Middle Tennessee Dahlia Society
Jan King
President
Jan King discovered gardening as a child. Her father and mother both loved to grow lavish vegetable and flower gardens. She is a master gardener and the founder of Donelson Community Gardens in Nashville. She has been growing dahlias for several years and founded Middle Tennessee Dahlia Growers in 2022 to connect growers in the area and as a first step to creating a dahlia society in Middle Tennessee. Jan lives in College Grove and has two adult children. She is the founder and owner of Starry Night Flower Farm.
Dawn Lipski
Treasurer
Dawn Lipski is the owner and flower farmer behind Fleety’s Flowers. She was introduced to dahlias just two years ago and quickly became obsessed with their incredible variety, beauty, and personality. What started as an introduction to these beautiful flowers has grown into a passion for growing and learning more about dahlias with every season.
AnnChristine Johnson
Secretary
AnnChristine Johnson is a hobby dahlia grower in the Nashville area. She has been growing dahlias since 2019, and typically tends around 200 plants a season. She is passionate about sharing dahlias and inviting others into trying their hand at growing them too.
Jerri Seigrist
Education and Training Committee Chair
Kristen Faulkner
Membership Coordinator
Audrey Wynkoop
Marketing and Social Media Chair
Audrey left a career in corporate energy infrastructure in 2022 to pursue entrepreneurship and launch Worm Bucket, a small e-commerce business focused on making vermicomposting simple and accessible. Her entrepreneurial journey even led to an audition for Shark Tank, where Worm Bucket advanced through three rounds of casting. In 2026, her work was recognized when she was named Small Business of the Year.
Originally from coastal Rhode Island, Audrey moved to Nashville in 2015 and discovered a love of gardening and growing flowers. She first discovered her love of gardening as a young child, spending time alongside her grandparents in their backyard garden. That early connection to growing things stayed with her throughout her life. She became a Master Gardener in 2024 and especially enjoys growing dahlias—which she considers some of her favorite flowers, even if they are also among the most challenging!
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Kristen Faulkner is a home flower grower in Fairview, Tennessee, where she tends Bluebird Haven Blooms, her small home flower farm. Her interest in dahlias quickly grew from a few plants into a collection of more than 100 varieties. She loves the incredible range of colors and forms dahlias offer, but has a particular weakness for the big AA guys.
Kristen grows primarily in containers and raised beds and enjoys experimenting with varieties and learning what performs best in Middle Tennessee. Her garden also includes roses, peonies, sweet peas, and other cut flowers, with an emphasis on supporting pollinators and backyard wildlife.
She is currently completing the Tennessee Extension Master Gardener program and volunteering at the Giving Garden. When she isn’t gardening, she can usually be found researching another flower variety she absolutely does not have room for.
Jerri Seigrist
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ADS Representative