3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

Wynnes AA & A dahlias don't flop- they breed them with broomstick strong stems! They also have about 20 BB & B sized dahlias.
I ordered from Swan Island once- 10 tubers-- 6 of them didn't eye up & 2 weren't what I ordered- the remaining 2 the blooms were of poor quality & bad form so....never again!
Ferncliff is Ok but they're in Canada so there's the extra expense of the phyto certificate.
Dan's is OK & Connell's is Ok... sometimes.

Check the Big List on the Colorado Dahlia society website and you will find a great selection of reputable suppliers to buy from.

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

Blue Lagoon is definitely a magenta! I was so disappointed when I grew it I thought it might at least be a grape purple. Too bad because it is really a beautiful dahlia and deserves not to be a disappointment!

Unless I've been fooled by my senses, the Dalia Blue Bell is quite close to a Royal Blue. I must admit that in nature, very few flowers are really blue, all of them will be closer to lavender or purple or even black; so when it comes to look for blue flowers we shall be a bit tolerant on this approach. Words from a Brit that is still working on a blue theme garden!
In Britain, Thompson & Morgan have them in Catalogue. Once they flower I'll let you know how blue they are.

Look closely at some of my pictures. I have a lot of benches to keep things looking like they are the same hight. Most of my garden is color organized.

Sorry, mine is Hodge Podge Lodge and I love it that way. Steve in Baltimore County.

Did you pick up any dahlias while in Flordia? Just got in from chopping wood for tonights fire. It is cold out there. Can't smell the ocean salt today.

I was on Marco Island and I don't think Dahlias would grow there for long. It gets very hot and muggy in the summer.
This is going to be very interesting in the Spring. I am ordering tubers because I don't trust that mine will pull through the winter. IF they do, than I am going to be planting dahlias along the roadside. OR, I could give them to the garden club.

Thank you jroot--I did a double check on the bulbs and they seem firm. Except one of them looks more like a chopped onion on one side. Did I break it digging it up? I'll tell you one thing, I don't know what happens down under but they don't look the same from what I planted in May. Now 40 degrees will be the cue on when to replant them next spring? I may buy some more bulbs. I just want to be conservative with costs on gardening. With a new vegetable garden, I can see how costs escallate on these things. I worked with seedlings and buying flats is so much easier but 10 times the cost.

Good luck Linnea56. I think you may wind up with a white holiday. My husband is from Chicago. I love the Sears tower.

Wow...nice pics and tubers. Please if anyone has extras, don't compost it, I'll be more than happy to take them off ya

Cheers

You are very right!! Last night I went into the garage and startled some of my nasty problem. I saw a couple field mice running out as I turned on the light. I'm going to set some traps to try to catch them but we live near the Ohio River and I'm sure there are lots more of them. Should I do anything to the tubers? Mine looks a lot like what you have in your picture. How do I keep the mice out? It's going to be very hard figuring I don't know how they are getting in. What should I do with the tubers to keep them safe? Could I store them in plastic food containers you think or would they not survive in them? I know mice can eat through almost anything and I'm scared for my beautiful flowers because the boxes I have them in aren't doing a good job keeping them out...

Thank you!
Heather

Traps or some sort of rodent control device would be good. The colder it gets, the more tempting your garage will become. I like the Rat Zapper as it seems more humane and less dangerous for my valuable fingers than those blasted traps!

What do you with your dahlias: I'd decide what is too chewed to save and cut off or discard those. If anything is lightly chewed, and you really want to try and save it, you could
1) Spray the chewed zone with Lysol. I don't think rodents like the pungent smell. Let it and the tissue dry.
2) Decide if you want to use sulfur or other bulb dust prior to storage and apply it. I don't think mice like it either.
3) Store in bags or boxes of vermiculite, or try the Saran wrap method. (Google "no fuss dahlias") Just do a search of "storing dahlia tubers" and you'll come up with 100 different practices and endorsements of each method.

I use styrofoam coolers for tuber protection from mice as well as frost if our power fails. They work well and are really inexpensive or free. Another idea I saw and liked was drilling a series of air holes in a rubbermaid type bin with lid to allow air flow, but no mouse passage. Nice.

I like vermiculite because it is non-drying like peatmoss has been for many, it absorbs excess moisture put off by the tubers, it's inexpensive. Others use wood shavings or even layers of newsprint. You just have to experiment with what works in your area; just keep them from freezing and you've got a good chance you'll save them over winter.

I harvested my (few) dahlias just before freezing here in Maryland. The Husband was working on the basement stairs and I couldn't get down there. So I put my dahlias in the veg drawer in the refrigerator - CLEARLY LABELED! Well, you guessed it - The Husband asked me how to "fix" dahlias. He was ready to eat them. I should add that this is the man I have to take by the hand to show him the 20 foot lilac bush right in the front yard!

Florrie

florrie2, tell your husband that your Dahlias need 10 days in Hawaii so they will do good next year.

I think I saw some "green thing" oddities at the Snohomish Co. show a couple years ago, Cory. Perhaps at the National Show earlier than that down in Seatac. They were not unattractive: just flowerless.

Cheese sauce! Perfect. I may save the tubers and consider the progeny a source of vitamin A, Granny. They had really great stems too LOL.

It was probably at the ADS show. I think Angus Hunter took some there that year. All the big-wigs were appalled & all the cool, funky people went-- "WOW-- what's THAT!!"
That was the same year we entered it on the ADS bench in Vancouver just for fun. We got the first & last DO-NOT Award-- the judges there had a sense of humor & hung a do-nut on it. (Someone stole our do-nut the next morning!)

Nice work. It makes the long winter a little shorter.

Unfortunately Viking, gravity always works and I would be found in some condition, somewhere, with a big grin on my face! The intrigue of the greenhouse also beckons: not so dangerous in there, I don't think.

I grow Miss Rose Flectcher,if you look at my garden shots you will see her right next to Sunny. I got 6 months of blooms out of her.

Miss Rose Fletcher! I still have it too, Viking. Lovely pastel pink. It amazes me that a variety can stick around and be enjoyed so many, many years later.

Unfortunately for me, mine may have rotted because like linnea56 up there, ANOTHER THING x INFINITY (almost) has happened along with my forgetfulness and they're still sitting on my (enclosed) back porch in the pots they grew in. I'm really afraid of what I'm going to find! Even more, I'm afraid of what may have decided to wander in and feast on them!

Is there a chaaaaance, they may be okay? anyone?

I don't recall seeing any very threatening temps in Chicago yet this year, unless I missed them. Being in an enclosed porch, in soil, I would guess there is a very good chance your tubers are fine and waiting for you to dig in.
You'll never know until you look.

I have something that is eating my Dahlias as well! This is during the day. It's blackish, crawls/walks slowly, but can fly pretty fast and makes a loud buzzing (flying) sound when it flies.

There were about 4-5 of them on one of my plants and insecticide doesn't seem to faze them at ALL... ARG! They have eaten so much into my plants that the limbs are breaking in addition to them simply eating the leaves.

I had erewigs also that were eating my flowers.

Then once I got that under control the Japanese beetles came to eat on the buffet as well. I sprayed them with my soap and water solution but then the bloom would turn brown. So, on go the gardening gloves so I could squish them.....I hate squishing them but I love the flowers more. LOL.