New beds, new pictures
sturgeonguy(5a ON)June 29, 2008
The lakeside beds got a dressing of black granite as a mulch. Over the past two weeks I've had both China Doll and Sandia Joy bloom. Also, I planted out all of my remaining cuttings (>100) into my roadside garden.
Next year I'm going to have to get real technical about the cutting dates to try and get things to bloom more around the same time.
Cheers,
Russ
Your China Doll is just beautiful! My garden partner and I switched over to mostly waterlily dahlias too for our cut flower business. This is one I do not have but think I need! I just picked a beautiful one that was labeled "Pale Tiger" but was not! I think it might be "Ken's Rarity. It is my 2nd bloom this season. THe first was a "Japanese Bishop"
Hi Liza! Greetings from the east of you. Can't believe you've got blooms already there. Congratulations!
Russ a very neat and tidy set of beds you've got there. Interesting that you put rocks IN your garden and I spend hours trying to get them out! Bet you get a fair dose of reflected heat from the black granite. Was that part of the reasoning for mulching with it?
Beautiful - love the lakeside bed! I have some dahlias that look like China Doll - mine have never had a name as far as I knew, b/c they were bought at a farmer's market by a friend who gives them to me. Now I wonder if that's what mine are?
Liza, I think you'll love China Doll, particularly because of how many blooms it puts on...prolific doesn't do it justice.
Poochella, in fact I did hope that the granite mulch might prolong the season a little due to the heat, and/or promote better growth. I have my fingers crossed that it won't get too hot. I also didn't want stuff that would grow weeds, as has been my experience with organic mulches.
FYI, it is supposed to get black after a few rains.
Penerosa, there are certainly similarities, but...I don't really think it looks like a waterlily. I could be wrong, but I think yours is a Formal Decorative. China Doll is 4" diameter on a 18-24" bush, what size is yours?
Cheers,
Russ
Oh heck, how does one know the difference? :-) Must take some studying. Here's one that looks like mine...I have a feeling it's a wild goose chase though...
Here is a link that might be useful: Baron Jerry