3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

I also grew from Swan Island all were outstanding. White ,Hakuyou and snowbound, pink miss rose fletcher, and purple bold accent, emory paul, these are not true purple but will go well. I have order for this year almand joy,oregon reign,vassio meggos,fremont's memory,orchid lace,thomas edison,lavender ruffles, purple taiheijo, gitts perfection and touch of class. That will fit your color requests. Happy growing.

Christine R, I was at the PSDA sale at 11:11 and there were a ton of "Christines" available so I hope you nabbed one. Great variety this year!

Rosebacopa in MN: My ideas for waterlilies I've grown:
Lauren Michelle- great two toned lavender with dark purple reverse that blooms early and a lot. Good tubers too.

Bracken Ballerina- probably on the Fab 50 of show winners in the past, if not now. Lovely pastel pink and white, lots of flowers, good tuber keeper.

White Ballerina- sure wanted to try it but the slugs or something were just drawn to it in the middle of a dahlia plot like magnets! I had it surrounded by everything but an electric fence and they just gnawed it down to nubs til death ensued. I've never had that happen to a single cultivar of dahlia in all the years of growing them.

Sandia Shomei was a lovely lavender and white waterlily that bloomed in nice flushes but didn't keep well for me. Bloomed early.

Purples B'ish sized as I don't have time to look up all sizes: Jennifer's Wedding, JAX CHAR (I really loved that bold color,) Mary, Lavender Perfection, Lilac Time, Thomas Alva Edison (is a great color but late to bloom here,) Emory Paul was very late here and not worth the wait for me, Wyn's Garden Glow is a fluffy, rich lavender with gold centers that bloomed early and often for a large dahlia. Spike is a large white, also available at Wynne's Dahlias, White Perfection is a common white "dinnerplate" dahlia that does well, and I really liked Yuukyu, a B sized white ID I grew last year. Gitts Attention is a BB white with split tips that is a nice white addition.

Otto's Thrill is a large pink with yellow undertones that is pretty reliable.
Pretty in Pink was my favorite new hot pink from last year, available at Wynne's Dahlias. Bloomed early and often.

Alloway Candy is a wonderful more pastel pink and white stellar bloom that produces a fair number of flowers.
Ditto for Miss Rose Fletcher in a small cactus, but perfect pastel pink and wonderful form.

If you can go smaller to ball form 4" dahlias, don't miss Mary's Jomanda in hot pink, Brookside Snowball already mentioned and Robann Royal which was a great rich lavender/purple last year. I haven't had much luck with Jessie G for two years' running, but I know people rave about it elsewhere.

There are so many more out there. Check out the "Big List" by name or "How to Find Them" at the Colorado Dahlias Society website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look Here for all kinds of dahlia information

Thank you for responding-

I thought dear old 'Garden-Web' would have sent me cc's of your responses but guess not.

Okay. In the dark fine until they sprout and then off to some bright light, right?

Again Thanks, ML

When you post your original question, under the "preview" box is a smaller box you have to check to get replies e-mailed to you. If you don't check it (or forget to), you don't know if anyone has replied. You can't go back retroactively, either: if you forget you have to bookmark the thread so you can find it again.

FWIW, of my 2007 tubers that sprouted this spring (in flats under lights inside my house) they averaged 47 days from the time I planted them to the day I took my first 3" cutting. The longest was 65 days.

So, I would say that 6 weeks isn't too long. Of course you could take a little hand broom and sweep the soil off the top of one of the spots you planted to see if you can find the tips of the sprout to re-assure yourself, but be careful.

Cheers,
Russ

thanks everyone. Soil temps are not yet in the 60's. Mid 50's right now. I check on one of them, and it was not rotten. Yes, the eye was facing up, so that's not an issue. I'll keep watch and pay close attention when the temps start to rise, hopefully in a few weeks. Thanks everyone.

Matt

Unfortunately, I think, there's two types of growers and I do believe that advice is different depending on your goals. If you want to take a flower to the flower show, then you do things you wouldn't do if you just wanted a big bushy plant...IMO.

I got hooked on Dahlias from a friend who couldn't care the least about them. He brought me a clump that had to be from a 3+ year-old plant, and it was what he had split off because that plant was "too big" for his garden.

He proceeded, after several beers, to literally rip tubers off the clump and, without considering which end was up, stuffing them into various holes in my garden beds.

Most grew, and were covered in many flowers.

Call it luck or whatever you want, but Dahlias are left by many in the ground to grow into larger and larger clumps. I have to believe that most of those clumps have many stems.

I received this year, for the first time, a clump rather than a single tuber. It is Firepot, and the tubers are about the size of ping-pong balls or a little smaller. I assumed they sent me a clump because they couldnÂt separate the tubers from the crown with enough assurance theyÂd get eyes on each tuber. Currently, each of my 3 Firepot clumps has a single sprout.

Meanwhile, some of my single tubers have shown multiple starting sprouts.

If I had to decide, I would let a clump grow whatever number of stems it wanted (within reason, considering how much area I want it to take up) but I would trim single tubers to a single stem. No long years of experience involved in my decision, just my interpreting what IÂve read.

Cheers,
Russ

IÂve been pretty satisfied with the ones I bought locally. Since I donÂt plant that many and have not successfully kept them over the winter, mail order is kind of expensive for me. To get the best pick I start calling the stores in early March and get them as soon as they come in. I only buy the ones that come in a clear bag so I can examine the contents carefully for eyes or sprouts. There are some that come bulk in a larger bag or box where you canÂt see the contents. Those have often been duds. It seems like they are packaged earlier or sit around too long under sub-optimal conditions. I tried SamÂs Club boxed 3 times, nothing in a box ever performed (except Asiatic lilies which apparently can withstand the long storage better). We don't have a Costco but I hear they have better plant material than Sam's. I have been happy with the stock at my Home Depot, Walmart, and a regional hardware chain called Menards. But the HD and this one particular Walmart have a very good dept manager who really cares for stock, like keeping bulbs in a cool area so they donÂt sprout too early.

It is similar to Tahoma Moonshot, but it has a yellow background instead of the beautiful white one you have! Northland SParkler is also similar.

I believe that you found this picture on the Australian dahlia site for the Canbera club. I had Max Ollieu check with his Aussie friends and verify that this dahlia is Araluen Nola bred by Ron Wilkes of Australia. As far as I know, it has never been imported to the USA. The breeder Mr. Wilkes comes to the USA each year and he visited my garden last year. If I had known about this excellent flower, I would have asked him about it.

Ah! So my goal should be one stem, then pinch to induce branching on that?

That is correct. But when the stem has about 3 sets of leaves (they are in pairs), then "stop" the growth to force it to become like a bush. You should get about 6 laterals to grow which will become flowers. If you want long stem (I do for the shows), then you disbud when 3 or 4 buds start to form. You want to keep the center bud.

Dale

www.pugetsounddahlias.org

Give them light and wait and see. The ends of the sprouts should open up into leaves and you should see the buds of new leaves in the tip. As long as this is the case, no problems, they'll do fine without cutting, or, they can make fine cuttings too.

6" isn't long and spindly to my way of thinking for a Dahlia.

Cheers,
Russ

The problem is that they arenÂt vertical. Since they were sprouting in the bag they are all more or less growing sideways. There was a limit as to how much I could straighten the tuber cluster in each pot since I was trying to keep the original (last yearÂs) stem upright. Now that they "know" which way is "up" they will undoubtedly turn up, but that will be at the tip of a laying-down section. (Unless I make them little bonsai crutches from popsicle sticks?)

I have great luck with starting mine inside. I get much earlier bloom than other people in my area (Chicago) who wait. Once they are "awake" and well leafed out being put in cold ground does not set them back.

Thanks for the replies Ellie and linnea56.

I will further divide the clumps that have only eyes and leave the clumps with sprouts alone. In the fall, I can revisit the clumps that were not divided.

Greg
PS I grew up in Rockford and miss the three seasons (not winter)

If you are looking for just that single variety then you can also check the big box stores. I picked up Bishop of Landaff from the local Home Depot yesterday.

Availability will vary: I went to my HD yesterday and no Bishop (sadly: loved it last year)

Vera Seyfang (AAFD), Iceberg (AAID), Lavender Ruffles (AAID), Purple Taiheijo (AAID).

All are 12" and 36" tall. I have grown Purple Taiheijo before and love it, but the flowers can tend to get buried in the foliage. I am growing it again this year, as well as Iceberg and Lavender Ruffles. These are all from Swan Island Dahlias.

Cheers,
Russ

If you are looking for something available from local sources I would recommend Kelvin Floodlight. Kelvin is probably the most widely distributed and easiest to grow dahlia on the planet. For me he grows to about 40in(100cm) and if I don't top him, the first bloom will be around 12in(30cm)in diameter with subsequent blooms running to about 10in(25cm).

Kelvin does not do well in dahlia shows, but if you plant him anywhere close to passing traffic you will have people coming to you door and asking 'What is that!"

I do support Kelvin and I use the inverted plant cage method described at: http://dahlias.net/dahwebpg/Support/NoStake.htm .

Here is a link that might be useful: How to find great dahlias for your garden

With all the huge tubers I have thrown into the woods, wouldn't it be great if they all bloomes and I had a sea of flowers?

Holy guacamole !!! How'd I miss this post the first time around. Those monster tubers would feed a family of four.

On that link, does all that disbranching and disbudding go for some of us that just want a big bushy plant full of flowers?

If you haven't grown Dahlias before then I would recommend you don't disbud. Debranching should be done on branches that have broken, fallen, or become too laden to hold a shapely position.

The 2nd year I would recommend you make attempts at these chores. Having the 1st years experience of what the plants look like really helps when it comes to deciding what you want to cut off before it bloomed.

Its not that the link provides bad advice, but its advice that I think is meaningless to anyone who doesn't realize how a Dahlia grows. This applies also to new varieties you haven't grown before. How can you recognize a plant that's overburdened if you have always stripped so much of its growth? Equally, I've grown plants that were way bushier than anyone think's they should be and loved them for their bushiness.

But, there are some simple concepts to be learned from those articles. You'll get a better looking flower from a single that you've stripped the side buds from than if you let all 3 grow. Doesn't mean you'll like it better, or that it will look better in a vase...that single flower will be a better representative of the vareity is all.

Many varieties, such as Cabana Banana, do better overall if they are stripped to some extent. Cabana Banana, from my experience, just grows "too well!" Cut it back in a variety of ways and it will just be a better plant. To each his own, how will you know until you see it for yourself?

If you can, in your first year, try to have 2 of each variety. On one, experiment, on the other, let nature take its course. MAKE NOTES!! and take pictures.

Big and bushy, and full of flowers, don't naturally go hand in hand. A plant has to devote resources to foilage, and/or flowers. If its doing both, neither will be at their fullest. I mentioned before about an AA, Purple Taiheijo, that was very full, lush with foilage, and had lots of flowers. Unfortunately, however, the flowers were on short stems and so ended up within the foilage. This meant that they weren't presented well, some were not fully formed, and others died early because they weren't getting enough sun.

Theres more to a plant that simply its food and sun...;-]

So if you haven't before, try what you think you'd like...but don't think your Dahlia sucked because of the results...;-]

Cheers,
Russ