Einer Handeland is drawn to dahlias and he loves presenting them to others.

The 82-year-old longtime Mercer Islander, and current resident at the local Covenant Living at the Shores, gravitated toward growing flowers with his family as a child while residing in the gardening and farming community of Fife.

In the present day, Handeland said that he helps bring the Shores community together by growing heaps of dahlias on the campus, recruiting eight residents to pick the flowers and put them into vases and then handing them off for free to fellow residents to brighten their day.

Handeland and his dahlia harvester group engage in this activity twice a week and they assemble about two dozen or more bouquets each time out. He proudly says that the dahlias are on their way home with residents within 24 hours.

“They come by and they just bring such a smile to their face. They really do appreciate being able to do that and get something like that. And I don’t think it’s so much as getting something for free — they love the flowers themselves. Just the beauty of that,” Handeland said.

His reaction? “Oh, it’s wonderful. That’s what makes my day.”

For the last 55 years, Handeland and his wife, Marilyn, have called Mercer Island home and they’ve resided at the Shores for the last two years. They just celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.

Einer is one busy man, growing roughly 700 plants each year — about 300 at the Shores and another 400 or so at the couple’s old home, where he helps the owners in the flower-growing department. He said that he gives dahlias to the folks at Pike Place Market and 90% of the flowers there have come from his garden.

Covenant’s Resident Life Director Roxanne Stickney extols Einer’s gardening expertise: “Since moving to our campus, he has shared his talent with us by decorating our landscape with a large variety and shades of dahlias. Not only are they a beautiful addition to our campus landscape, but they spark conversation and bring a joyful smile to many.”

When discussing dahlias, Einer’s voice is packed with enthusiasm when describing their beauty.

“It’s a fantastic flower,” Einer said, adding that he won some best in show awards at exhibitions over the years and was set to judge an event at Sky Nursery in Shoreline.

Marilyn said they’ve seen the gardening scene blossom at Covenant with Einer leading the way.

“I think he has probably changed the lives in some ways of many people because people want to want that legacy to carry on. The seed is kind of planted in a way by Einer’s passion for the garden and especially for the dahlias. If their heart is in it, they carry on, which brings joy, I think, to Einer and to me as well,” said Marilyn, adding that she picked a bouquet and brought it to a friend who was going through a trying time in life.

Outside of the Shores realm, Einer has connected with Mercer Island High School’s Crest Learning Center horticulture teacher Elysse Forester and students in the class and invites them to come by his old house to plant flowers in the fall and spring.

“I’m having a good time with the classes. It’s just been a good thing all the way around,” he said.

Before landing on Mercer Island, Einer was an engineering officer in Vietnam for 18 months and Marilyn was a teacher in Germany during that time. Einer graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 and earned his master’s degree in civil engineering in 1977.

On Mercer Island, Einer was part of a team that was involved in designing the Interstate 90 floating bridge. He also worked on or managed a host of Mercer Island street projects.

Dahlias, dahlias and more dahlias are a major part of his life nowadays.

Mercer Island Covenant Living at the Shores resident Einer Handeland holds some of the filler plants he used for the 80-plus bouquets that he made for the Shores board’s guests. Courtesy photo