3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

Yeah, I should know better...although after hearing "rain" & "thunderstorms" in the forecast for over a week I got a little excited!

Finally woke up to the much needed rain this morning though! Of course this came after I finally broke down and chased the sprinklers around yesterday, therefore putting off collecting flowers to press until today because they were wet. Well, now they are most definitely too wet!

My house should love me by the end of the day, since I must now keep warm by doing housework! Nothing better than having the doors flung wide open, with the rain as my stereo while I scrub everything down!

j_nail Gfrom the wet side of WA- except for this year. By far, the driest planting year ever for me. Having to water dahlias in May/June in my area is a real twist on the usual hoping they don't rot.

Enjoy your moisture and warm days to follow.

I'm almost psoitive I have 5 new growths but I'm curious, do Dahlias grow as single leaves from the main stem or can they grow many leaves from the main stem? I know that I have two growing single leaf and I'm not too sure if the plants sprouting multiple leaf from main stem are Dahlias also, however the main stem and leaves look very much alike.

loswan, they usually have opposing leaf pairs on either side of the stalk/s that emerge from the tuber, clump, or cutting. Leaf nodes will give rise to laterals right at the stalk junction and send out branches from which your flowers will come.

I'd let your leaves go on to develop a bit and see if they are truly dahlias or something else.

Double Trouble does look like a very good possibility.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photography and Gardening blog

Swan Island Dahlias sell Double Trouble in a collection. A

Here is a link that might be useful: Collection

No name, no form-- just a bedding dahlia. It will grow tubers that you can save over the winter if you like it well enough to keep it.

Hello mycubes,
if you bought it as a plant, it could have been treated to force it in early blooming. If you pinch out the flowers and buds it is very likely to grow somewhat taller. So you have a proper border Dahlia in the end.

If you want height, buy only named cultivars. Their label should tell you what height/size to expect.Most of the Cactus- and decorativ types grow easily 3 feet and more.
Have a great Dahlia summer
cheers, Lin

I agree with whatever Jroot says as he lives in Canada and is far more astute on the particulars of your latitudes. I had a few dahlias holding on an open front porch in pots, all up several inches, and even without frost warnings I moved them under a bench and draped a towel over the bench (placed next to the house) to give the dahlias a little cover on a chilly night. Better safe than sorry.

I hope your days and nights soon warm beyond frost warnings in the land of our neighbors to the north. Northeast in your case!

It would be interesting to see a thermal image of the variations in temps next to a house, a foundation, a rock wall vs out in the open as a night progressed during these cool spring weeks.

A few of my dahlia shoots were zapped by the frost a couple nights ago :( I should have left them in my screened in porch, but I'd never have guessed we would have frost after Victoria Day - besides, it was getting crowded in there!

Relaxing in the garden room, waiting for the Dahlias to grow.

Ah, the picture of feline content. Your garden room looks like a rewarding endeavor for man and beast alike. Don't feel bad about blooms in June. We're lucky to see an early bloomer mid-July in my locale.

I share your frustration--I have never had trouble with squirrels like this year. Here is what I have done:

Bot and sprayed "RO-PEL. I spray in the evening because I do not want the squirrels to see me doing the spraying. I have no idea why the contents work, but I admit the next morning there was not a squirrel in sight. However, as the day wore on they did return. It has certainly helped.

Deer Off Receipe: from letters from readers in Backyard Magazine. This has proven very helpful with squirrels. Beat together 1 eqq, 1/2 cup of milk,and 1 Tablespoonful of cooking oil. Add 1 tablespoonful of dish soap. then add enough water to make a gallon of liquid. NEVER SPRAY "DRY" PLANTS. Spray plants every two weeks or after rain. DO NOT SPRAY ON EDIBLES. Store any left over material in a closed jar.
NOW MY SUGGESTIONS: To the above mixture, add 3 teaspoons of garlic, and 3 teaspoons of cayenne pepper. I have tried this, and am having excellent results deterring squirrels. WARNING: THIS LIQUID CONCOCTION HAS A VERY STRONG ODOR. MIX WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN.
I have heard of adding mint to the mixture, and, I have also heard of adding mint plants in and arround your flowers but have not tried either. Another person suggested adding crushed Red Pepper in and around the plants. I will try this shortly.
I wish you every success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you try it, I'd like to hear how you made out. In your return message to me, in the subject area, kindly add the word "GardenWebber". This will keep your e-mail to me out of my junk pile. THANK YOU.

Love that squirrely photo of yours Jroot. We feed our squirrels all year, so perhaps that keeps them out of the dahlia beds.

I wonder if you would encourage re-emergence of the eye/s by gently digging up the broken dahlia and cutting off the broken hollow stem just above the tuber. I've done that and the plant went on to grow just fine. I just don't like the idea of a hollow stem hanging out there for anything to crawl or drip into.

Let us know how it turns out.

FWIW, I bought predatory mites. I'm going to say it worked, despite the fact that most of the growing part of the cannas I put them on have more or less died. That I blamed myself for...leaving things too late to save what had already grown.

New shoots are growing well, however, and are mite free.

I purchased 4000 of them based on a conversation with the owner of the company who supplied them. She was great!

My tubers and cuttings are all mite-free for now.

Cheers,
Russ

Russ, where did you get them from?

The odds aren't great that you would get a white one even if you could find someone willing to part with seeds from large dahlias. Dahlias have one of the most complex gene structures in the plant kingdom so the odds of getting anything like the parent are similar to the odds of a human child being just like it's parent! Large dahlias are the hardest to hybridize & set fewer seeds than any other sizes, consequently, most people who do get seed from AA or A sized dahlias use them all themselves- I know we do!

Well, I hope some generous person would help me out a bit, and trade with me.
A few seeds arent much to spare.
I hope someone has some seeds they would like to trade with me :)

Thanks, I feel better now. I tend to get overwhelmed in the fall with life in general (kids starting school, new schedules, plus all the fall cleanup) that I get lazy with some gardening chores. I won't let that happen again this year, though, those dahlias are gorgeous! I don't know why it took me so many years to appreciate their beauty.

I think at this point I will plant the clumps as they are. I'm afraid to try to divide them since they have new growth. Our growing season is short enough without setting the plants back because of a mistake. We seem to be in a little arctic microclimate at our house. Flowers that have faded in some parts of town have barely begun to bud at my house.

And just for fun, I think we'll label the tubers this year. My husband dug them all up and stored them as I said above, but didn't think about labeling at least for color. Like I said, too much to do, too little time to do it well!

If anyone has any links that are especially good for a newbie regarding dahlias, especially dividing, or even links to threads here, I'd appreciate it. I do searches but get so many hits I don't know where to look first. Thanks!

One of the best places to learn about dahlia care & culture is the Colorado Dahlia Society site. It's full of great info for all stages of dahlia life.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado Dahlia Society