3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

Wow ! Gorgeous colour.

What kind of camera are you using? I have several, but my older olympus does not seem to like any shade of red. I could never take a shot like this one with it. I would have to use my leica lens on my panasonic.

I use a Canon EOS 400D with a canon macro lens (EF-S 60 mm).

I also have problems with some colors.

dahlia newbie,

Thank you for your kind words.

That plant you were asking about is some sort of perennial geranium. I was given a few pieces of it about 8 years ago. It gets about a foot tall, and spreads, but is easily yanked out from places you don't want it. Actually in the middle of it, near the hydrangea is a tree peony. I hope it doesn't get strangled by this stuff.

Thanks, Jroot, I might just print that pic out and save it for my plant-finding tour next spring. Geraniums do grow well for me, as long as my husband doesn't mistake them for weeds :). I would love to have peonies too, but not a cold enough winter here. Someday, I hope to have a garden like yours to relax and drink wine in!

the foliage looks fine. But things (tomatoes) have looked a touch chlorotic in the past so I will get some seaweed fert or something. Thanks

well here is a DUH moment. Seems the ones that looked yellow on the outside of the buds were in fact....YELLOW DAHLIAS.
I thought that one was Penngift, a lavender. Turns out it is Honka. The other yellow-budded one is Inland Dynasty. (I wonder where I planted Pennsgift?)

I see something on the top leaves that concern me. Check under the leaves. Do they have spider mites on them? They are barely visible with a magnifying glass, but leave fine webs. Particularly check near the ends of the leaves. If so, a pesticide spray, or a mixture of dish soap, rubbing alcohol, and water may be in order.

I see the white spots near the bottom. These white spots can be caused by sun hitting the water drops, which in turn act like a magnifying glass and end up burning the leaf. When watering try to water the base of the plant rather than the leaves, particularly if after 9:00 a.m., but better still try to water around 7:00 a.m. when the sun is not too strong.

This watering thing is complicated. I have a sprinker system and a big lawn. I need to water the lawn but don't want to get the water on the dahlia leaves. I water them by hand. We just can't control water getting on the leaves as if it rains so be it.

Jroot,

Really beautiful stuff. Its amazing how much further along yours are than mine given how close we are. I really think my lighting wasn't strong enough.

Shame about the packaging problems. I've been lucky I guess, all of mine have turned out to be what the pictures looked like so far.

I have pink poppies that grow from seed (from the pods of the poppies from last year). I was wondering if they were "peony poppies" or just plain old poppies. They're pretty, whatever they are, but they don't last very long.

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Cheers,
Russ

I have single poppies as well, that I call "plain old poppies". These ones are more like the peonies, of which I have a good number of varieties. And of course I have some of the perennial poppies in various shades also.

Thanks for your comments, Russ. I don't know whether the issue is the strength of the artificial light or not. Well maybe. I use it just to get them going, and when they are up a couple of inches, I get them outside to acclimatize them, and then give them full strength sun. That is where mine get their light before I plant. ... a lot more work, but it pays off. Now, if I were plantlady with several thousand, I just couldn't do it.

Did you get my email sent last night, Russ?

Just realized I didn't really answer your question, Anna.

My lakeside beds were planted out the last week of May. (Link to pics)

My roadside bed was planted out the last week of June. (Link to pics)

The only reason for the different dates was because I was selling cuttings up to the middle of June, so I didn't know what I would have left over for the roadside bed.

That being said, my lakeside beds are on the north side of the house, and while they get sun all day, they don't get as much as the roadside beds get. Also, my sprinkler system hasn't been working yet this year, so they haven't gotten as much water as I think they should have. That should be fixed next week.

Cheers,
Russ

I have watered the dahlias every day ( early in the morning) , unless there is a heavy rain. I think that it was the last few days of May that I planted, but I did start them earlier under florescent lamps, and had them outside in pots most of May, taking them back into the garage when cold threatened.

Thanks so much for confirming this for me.

and it's cute too. :o)
they make nice cut flowers.