3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Lin, he's new to dahlias, and already has 500 varieties? Now that is insanity (but in a good way)!
Looks like he's using the netting trellis for support... Did you see how many layers? Does he wrap the outside of the rows with twine?
Sadly, the season has come to an end in my garden.
Hi CC, yea, slightly crazy.
He didn't start completely unprepared, has grown cutflowers with Dahlias among them for some years.
And he inherited a collection of a fellow geek who wanted to cut back his work load at 75+ and got about 150 cultivars, if I remember correctly from an article.
They are still learning, I reckon, had used netting but did not move it up with the Dahlias growing ( isn't that the point?), and put in a second layer of twine. I heard that they were slightly overwhelmed by the workload and have struggled to keep their show garden permanently in good condition, cutting off spent flowers.
But I hope that they stick to it, it is so difficult for farmers to make a living and I think it is very smart to grow something else then not-too-well-paid-for crops.
And personally I think it is great that he tries to offer such a wide range of cultivars, some not even listed in THE German Dahlia list,
Well fingers crossed.
The last days were rainy, but no frost yet, so my plants keep churning out flowers, such a great time of year. I cut flowers as often as I can feeling that I need to soak up the color for those winter months to come.
Good sorting and storing,
Bye, Lin
I grew Platinum Blonde this year, it's supposed to be an anemone but mine doesn't have the tubular centers so it's more like a single, it's white with a yellowish center, and the stems are very long, almost 1.5 feet when I cut a bloom. I got mine from Swan Island.
Yes, Platinum Blond is spectacular! I can't remember how tall mine grew but up there where it could be seen. The creamy yellow anemone center is very pretty on it and it has a large flower. Another white single I am enjoying is "Star Baby" It is not real tall, maybe 30" but so pure and pretty.
I got mine this year at EasytoGrow...they were great tubers and are blooming. Funny mine are a bit more on the buff side than the pinky side, I've seen both locally in the same garden, so hoping to get some of those tubers and see if the blooms differ in my garden.
Also I believe Banner Flower Farm is selling Cafe au Lait for $3 a tuber if you order more than a few, and they are taking pre-orders, I just put mine in for a bunch of other tubers.
www.bannerflowerfarm.com
but I also emailed them from fieldofdahlias.com. Ask them if you see something as sold out because not sure they've updated their lists yet, I had them send me a list of everything available via email.
Your info says you are in zone 7, so your dahlias are going to be done blooming soon. I would suggest trying to pot one of your smaller plants, bringing it inside during nights to avoid frost and transport it, being sure to fertilize and water in Florida very often. I wouldn't plant it in sandy soil, unless you amend the area around the tubers VERY well, and water often.
You most likely will be able to extend bloom time, depending on how bloomed out your plant already is. Choose one that has just started blooming, as a July bloomer might be disappointing.
For the rest of the plants, I'd dig and divide the tubers, and take them for the ride.
I extended blooms in a plant transplanted into a pot on the porch for a month past frost one year, but the blooms were small, weak and colorless as I couldn't water as much as I should have, and the fall light was too diffused through the porch window. I finally chopped it down, dried it up, and threw it in the basement still in the pot.
There seem to be less posts in this forum area than in recent years, and I am surprised that nobody has answered this 4 day old question yet, especially considering this is prime blooming season for dahlias.
Anyway, dahlias are native to Mexico so I don't see why they wouldn't grow in Florida. Certainly the climate in south Fl is warmer than north central Fl, but I would assume dahlias should do well in S Fl.
I would find a more secure way to stake your dahlias to prevent breakage. I grew in 2011, and we had 2 hurricanes blow through, and one of them dumped around 12-14 inches of very heavy rain over a period of almost 2 days, and both included lots of wind. I managed to stake them well enough to prevent all but a few lateral branches from breaking. I spoke with a grower at a dahlia festival yesterday who recommended using tomato fencing that you buy at garden centers with 6 inch square holes and about 5 feet tall. Buy it in rolls and wrap it loosely around the plants and drive a long metal stake or 2 just inside or just outside the fencing to stabilize it. This grower said he uses re bar as stakes because it's cheap, durable and last forever, plus you can just leave them in the ground year around.
In south Florida you shouldn't have to worry about digging up and storing the tubers over winter like you would here in the mid Atlantic.
"I was told I could just dig them up and plant them in large pots if I want to keep them for next year. Is this true? "
Yup, that would work. One of the easiest ways if you only have a few. Just don't water them until you want them to grow.
"I also heard that Dahlias need to be trimmed in order to grow properly. Mine seem to be growing fine - outwards and upwards, and have 3 or 4 blooms on them each. Should I still trim them?"
Nope, don't trim now! They were probably referring to 'stopping' the plant, which is done by pinching out the middle sprout after 3-5 leaf sets are formed. This encourages the lateral branches to form at each 'armpit' of the leaf sets. No worries, you are good to go!
Looks like rust fungus. Neem oil should clean that up for you. If you're watering with a sprinkler, I'd stop that to keep it from spreading more... Can't stop the rain, though.
If you feel it's too late in the season to treat it, be sure to NoT compost the plants after frost, as the spores will hang out and have a party at your expense.
It is interesting what you all post for seedling pictures. We are dahlia breeders and are looking for nicely formed fully double dahlias with tight centers. Even though we only collect seeds from nicely formed dahlias, a large percentage of the seedlings do have open centers. Picture of an incurved cactus seedling in nice shade of lavender purple.
You're dahlias are absolute beautiful. I bought a flat of dahlias 2 years ago from a local greenhouse. I'm in Zone 5 so I have to dig them up every fall. So far this year the tubers I planted have almost doubled in size. I think I'm going to try to save some seeds to see if I come up with some different ones next year.
You could do that.... Just don't water until spring, protecting it from frost when it sprouts.
Problem is when you do that in consecutive years. Tubers tend to get bound up, black and nasty when undivided over time. Flowers can be lower quality, and many shoots from multiple tubers will compete for water and fertilizer.
I would agree about that too.
The only logic thing could be that a badly stored, half shriveled tuber (from a big store) would probably need a little bit longer than a healthy well-kept one of the same cultivars.
And about different climates:
If a Dahlia cultivar is bred in a much warmer climate and is adapted to it, then it is fixed in its genom.
And then it could be that it ALWAYS perfoms poorly in colder regions: flowers very late or hardly at all.
That seems to be the case with some Hemerocallis cultivars from the US which don't do well in cooler parts of Europe. But that is permanent.
Very interesting point, so let's hear about it,
Bye, Lin