Dahlia Man

Tom and Lil Rumple standing in front of “Stella R.,” a dahlia variety developed by Tom and named in honor or his mother.

Tom Rumple has always enjoyed watching things grow. As a carpenter and construction foreman in Plant Operations for 21 years, he took satisfaction in coaching the staff members who reported to him to be self-directed and proud of their work. After many years spent learning how to grow and develop his coworkers, he began thinking about how to put some of those skills to work in a new career. Gardening had always been one of his biggest pleasures, so as he approached retirement, he began to give serious consideration to how he might make horticulture a viable, post-retirement career.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Rumple experimented with his first dahlias, tuberous (think of a potato), sometimes outrageously large (some dahlias can be dinner-plate sized), late-summer flowers known for their vivid colors and varied forms. His first tubers were store-bought and failed miserably. Undeterred, he went to a dahlia show, where he met other growers who he says helped to get him excited about the possibilities for growing and learning about dahlias. Now, 14 years into his second career as a market gardener and flower seller at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Rumple has become known to fanciers (and he has many) as The Dahlia Man.

Kenora Fire Fighter, named in memory of a unit of New York City firefighters who died in the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster, is one of Rumple's most prized show plants.

Over a ten-year period he progressed from being a novice hobby grower to an accredited senior judge in the American Dahlia Society, a standing which entitles him to judge new plant introductions. And the dahlia flowers he grows on his rural property in Webster Township to sell in season (typically July-October) at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, as well as to exhibit at regional dahlia shows, are, well, beyond beyond…

On a Wednesday morning in October, this reporter visited Rumple at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. After struggling to limit myself to just one of the richly colored bouquets arrayed on his display table, I selected a dazzling arrangement of luminous pink, yellow streaked, long-stemmed dahlias. Tom tenderly bundled them up in a wet lump of florists foam to keep them from drying out on the way to the office—a short ride, but Rumple takes pains to assure that his flowers arrive at their destinations without undue stress. Even before I’d walked the half block or so back to my car, total strangers kept stopping me to admire my beautiful flowers. Not only were these gorgeous blossoms—they were also great conversation starters.

A vendor I buy eggs from put it like this: “Those flowers couldn’t have come from anybody else. Nobody grows dahlias like Tom. Year after year, I think to myself ‘he’s just had a good year in the garden.’ And year after year, he just keeps on growing the most perfect dahlias, in colors you just don’t see anywhere else.”

When I got to work, the “conversation magnet” effect of Tom’s flowers continued right through the day. I put those flowers on a vase on my desk and people I’d never even spoken to before started dropping by and bursting into extravagant and ardent admiration. His flowers often elicit high praise, but on this particular day, with this particular bouquet, it was off the charts.

Soon after that, I asked Tom if he’d be willing to let me tour his garden. There, I was able to see hundreds of dahlia plants growing in tightly clustered groupings and to observe the special attention—ranging from high-tech shade cloth coverings to umbrellas perched above the heads of particularly promising specimens—lavished on selected plants whose blooms Tom considered worthy of submitting for judging in one of several upcoming shows.

When it comes to shows, Tom’s dahlias are consistently awarded reams of blue ribbons. He’s modest about this success, but his wife Lil pointed out that at the 2007 Chicago Area Dahlia Society Show held a week prior to my visit, Tom’s flowers swept up eight blue (first prize) ribbons.

“Scaur Swinton” is another prizewinner and is one of Tom’s favorites.

Tom credits the University for helping him to develop leadership skills that made him more effective as a supervisor and have also served him well in his second career. “The University really cares about developing its staff. I was fortunate to be among the first to participate in a supervisory training program offered through the Plant Academy that taught me how to be how to be more effective in challenging the people who worked with me to be self-reliant and engaged in their work. The University’s approach to leadership and how to do it effectively had a big impact on my thinking. I’m grateful for the opportunities I had to gain exposure to those ideas and feel that those lessons helped in many ways to prepare me for managing a small business.”

Look for Tom Rumple on Wednesdays and Saturdays, May through November at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market.

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