3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Dahlia Boy - FABULOUS pictures. I have been trying to obtain a Barbara Hardisty Kantor for two years now. I saw it at several shows last year and fell in love - lol. I did not see it this year at the East Coast shows. I gather that they do not eye up well and the few people who have a tuber are having a hard time keeping the tubers over the winter. Please please let me know if you have an extra.
For anyone who wants a similar dahlia to the "Barbara Hardisty Kantor" but in a smaller size try Dutch GArdens "Crazy Love". I have had it for about 5 years now and it is tough as nails. In fact, it almost killed my Othello rose by covering it up, and that is a 5' octopus of a rose! I would be glad to give anyone a tuber of it but only if they come by. I don't even mail packages to my kids! And we live on an island accessible only by ferry boat in Puget Sound. But I got this dahlia because my (then) teenage daughter picked it out of the catalog, and I have never been sorry. Right now I am picking about a dozen every 3 days from it. I would say that with minimal care they are about 5" across but easily go up to 6" or larger with feeding. It loves alfalfa pellets! IT was sharing Othello's alfalfa when it took off so Crazily last year!
I looked up Dahlia Imperilias for you & this site seems to have a lot of discussion on it. Don't know if they can answer your question but you're not getting any answers here so it's worth a try. Good luck!
Here is a link that might be useful: Dave's Garden
How much earlier in the summer?? Our cuttings that are planted in the garden around the 1st of June have lots of tubers.
Temps in the 40's will probably be OK to keep the plants alive but if it freezes, you'll lose them. If it doesn't freeze you can probably just leave them in the ground over the winter- with protection-- grow them as a tender perennial. They should still have plenty of time to grow lots of feeder roots & tubers before really cool weather hits- or does it hit in zone 10?
If it gets too cold outside, cut them back & put them in your "poor man's" greenhouse- which sounds a lot like a cold frame to me -- ours are put in a cold frame in the spring & do well.
We here in Central Ontario woke up to a dusting of snow on Fri Oct 13th... thought my dahlias would be reduced to the slime, but although they were coated in snow, then pelleted by freezing rain, they managed to remain perky and in bloom (they are right next to my brick house, so maybe radiant heat might be helping). I cut off all the blooms today, and with the inevitable killing frost just around the corner, I am wondering if I should cut them down in their glory, or let the frost take them?
I pinch back my dahlias, and I have several that are in the 7-8' range as well. My Insipic is tall and VERY bushy - I can't even stake it up anymore, although I have to admit, it has done fine on its own - it is about 7' high and about the same wide! Doesn't make a great cut flower, but looks great on the cul-de-sac - tons of blooms all summer long.
I had my best year ever with dahlias - maybe because I planted so many, maybe because I planted them all in a quart of manure. Keeping fingers crossed for tonight and tomorrow nite - don't want to hear that "F" word (frost). If we make it through, we should have at least a week more which I need. Have way too many buds and some on plants that have yet to bloom!
We harvest seed pods when they turn straw color and are just starting to dry out. The key is in how ripe the seeds are: carefully open the pod while it is still on the plant and examine the seeds. If they are black, they are ripe. If they are dark brown they may be ripe. If they are green, they are definitely not ripe.
We shuck the seeds within a day of harvest as we have noticed that many pods will rot if you try to dry them out in the house. There may be a slight loss of germination percentage but rotten seeds never sprout.
I have my dahlia in a container and it was blooming when I got it home from the nursery but ever since then it had not bloomed again. Keeps growing taller but no blooms. I am thinking of digging it up and storing it for the winter. Any advice when I should do this? I love in Chicago.
Can you plant whatever it is over the top- if it has shallow roots? I do this every year w/ my tulips & daffs- plant the Impatiens & begonias on top of them for the summer.
50* is too warm for storage out of the ground- they'll either start sprouting or shrivel up to hard sticks & or both- sprout first & then shrivel up.
Certainly Dahlias can be grown in pots. Use a nice large pot 16 inches or more for pot size cause the plants will get rather large. Still need a stake for those growing 4 ft or more. I use Miracle Grow potting soil so that it will get continued feeding and also feed weekly with a water soluable fertlizer. Have to watch the plants with watering as they will dry quickly in the summer, but if you watch your plants like I do they will certainly tell you they need water. Potted Dahlias will still produce tubers.
Sue
Gee your artful summation of the season's approaching end makes me long for a Kleenex and my hopeful reply to you is: I hope you don't get a heavier frost and that your season again goes well into November.
You will know when you've had a killing frost. Nearly every molecule of water in those highly hydrated plants will freeze, discolor, and flop into a limp mass of upright,unappealing nothingness. A lighter frost won't do it, but you might notice some crunchiness and discoloration/fading to delicate petals in the case of 'near freeze.'
Re the cutting down and open holes on stalks. If you have no rain, I wouldn't worry about them at all. If rain looms or you can't get them all dug in 3 days, just put a little cap of aluminum foil over the open stalk cut. No need to worry about covering any more than that- just the hollow main/large stems.
Yes, they look so disgusting after the killing frost; you'll know it when you see it! Do you know what Impatiens look like after a frost? Dahlias are similar, but on a much larger scale. Drier annuals just look dead, shrivelled, or dried up; the fleshier/watery-stemmed ones look like cooked spinach or limp seaweed tied to a stalk. Doubly repellant when they were beautiful a day or two before. Like aliens passed through in the night and stole your lovely plants and substituted a disgusting underwater monstrosity from THEIR planet.
We have the snow today, Thursday, and the cold temperature as well. Oh, why did I plan a holiday in Chicago this coming week? LOL. Hopefully they have the heat on in the art institute or my wife will be quite upset. Maybe they have some nice paintings of dahlias. LOL
The cold and snow today in Chicago is a fluke. Normally we have a really nice fall season. Hopefully it will be better when you visit. I don't know about dahlia paintings at the Art Institure, but you could catch a Monet water lily or two, plus a couple of Georgia O'Keeffe flowers! More landscapes than flowers for the latter....
Have great trip!
Sometimes the mother has rotted right away to nothing & sometimes she's there in all her glory. We keep the mother in case the babies rot or shrivel up. She's stored seperately in case SHE rots-- what a lot of rot is associated with dahlias! Also mothers will put out good shoots for cuttings- & usually earlier than the newer tubers will.
Poochella, they're coming for me! save me!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!