3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Where were you going to store them in the crawlspace which is still too warm at this time? Will the crawlspace cool off but not freeze during the mean MT winter?
A picnic cooler with or without a cooling agent like frozen water bottles would suffice until your weather turns consistently colder and you locate your permanent winter storage. Ideal is 35-45 but a few degrees different for a few weeks shouldn't hurt anything, I don't think.
In early July I found a tuber I had thought was eyeless in May and threw in a paper bag in our basement to be disposed of "later." It was well sprouted, barely shriveled and looking for a little sun LOL! The basement is probably around 60 degrees, no sun to speak of, average humidity. It's in the garden growing now, but probably won't bloom because it's not in enough sun. They are pretty hardy little things, these tubers.
Looks like a Unwin's Double Dwarf... I'm starting some of these from seeds but they're just tiny plants now, so I can't vow for it.
Visit this link:
Here is a link that might be useful: DAHLIA Dwarf Unwin's Mixed Colors
Thanks plantlady. I guess I was tired when I posted that, because I double checked my invoice from them (Van Bloem Gardens) and the dahlia is called Peaches & Cream. I was extremely disappointed!! I paid $5 each and had to buy 16. I was so disappointed I didn't even dig them. However, they seemed to be the hardiest dahlia I had because 4 of the 16 overwintered.
WOW - for $5.00 each you could have ordered from a REAL dahlia supplier & gotten good show quality blooms. I just hate it when the big commercial growers rip people off like that- & most dahlia suppliers don't require you to buy a minimum amount either. Go to the Colorado Dahlia Society site & look up Suppliers-- there's lots of them there & they specialize in dahlias. By the time you work your way down the list from A-W it'll be time to order your new dahlias for next year!
Wish I had a picture but my faves this year were:
Productivity-Chilsons Pride, lots of blooms at once. Nice soft pink too.
Splendid Color and Size-Moonlight Sonata
People's Choice-Wheels. Everybody wants one! (hope I get lots of viable tubers ...)
When I get my rolls developed (yes I am still using a normal - but nice - camera!) I will get my pics put on disk and figure out how to post them.
I do beleive that given the right circumstances, Chilson's Pride is the most prolific dahlia on earth! I had one 3 years ago that I was actually getting up to 100 flowers a day off of...think I spilled the osmocote bottle when planting it! Too bad my customers are not into pink flowers this year ...Chilson's will be one of the last blooming too with the flowers down to almost white.
I tried two new pink dahlias this year as I am a tad bit tired of Chilson's. THe two I tried were Grandma June and Gay Princess. I love them both, but Grandma June has certainly been outperforming the Princess by many blossoms. I like the light yellow shining through from her center too. Gay Princess is a lovely shape and I love her fringy tips.
Rose nutty, sounds like you are following the typical path toward more dahlias. I wish I could grow better roses because they looks so beautiful with dahlias, but mine were prone to too much disease and took up too much room here (for me, anyway.) I used to have a veggie garden LOL! Guess what's in there now?
Re the bugs: earwigs are the worst offenders out here in WA. I just look inside the petals and chase them out much like Mingusalex. Dahlias get rained on, so a gentle dip underwater shouldn't hurt them, unless they're particularly delicate in the petal department or a heavy bloom has a weak attachment to the stem which seems to happen more now as the season ends. There's always systemic pesticides, if you are open to their use.
Mingusalex, you just jumped right into dahlias starting with 20! I started with 2 knowing nothing about them at all and soon discovered that they came in sooooooo many colors, shapes and sizes. What a great plant!
Well I actually bought 8 and then a friend gave me 12 more. She planted 75 and had no room for the 12. They are so easy to grow and so gorgeous! But I love to give friends bouquets so I have 2 or 3 that are the same of each color so I can have a nice mix of colors for each bouquet. Balls are my favorite!
Thank you Poochella! I love all the dahlias and can't pick a favorite. But you are right Aurora's Kiss is very special.
We don't actually have a pond. It is the run off waterway from a dam and it is tidal. So sometimes it looks like a lake and other times it looks like a pond. We "love" it here on the river cliff and there are many baldheaded eagles, hawks, seagulls, canadian geese, ducks and many raccoons too. Once we had 4 beautiful white swans, but haven't seen them for years. We are about 60' up from the water.
Unfortunately the salmon will be spawning soon and the smell of dead fish can last about 3 weeks. We do not smell it when we are indoors, but when you are outside it is very gross. One year the dead fish were 6 feet wide all along the beach!
I haven't had much luck collecting viable seeds from my dahlias til very late in the season, & then not all of them seemed to produce anything. If they have viable seeds, you will recogize it I think. They are elongated sticks, wider at one end, plump. Sort of like miniature boat paddles :) Good luck, I collected from my plants last year & got lots of seedlings, but none bloomed. I really expected to see some bloom, but none of my dahlias really seemed to do well this year.
You can see pictures of seeds in our "Seedling" album at this site. They are towards the end of the album. If you click on the small picture it will come up big enough to see the seeds. Dahlia seeds look like a flattened earwig! They are fairly flat, longish & have a couple of prongs on the end like an earwig does!
You have to leave the pod- dried flower head - on the plant until the seeds ripen- they will form a cone shape & turn brown on the ends. Then the whole pod will turn brown. You have to make sure the pods don't get picked too early or the seeds won't ripen. Some people say you can cut the pod & ripen it in a vase of water in the house but we've never had any luck getting seeds from any that didn't ripen attached to the plant, out in the garden. You also have to protect the pods from rain as they will rot if they get too wet- we go out & "milk" the water out of the pods after a hard rain- what fun!!??
Be aware that dahlias don't come true to the parents when you collect seeds, so even if you're collecting all AA or A sized seeds you won't get all AA or A sized seedlings- esp. if you grow other types, smaller ones, etc. You will get a lot of bad seedlings & if you're pressed for space it's not worth messing with. We plant upwards of 300-600 seedlings a year & in the first year we cull all but 100-200 of them. Over the next 5 years those are culled down to about 20 that are worth introducing.
The only way to be sure to increase your collection of big dahlias & share them with others is to cut up the clumps because they are clones of the mother plant- imagine the disappointment of those you give seed to thinking they'll be a nice big fully double AA & they grow it all season & it's nothing like what you thought it was going to be.
Nice seedlings plantlady2...........#3 reminds me of Spartacus/Vassio Meggos in form and I've always been partial to the yellows.....been growing Edna C, Laredo
and Inland Dynasty for several seasons. Send some of those seedlings to us at the Eastern Trial Garden next season.
Dahlia Boy
Welcome. That's how it starts.... "I picked up a tuber at Home Depot." Sounds like you are quite taken by your bountiful blooms. Good for you!
Everything you need to learn about is right at the link below, and conveniently located in your state.
Yes, unless you live in a mild zone of CO, you really should plan to dig them up, or prepare to lose them. That would be tragic!
Digging, storing, and dahlia suppliers links are all contained in the link or on many previous threads here. But feel free to ask more questions, someone will answer eventually.
Seed grown plants will generally go on to produce tubers and the tubers should grow true to the plant they came from, but dahlias from seeds come from crossing two parents, so their offspring will be different. Sometimes good different, sometimes really badly different.
Check out any local dahlia associations which usually have spring sales of tubers as a fundraiser. You can get some stunning varieties at very reasonable prices.
Here's another link full of links that might be helpful. Looks like Colorado only has one dahlia society; might be worth a day trip!
Here is a link that might be useful: dahlias.net
Oooooch...online shopping! My hubby just bought me over $300 worth of tubers this year, he'll cry if he sees me looking at anymore! lol
HOWEVER...I'm already considering tulips, daffs, lilies and daylilies, and am also trying some lupins from seed this year (going to TRY) He's already hanging his head. (*but hey...at least I get his OK on what he likes and dislikes!! :D Does that make it any better? ;)
Nikki~
Hey Nikki,
As you know we had frost here Friday night and all the dahlias went to mush. eeewww. LOL. And ya, its been raining every since the frost. It was showery last weekend but I managed to lift all the dahlias.....I tried writing right on the tubers with the pencil that came with last years dahlia order but it didn't work......so I labeled them all with twist ties and paper. LOL.
You know that Costco has their bags of bulbs on right now with a $3 off coupon. I bought two more bags of Mickey Mouse tulips...they are dark yellow with red flames. So now I have over 700 bulbs to plant if it ever decides to stop raining. Maybe we all need to do the sun dance. LOL!
Sierra
We met Wayne & Eleanor at the ADS show when it was in Lane County, Or. quite a few years ago-- really nice people & do a GREAT job in putting together the ADS Classification book every year- a job guaranteed to drive anyone to distraction-- or worse!
Wyn's King Salmon won Best AA in one of the shows out there last year- can't remember which one though. I know Steve N grows it there in NY but he hasn't reported back yet this year. It's been on the head table in at least 2 shows here so far as I know- we've only been to 3 shows this year so will have to wait for the results to come out in the bulletin to see where else it won. We just won Best Triple AA with it last weekend at Fraser Valley & the Howards won Best AA & Best Triple in Show with it at Vancouver, BC two weeks before that.
Magic Touch is nice but not really a show flower - more for arranging & vases - & it's REALLY tall- it's a great color though.
I don't think dahlias ship well- esp. AA sized ones but you might find a local grower who has some that you could buy. Look on the Colorado Dahlia Society site for a grower near you & give them a call.
Goodness, hey are gorgeous! And huge!
My daughter's name is Dalya (same sounding, different spelling) and she's only 4 yo, but, maybe, by the time she gets married, I'll be able to fill her wedding with these beauties!
I need to start growing them right now!!!