3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Yes, Swan Island has an open house in the summer & they cut everything off at the same height so people can take pictures of the fields & they will be uniform. It will set the blooms back - you'd have to figure out how much bloom you want to give up & how long it'll take the plants to recover.
Do you "stop" your dahlias when they get to about a foot tall? This is done early in the season to keep plants shorter & bushier & doesn't get rid of as many blooms as mowing them off later in the season. This article on the Colorado Dahlia Society site tells you how to do this.
Here is a link that might be useful: Topping dahlias
>Do you "stop" your dahlias when they get to about a foot tall?No, I didn't do that this season. I'll definitely try it next season and hope it prevents them from becoming 8' gangly giants with tall stems that snap off as the flowers bloom. And that link you provided showed an excellent how-to. Thanks so much! :)
Adrienne,
Even with your good description, it's almost impossible to name a dahlia from a photo unless it's a very obvious variety. I was going to guess Golden Scepter, but only because I've grown it, but your dahlia's petal tips are too pointy. You may end up calling it 3" Yellow NOID, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you enjoy it.
I can't imagine the heartache of hurricane clean up. One relatively minor windstorm here can wreak absolute havoc on gardens/trees etc. Enjoy your little survivor!
I sure am enjoying this one. It still looks lovely in it's little wine goblet...it opened all the way up. I am going to try to contact the farm where I got my dahlias last year and see if they can tell me what it is...I think it was the only yellow one in the bunch. I think there was also an orange and a white that didn't survive (DH + weedeater + plant with no buds = certain death)...Thanks for the tips. I'll try to take a look at some more images online - I think if I hear the name I'll know it.
THANKS!
I had something very similar happen with my A La Mode. It is a bronze flower with white tips, but the first few were fairly wierd, like this:
It was supposed to look like this:
It has something to do with the genes of the plant and it trying to revert to its dominant original flower...I think.
Cheers,
Russ
Russ, I have had it for three years and it makes a huge plant. Swan is the only place I have found it. This Spring I got my tuber and it rotted so they sent me a plant. It was by far the most prolific. I will see the tubers of these soon when I dig. You are welcome to one if you tell me how to wrap and send it.
I can't remember, are you in Ontario PDShop?
If you are, I'd send it in a bag of peat. I'd doubt much could happen to it in the short transit within the province. Not sure what the Post Office will make of it...;-]
Drop me a note at russ.cooper@rc.on.ca
Cheers,
Russ
LOL, I am about 2 1/2 hours north east of Brrrrrmidji! I think I am going to do the first option, maybe. I have a really busy week ahead of me. BUT if it looks like we have some nice days I might do the second option. Oh I don't know, it is going to depend on how much I have going on.
I hate to cut them while they are still blooming!! (whine)
Thanks
Jenny P
FWIW, there is a 3rd option if you have a cold room (or cool reasonably dry place.) Dig a largish area of soil around the tubers (keeping the tubers in the soil as best you can) and place those clumps of soil in garbage bags. Tie or tape the bag with a long piece of stem still sticking out.
This makes the removal processs relatively simple now (no worrying about cleaning the clump), will keep them reasonably moist until you get back, and totally avoids the possiblity of the ground being too hard to dig when you return.
I wouldn't be recommending this except that you've only 3 clumps to do.
Cheers,
Russ
Kellymack,
What you really want to know is not when a variety flowers, but how long a variety takes to bloom. Then, with that knowledge in hand, you start varieties that take longer to bloom earlier than the others, and they all end up blooming more or less the same time (its impossible to get it exact, but once they start blooming they aren't going to stop.)
I have numbers on my 40+ varieties I grew this year, and have worked out rough starting times for each variety to get them to all be blooming the last week of May 2009. For my varieties, the earliest date is November 24, 2008 and the latest is March 20, 2009.
I've never found a lit of bloom times. Swan indicates some as "early bloomers" and others as "late bloomers," and presumably everything else is average. 2 years ago when I first planted dahlias, my "early bloomers" came into bloom in mid June, and the "late bloomers" in September.
Best of luck.
Cheers,
Russ
Well I sent the cat but it went off in cyber world somewhere. I will try again. Maybe he wasn't approved or something. At least this made it. I am looking at my dahlia covers at the moment. My friend called and said she went ouot to the garden to pick some and they were frozen like live dahlias. She is going to let them thaw???
Oooh...I definitely cannot handle your temps! I have never shoveled snow, and the last time I saw a blizzard, I got pneumonia after getting locked out of my aunt's house for three hours! It's worth considering though, since the dahlias do so well there! Here is my "bouquet" for the week...A single bloom does not a bouquet make, but it's all I have! And sadly, the weather's perfect for Dahlias right now - warm days, cool nights. Hoping that some of the survivors will bloom again before Thanksgiving.
How embarrasing. I don't even know the name.
I paint the insides heavly and the bottom of the legs. I put several coats of bull eye shalack on the out side. We love the look of natural wood. Then I dump potting soil in. They get quite heavy when the soil is wet. I us a refegerator cart to move them.
Handsome containers, Viking. Shellack and water are not good friends as any standing water droplets will make the finish milky. Is the "Bulls Eye" a modern uptake on the substance or are you just very careful when you water?
Again, very pretty!