ours involves a tragic winter and a whole lot of mushy tubers. Because of our soggy climate (zone 8b, with generous amounts of rain), we dig our tubers every fall. Some folks leave theirs in the ground and have good luck — if there’s no hard freeze, they might come back. But for us, rot is the bigger risk.

We’ve tried every storage method known to humankind — boxes, crates, vermiculite, sawdust, prayers — and had one especially grim year where the ones left in the ground rotted and the ones we stored got moldy. We lost almost everything.

We were left with maybe ten survivors — our hardy, heroic super tubers. But here’s the beautiful part: our local club members shared extras, we found mystery boxes at sales, and neighbors offered starts. The garden came back fuller than ever.

It’s one of my favorite lessons the dahlias have taught us: loss happens, but generosity regenerates.  We've now perfected the storage that works for us, just took a little trial and lots of tears.

Here's another post I wrote about growing dahlias:
Dahlias & Dirt Piles

Sometimes we hear from people: How can I help? Can I pay you? I want to do something like this! How did you get started?
Some quick answers:  We don't sell flowers. But sometimes people leave a few bucks in a jar, or send a little venmo our way.  That's used for things like fertilizer, replacing tubers, or purchasing parts for the water system.  We will always take help with digging, cleaning, and storing in the fall, and are happy to share our knowledge as we work together. Jar donations are very welcome, year around.  Save those empty pickle and jam jars and drop them off when you have a few!

We just started by doing something we loved and expanding it to include others.  You could do this in whatever way works for you!  Grow some dahlias if you want (heck, we'll give you the tubers!) Think about things YOU are passionate about or ways your neighbors or community could use support or love.  Check out Little Free Library and Little Free Art Gallery and Little Free Food Pantry. In the past our family has also had a lot of fun painting rocks and leaving them in community spaces to spread joy and whimsy.  Here's a great article about painting and hiding rocks in/around Everett (but definitely an activity that can happen no matter where you are!)

​Choose your favorite dahlia and find out what it says about YOU!
What's Your Dahlia Personality?

Q: Why do you grow and give away flowers?

A: Because we like the idea that anybody can do something small and simple to spread more color and joy in the world. 

Q: Who lives on Dexter and grows these dahlias?  Who is “me” and “we” in all this?

A: "Me" is Crystal Gurney — primary dahlia farmer, creativity doula, and overall wrangler of color and whimsy. This blog is my digital garden shed....part story archive, part how-to, part love letter to community and creativity.

"We" is the household here on Dexter Avenue, where our little urban dahlia farm grows. That includes me, my husband Alex (you may have met us wandering around with armfuls of flowers), a couple of teenagers, and a rotating cast of family and friends who often lend a hand as unofficial dahlia “farmhands.”

Q: Do you charge for the flowers? Can I order some from you?

A: Nope. We don't sell them. They’re freely given. The whole point is to brighten someone’s day, no strings attached. We don't do orders or guarantees - this is a passion hobby for us, not a business, no stress in dahlias, thank you!

Q:  ​Do you sell tubers?

A:  Nope. We don’t sell them, but we often have extras at the end of the season. If we do, we give them away in the spring. Keep an eye out for posts or emails about “tuber share” time. Also, almost all of the local dahlia groups do tuber sales in the Spring and sell their extras as a club fundraiser, usually for great prices.

We have some favorite small and local growers:

• ​Bonny Blooms Dahlias
• Dahlia Barn
• Floret Farm
• Triple Wren Farms
• Soaring Hearts Dahlias

Q:  When do you plant dahlia tubers?

A:  We plant in late spring, aiming to have tubers in the ground by Mother’s Day.  Dahlias like warm soil, so putting them out too early doesn’t help much, they’ll just nap underground until it’s cozy enough to grow.

Q:  When do you dig them up? Do you have to dig? How do you store them over the winter?

A:  We dig in late October, once the plants have died back from the first frost.
You can leave them in the ground if you live in a mild climate and have good drainage, but here in our rainy Pacific Northwest microclimate, they tend to rot. Digging and storing them over winter gives us the best results. We dry them out for a few days, then tuck them into crates with sawdust or peat moss and keep them in a cool, dark, mostly dry spot — around 40–50°F. It’s part science, part witchcraft, part blind faith.

Q:  How much sun and water do dahlias need?

A:  They like full sun (at least six hours a day) and lots of water once they start blooming. Ours are on drip irrigation to help conserve water and make life easier. If you’re hand watering, aim for deep, consistent soaking rather than frequent sprinkles.

Q:  Can I join the local dahlia club?  How do I learn more?

A:  You are welcome to email us: [email protected]
Our local dahlia society is full of generous, flower-loving folks who are always excited to welcome new growers. Search for a local dahlia society near you.

• Snohomish County Dahlia Society
• American Dahlia Society
• Seattle Dahlia Society

Q: What if someone wants to make a donation or help or say “thank you” in a tangible way?

A: That’s very kind! You can:

• Save jars for us. It's best if they are at least 8oz size + and clean.
• Email us: [email protected]
• Leave a message when you grab flowers or bring jars.  We've had sweet notes tucked in empty jars and we've also had notes pinned to the fence.
• Leave a comment here on this blog post.
• Send via Venmo: @Crystal-Gurney-1 (ID #: 8901)
• If you have photos of our blooms that you'd like to share,  email them, we want to add them to this page.
  
  

We save the notes people leave us — little love letters from the neighborhood — and they always make our day.

Sign up for dahlia updates by email.

blah, blah, blah, skip to the goodies!

One of the things I love most about growing dahlias is seeing them return year after year, like friends showing up for their annual visit.  I know their names, and have seen the way they’ve evolved over time. Some of these beauties have been hanging around my garden for years, and I'm now tending to their great, great, great, grand-dahlias. There’s a long-standing bond between us. It’s like a family reunion, but with petals instead of people, and everyone’s quieter and better behaved. (side note: I think every mom should have a hobby that involves NO ONE talking)

I’m all about a good dahlia newbie too. The fresh faces are always fun to meet, watching them pop up like “Hey, look what I can do!” and slowly uncovering their personalities as they grow. The new ones can be fun and surprising, almost like meeting a stranger who quickly becomes a friend, revealing a side of themselves you didn’t expect. Don't even get me started on the glorious chaotic surprise of mystery and mislabeled tubers!

What gets me every time is how different they all are. Tall ones, short ones. Thick stems, delicate stems. Blooms that look like they’re going to break the jar with their fullness, and others that are a little more....understated. And then there’s the color! (have I mentioned my favorite color is ALL of them??!?)  Dahlias come in so many gorgeous colors with blushes, and striations, and variations of all kinds. Did you know there are over 55,000 dahlia varieties? That's a whole lot of floral personalities, each unique and beautiful in its own way.
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Growing dahlias (or growing anything) feels similar to art for me - I think there is so much contained within that can offer lessons and medicine for living life. Some years, things feel dormant.  Sometimes there isn't much happening above ground, but we know that under the surface, there’s a whole world of growth happening in secret. Other times? Boom. Everything bursts out of the soil at once.  That’s just one of the lessons, right? Even when we can’t see the progress, something is happening.  And we can learn to trust this process.

There's something about each dahlia for me that says a little something about that blooms personality.  It's interesting to see which ones my friends gravitate toward.  It’s uncanny.  A friend or neighbor will wander my garden and choose their favorite dahlia, and it’s like their personality just aligns with the flower. There’s this weird, magical thing where I can look at someone, then glance at a dahlia, and think, "Yep. That’s them. That's you." I swear it’s like the dahlias have their own little intuitive matchmaking game going on.

So, I thought I'd share this fun dahlia magic with you. Ready to find your dahlia alter ego?  If you’ve ever wondered which dahlia just GETS you, here’s your chance. Take a minute to choose your favorite from the photos above.  Then scroll down and find out which dahlia flower matches your vibe. Maybe you’re the fierce AC Cougar, strutting through life like it’s your runway. Or perhaps you’re more of a Fuzzy Wuzzy—soft, playful, with a touch of mystery. 

Have some fun with it, and let me know how your floral personality matches up. Sometimes it seems like these blooms know more about us than we think.

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I first heard the phrase “shitty first draft” in the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and like a lot of sticky little truths, it lodged itself into my brain and started poking at my noodle, shifting things. The way I made art changed. The way I wrote changed. In a big way, it shifted how I start, basically, ANYTHING.

I don’t usually love phrases like “mindset shift", (they feel like the emotional equivalent of green juice and hustle culture) but in this case? That’s exactly what it was. Saying to myself “this is just a shitty first draft” is like flipping the big red “permission” switch in my brain. Suddenly it doesn’t matter if what I make is brilliant. It doesn’t even have to be good. It just has to exist. Move from my brain to the page, the canvas, the world. That’s the point.  Good enough and done, existing in the world, is better than perfect and only in your head.  That "shitty first draft" is the stepping stone that gets us moving in some small way.

There’s no perfection required in a first draft. No pressure to nail it. No need for polish or genius. It’s just the first step. And maybe the second one’s a little wobbly too. When babies start off on their first lurching steps, we don't tell them they are terrible at walking when they don't immediately master it. Can you imagine if we said to a learning-to-walk baby what we have said to ourselves when diving into a creative project?  "hey you, baby! you really think you're gonna walk somewhere? you're terrible. don't even bother. you'll never figure it out." (Wow, that inner critic can be a REAL jerk sometimes.  Substitute "walking" with "art'ing" and see if it sounds familiar.)

We forget this sometimes: everybody starts somewhere. All those artists with work hanging in galleries? They’ve got piles and piles of “bad” art somewhere. Practice pages. Experiments. Weird little creatures made out of buttons and glue and late-night impulse. We only see the highlights. But the truth is, we get to the good stuff in spite of (and often because of) the mess.  Sometimes the "mess" is actually what nourishes the final piece. My dahlias love some good, rotting, messy compost.  Our art, our writing - it all gets better when we embrace the mess, allow it to teach us and even nourish us.