Joyce and Eliot Sterling (unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of the Sterlings)

Eliot Sterling at the RIDS 2007 Summer Picnic (photo courtesy of Donna Lane)

Joyce and Eliot Sterling have been growing dahlias since 1963.  When asked how they became interested in growing dahlias, Joyce said she couldn’t remember since it was so long ago.  But, she said Harry Dixon taught her a lot about growing and exhibiting, as did Robert Graves. 

The Sterlings joined ADS and the Connecticut Dahlia Society in 1972 and RIDS in 1976.  They grow about 250 plants per year.  Each year the number varies because many of the dahlias they grow are seedlings.

Joyce’s favorite dahlias are those designated AOT (All Other Types), and this is the area in which she concentrates her efforts at hybridizing new introductions.  Her first introduction was Marshall Schalk, a single white dahlia.  Named for a geologist friend, Joyce says he was more excited about having a dahlia named for him than he was of the many scientific awards he had received. 

One of her proudest accomplishments is receiving the Evie Gullickson Medal in 2005 for Bay State Angel.  This medal is awarded to the cultivar which has the highest average Seedling Bench Evaluation score, as an open center or disc center dahlia, in the United States and Canada.

Joyce is an ADS qualified Senior Dahlia Judge who is currently teaching the newest group of RIDS members the ins and outs of how to be an ADS dahlia judge.  Joyce served as Chair of Judges/Evaluations from 1997 to 2002, President of RIDS from 1997 to 1999, was the founder and chairman of the Washington County Fair’s Dahlia Show from 1997 to 2002, and currently serves as Evaluation Chair.

Joyce is interested in all aspects of growing and exhibiting dahlias and has been showing dahlias since 1972 at RIDS, Washington County, Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey, and ADS National shows, as well as the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts.

She is a member of AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section G – Biology. In this organization, she is listed as a “volunteer for the American Dahlia Society with a special interest in development of new varieties.” She has introduced 11 varieties so far.

And what about Eliot you ask?  A very quiet and affable man, Eliot has just celebrated his 50th year at General Electric in Lynn, Massachusetts, as an engineer working on jet engines.  He is an ADS Certified Dahlia Judge and is very supportive of Joyce’s hybridizing efforts. Both he and Joyce have served on the Board of Directors of the Museum of African Culture in Portland, Maine, collect American Art Pottery, and are antique dealers and collectors.

Here are two photos of the Sterling's dahlia gardens:

Joyce Sterling's originations:

Sterling, Joyce	Arcturus 1995, Class 703 – S OR
Evie Gullickson Medal, 2005 *Reclassified in 2008	Bay State Angel 2006, Class 730* – MS LB WH5/YL12
	Bay State Diana 1998, Class 653 – AN DB
	Bay State Florence 1998, Class 722 – MS Y
	Bay State High Noon 1997, Class 662 – CO Y
	Bay State Monarch 2008, Class 666 – CO R
	Bay State Needham 1999, Class 649 – AN PR
	Bay State Sunrise 1996, Class 733 – MS DB
	Bay State Twilight 1996, Class 729 – MS PR
	Marshall Schalk 1993, Class 701 – S W
	Veronica 1994, Class 713 – S DB L/pr
	Washington County 1996, Class 730 – MS LB W/l

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