A local dahlia joined the ranks as an official flower thanks to the efforts of Dungeness’ Lee Bowen.

Following the Sept. 2019 story “Dungeness gardener’s ‘Zookeeper’s Giraffe’ set for 2020 dahlia handbook,” the Zookeeper’s Giraffe dahlia is now part of the “2020 Classification and Handbook of Dahlias” from the American Dahlia Society and will remain in the book/online guide ongoing, Bowen said.

A gardener and retired elementary teacher, Bowen began hybridizing the flower three years ago from seed in the Sequim Botanical Garden in Carrie Blake Community Park and began producing tubers.

The dahlia received two blue ribbons from a panel of dahlia experts to earn the right to go into the dahlia handbook.

Bowen named the flower after his late friend Dick Pattee, nicknamed The Giraffe, and Pattee’s wife Heidi, The Zookeeper.

Locals and visitors can see the Zookeeper’s Giraffe bloom variegated colors of yellow and red from mid-July through the first major frost of the year at the Sequim Botanical Garden.

Bowen said volunteers with the Botanical Garden plan to plant the Zookeeper’s Giraffe dahlia at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 25.

For more information about the Sequim Botanical Garden Society, visit www.facebook.com/SequimBotanicalGarden.

Lee Bowen, seen looking at his dahlia The Zookeeper’s Giraffe, helped grow the dahlia in recent years at the Sequim Botanical Garden in Carrie Blake Community Park near the James Center for Performing Arts. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Lee Bowen, seen looking at his dahlia The Zookeeper’s Giraffe, helped grow the dahlia in recent years at the Sequim Botanical Garden in Carrie Blake Community Park near the James Center for Performing Arts. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash