'Dahlia Lady' Plans Fundraiser for Local Food Bank

Some of the flowering plants in Shirlene Moser’s gardens have been lovingly tended for more than 100 years. The "Dahlia Lady," as she is affectionately known, began gardening alongside her grandmother as a child, on the family farm she later inherited, and upon which she and her husband now reside. From July until the first frost, more than 100 varieties of dahlias bloom in four separate gardens spread across one-and-a-half acres of their Lower Saucon Township property.

Moser considers her little Garden of Eden (which she calls “Delightful Dahlias”) a blessing, and she uses it as a way to give back to the community. She sells dahlia tubers (roots) in the spring and cut flowers and arrangements during the blooming season. All proceeds directly benefit the Community Food Bank of the Hellertown Area Ministerium (HAM), a district food bank that is a joint effort of local churches and managed by .

On Sunday, Oct. 2, Moser will host a fundraiser to help raise money to renovate New Jerusalem Church’s Upper Room, a banquet room where food and clothing are distributed to more than 150 families monthly. From 2 to 4pm, visitors to Delightful Dahlias can attend a garden tour, cut their own flowers and make their own arrangements. The cost to attend is $5 per person. A picnic dinner will follow the event, from 4 to 6p.m, for an additional $5, with 100 percent of the money raised being donated to New Jerusalem.

Moser’s relationship with the local food bank began years ago, when she was asked to bake for a fundraiser.

“I’ve always helped with the food bank, but I didn’t want to bake,” she explained. “So instead, I made dahlia arrangements.”

Soon, she was being asked to make arrangements for other church functions, special events, showers, weddings and gifts. Moser donates her time and materials to make the arrangements, which sell for $5 to $15, depending on the size, with all proceeds going to the food bank. Time permitting, Moser sells the arrangements outside the in the Giant shopping center on Leithsville Road or at area flea markets in towns such as Quakertown, Leesport and Saylorsburg. Arrangements can also be pre-ordered in specified colors.

Delightful Dahlias is open daily for “pick-your-own” flowers, for which visitors bring their own containers and pick and cut their flowers themselves. Moser also hosts group events that include a garden tour, a discussion about dahlias and how they differ from other flowers, a container and oasis, dessert (including baked goods, coffee and homemade tea brewed from mint that grows on the property), and hands-on arrangement-making in which participants pick and cut their own flowers and greens and get their own water from a spring.

All of the plants on Moser’s property are grown pesticide-free and always have been.

“I've been 'green' my whole life, growing up on this farm and eating the things grown here. We certainly don’t want pesticides in it,” Moser said. “If you take care of the land, then the land will take care of you.”

Contact information:

Shirlene Moser

Delightful Dahlias

3826 Mockingbird Hill Road, Bethlehem, PA 18015

610-838-9975