3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I second that! My dahlias are getting munched on too! My Chilsons Pride seems to be a favorite. I know it is from grasshoppers, I have seen them sitting on the flowers happily noshing. I wish my cat would figure out where the happy hunting grounds are...
Thank you both. I have several dahlia beds and am plotting and scheming to get rid of perennials I could care less about to make more room for dahlias, dahlias, dahlias LOL! This is really a bad hobby!
Yes, dahlia boy I belong to Puget Sound Dahlia Association but I am the worst member having gone to only a couple meetings. Always make it to their tuber sales though!
I have been to the Mid Island website many times and find it very useful. Good luck to you and your group as you host the big National Show. It is a wonder to behold all those blooms in one place. I went to the one in Seattle two years ago and was just agog for days. Am sure you will put on an equally splendid event for the east coast visitors.
I'm getting irritated at those photobucket icons showing up instead of a photo. Maybe I've done some editing that caused it. My apologies.
A few more new ones that I like.
Skipley Spot of Gold. Lavender with each petal tipped in a spot of gold! Just starting out seen here:
Fully open here:
Another Skipley creation- SKipley Spot which is a rich vibrant red with each petal dabbed in white.
Sea Oro is a rich orangey yellow ID, Large flower on sturdy stems
Brandon James- a tiny 2 inch bloom in apricot/yellow with white tips. Reminds me of a rounded tiny Seattle dahlia in color.
Alpen X- Golden pink 4 inch blooms on 3 ft plant, great stems. It tends to fade if not cut early enough, but is beautiful as a cut flower.
Little bitty "Buffie G" a small 2 inch bloom in pale pink and yellow blended on a 3 ft plant. Lots of blooms that arrive late in the season, at least here.
Cafe Au Lait- large B size ID in ivory with pink undertones. 3.5 ft plant and about one inch stems LOL!
Closeer up on Cafe Au Lait
Clearview David, stunning lavender/white with each petal outlined in a deeper lavender. Nice!
CLoser to Clearview David. This is among my newest favorites of the year.
Crazy Legs! A stellar form and nice orange with red reverse petals; much smaller at 3 inches across than I anticipated.
Embrace- pale orange and yellow. Mine is squished into a crowded space but still doing okay.
Similar color on Hamilton Lillian. Fewer blooms on this one but well worth the wait.
Hillier Tanunda- too bad it's blurry as it is a beautiful little formal decorative. Maybe 4 inches across. The bush got shaded early by giant neighbor dahlias and was slow to take off. Now growing and I hope to see a few more blooms in the next month.
Jessie G is really impossible to capture accurately. Deep purple on a wonderful ball. Mine is over 6 ft, bloom tops at 7 ft. Very tough to support in a wind or rain!
Juul's All Star cute little orchid- mine is Purple and yellow, tons of blooms at any time and an equal number of bees buzzing to it.
That's enough for one night, but there are more.
My limited experience has been that plant health/size above ground doens't necessarily mean nice tubers. Conventional wisdom is cut back on Nitrogen late in the season for healthy tubers, and Potash promotes healthy root/tuber/bulb growth in general. Wood ash, sulfate of potash, etc. will build stronger tubers.
I had some in a dry crawlspace in a gallon size zip-loc bag and never got them planted last summer. They had long, white sprouts about 12" long. I assumed they were dried out but when I was cleaning in June the sprouts were still tender. I plopped them in the ground and away they went, so they will store for at least 21 months because I dig in October. Cool and dark with good and careful moisture control is the key. Pack in sawdust, peatmoss, paper bags, or anything that will allow a little airflow but helps retain moisture.
You can plant dahlias in beds w/ other flowers but we don't because our garden surounding the house is in the woods & dahlias need a lot more sun than our yard gets. So they pretty much get stuck out in the big garden in the field- which has to get plowed & disked every year so permanent stuff can't get planted out there. What to do??? Cutting down trees isn't in the cards- the husband has cut down all he's going to & topping was supposed to be done a few years ago but is still waiting to be done- so, the inner gardens have the shady stuff in them & the outer gardens have the sun-loving dahlias in them
Sometimes they can surprise you, too & a plant that was 3' tall one year so you put it mid-bed can end up 6' the next year & tower over the plants behind it. The whole bush does look good & they do well in the mixed gardens of friends of ours.
Hi Poochella,
I got distracted by making a living. I had to teach some classes in August and preparing and traveling used up the month. Fortunately, in the meantime, my dahlias kept on growing. Even the ones I stupidly planted on the NE side of the garage.
None are the "towering giants" but doing well enough to give me some lovely blooms and make me want to buy more next spring.
Where are you in WA? How close is your climate to Vernonia? We had some very cold days that included about 6" of snow in early December. I have a water garden in a tub and there was at least 4" of solid ice on top of it. I'm told it was a fairly typical winter.
Hi, well work certainly puts a crimp on gardening doesn't it? If you've got blooms then you are a success, no matter the height. 4 ft is average for the taller varieties, I guess.
I am east of suburban Seattle and we are also prone to freeze, snow, or prolonged cold spells due to elevation. Lots and lots of winter rain as well. I don't know Veronia specifically, or much else about OR climates, but if your water froze 4 inches thick, it sounds like you would be wise to plan to dig up your dahlias after a freeze. Store them (see any number of threads here on 'how to') and enjoy them all over next year perhaps aiming for a southern exposure or as much sun as possible.
How to dig link below and other great info at that website.
Here is a link that might be useful: dahlias.net
I'm in Michigan, zone 5. My dahlias are fantastic this year. Even the small annual ones I planted are doing great. The are the size of bushel baskets. Many of my dahlias were planted in a new bed this year, which I enriched with peat moss and manure. I always use bone meal when I plant the tuber. It sure worked well this year.
Did you use Saran Wrap to store your tubers last year? If so, how did it work? Oddly enough, I've been able to overwinter my dahlias by just tossing them, clean and dry, into a box in our basement. No vermiculite or any other covering. I've had to make sure they stand upright, otherwise the new growth in spring is all wonky before I even notice. Mother Nature should not reward my laziness like that...it only encourages me!
The Picture Trail account you saw last year could have been cancelled or changed. (?) I found the method for you on a web page, but I could not link directly to it because of problems GW has been having with spam.
If you Google: "No Fuss: Store Your Tubers in Plastic Wrap", you should be able to find the page you want.
If I wind up taking cuttings from the sport, I'll save some for you ladies....
DB
Fabulous, Dahliaboy! Whatever I can trade you, is yours.