The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1921-10-06
J. G. RUGGLES is
The DAHLIA MAN

Whenever Hood River housewife il
hostess at a dinner party or evening
reception or card party, at this season
of the year, her husband is almost GER
tain Just before the affair to be in
structed to drive by and bring home a
bouquet of Ruggles' dahlias. Bouquets
of the enormous and beautiful flowers
grace church affairs and the chairman g
table at formal land informal public
gatherings.
Judson G. Rugges, native of Mass
achusetts, printer by profession, and a
good one, for he takes just as keen an
interest in his craftsmanship as he does
in the production of flowers, has be-
come known in Hood River as the
"Dahlia Man" Mr.. Ruggles. foreman
of the composing room of the Glacier,
has resided in Hood River for six
years. His accumulation of choice
dahlia plants has been gradual. To
day he has more than 100 choice sorts,
cactus, decorative, hybrid and peony.
bursting into gorgeous bloom on full
vacant lot adjoining his home. He
knows them by name. He likes to
show his flowers to visitors and point
out the lnsulindes. Geo. Walters,
Gladys Sherwoods, Patrika Omaras,
Pearl Ruggles and on ad infinitum.
While Mr.. Ruggles gladly furnishes
bouquets, he doesn't grow dahlias for
profit. His flower garden is his hobby.
But dahia bulbs, especially of the
newly originated varieties, are costly.
A single, insignificant looking little
bulb often costs 81, So and sometimes
more than $5 Mr.. Ruggles makes his
hobby self-supporting.
The printer-dahlia man isn't selfish
with his treasures. He sells to neigh
bors hundreds of surplus bulbs every
year, disposing of bulbs at reasonable
figures. Selections of bulbs from his
gardens have resulted in numerous fine
garden displays in all parts of the city
and valley. His children, Dorothy,
age 8, and Judson, Jr., age 6, are just
as enthusiastic over the dahia garden
as their father. At the recent indus
trial county school fair, the boy was
awarded first prize on dahlias, while
his sister captured second. Nor should
Mrs. Ruggles be left unmentioned in
this story of Hood Rivers dahlias.
She watches the priced plants with
jealous care, and some of the gorgeous
blossoms are due to her careful work
of disbudding the tender shoots, allow
ing only the large and sturdy ones to
come TO bloom.
Fame of the Ruggles dahlias has
travelled beyond the limits of Hood
River. Walter Prichard Eaton, dra-
matte critic and author. who spent the
summer exploring the wilds of central
Oregon and the Skyline Trail along the
backb bone of the Cascades. read of Mr..
Ruggles' exploits, and, on passing
through here on his return to Portland
with Fred Kiser, planned an inspection
of the local garden. Mr.. Eaton, who
by the way was reared in Massachu-
setts near the old home of the Ruggles
family, is too a dahlia fancier and has
a garden of his own, where he lavishes
tender care on his plants when not
wandering through remote scenic
hooks. His passage through Hood
River was hurried. and unfortunately
he became confused in street directions
and failed to glimpse the early blooms
of the Ruggles plants late last July.
He declared that he hoped to make two
goals on his next summer trip to Ore
gOn-one, an ascent of Mt. Hood and
the other a sight of his fellow New
Englander's dahias.
On August ! Mr.. Ruggles began
daily to supply fresh bouquets of diff
ferent varieties of dahlias at the First
National Bank and the Franz store.
Each day citizens call to see the new
array of flowers. He expects to re-
peat his flower shows daily until
killing frost nips his plants.