3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
There is one called Walter Hardisty
it is very like Spartacus, but in pure white, don´t know if you can get it in US, but in Europe, it is wellknown.
http://www.dahliasuppliers.com/accent/images/Walter%20Hardisty_1.jpg
I live in Canada, and it so happens that the people that I ordered my tubers from this spring, happens to have Walter Hardisty! It's really pretty!!! My husband will love it also (cause it's a biggen ;)He's a fan of the Dinner plates :)
Thanks a bunch!
Nikki~
Any other requests are always welcome :D
You can see the striped duet here
I also purchased dalhia bulbs on ebay, mine came from an indivudual seller. Like yours they have yet to bloom. I have cared for them just like all the other dahlia I have. The dalhias from HD and Costco are doing great with lots of blooms. It is quite disappointing to spent the all the time and effort to get these results. This will be the last purchase on ebay for plant material I will make.
I'm still trying to figure out dahlias. I'm in the Sierra foothills and it's frequently 100+ and very dry during the summer. In shade they have a few blooms so I planted in sun this year--even fewer blooms that just started in August. Perhaps I don't have them deep enough for the heat, perhaps they need morning sun and afternoon shade (which I don't really have), perhaps I'm feeding them incorrectly or not watering them enough. I see a few people successfully growing dahlias here but I don't know their secrets. My dahlias come from a variety of sources, though e-bay is not one of them.
Here are a couple more in bloom now.
Pink Daybreak
Sparticus (this pic does it no justice....it's simply stunning...rich velvety red)
Wine and Roses (very pretty little flower)
More for sure will be to follow...I just can't wait, I have my Papageno just starting to bloom...and I'm on the edge..
Nikki~
Has it been planted more than one year? If there's a huge clump of tubers competing for food in a small area you'll have lesser blooms.
Do you disbud- removing the two or more little side buds and leaving only the central one to get all the nutrients and get as large as possible? You can remove the new growth at the leaf nodes one leaf section below the buds too.
I don't know about disbranching, but someone will. I think it's done for the same reason- get the maximum nourishment to that one bloom.
The trouble is with dahlia....you plant A tuber...one.
In a few short months, what you have now is more than one.
You have maybe a clump of size and lifting it I'm sure would cause the plant and flowers to wilt badly.
Unless you can lift a sizable root ball and deposit into the its new home, I'm afraid your plants might suffer.
But hey....when there's need....
Earwigs. At the first sign of problem, this pest is number one on the list.
Try this; put a short lenght of hose...about 12 to 18 inches in the vicinity of the plants. Early in the a.m. go out with a bucket of soapy water, lift the hose and tap it over the soap. See what falls out.
Earwigs is the one big reason why I never try to take dahlia inside, they are a beggar since they hide in amongs the petals.
The earwigs like it moist and munch at night, but hide during daylight hours. Trying to see them during the day is pretty well impossible.
Another method if you dont have a handy hose to destroy....roll up a newspaper section....place it in the vicinity and dampen it. In the morning, go out and collect your newspaper.
Sometimes too, just like catching slugs and snails, lay a board....about 6" wide...12" long near the plants. In the early morning, peek under it. They're fast movers so be prepared.
Ooops, I didn't explain myself very well -- I want to start the tubers early to plant out when the soil warms to get a jump on the season.
I wondered what the easiest way is -- and the cheapest, too -- I don't want to use $30.00 worth of Potting soil! I am worried about the roots getting tangled up if I put them all on one container (just for 4 weeks until I get them in the garden.)
The pipe sections are just that plastic tube stuff. dh puts it on the band saw and cuts a bunch all at once. If you put them vertically in a newspaper-lined cardboard box shoulder-to-shoulder, fill with a couple inches of potting soil, you can put glads, caladiums and small dahlias in them in April for setting out in May. The sections I have now are 4" long (high)
Do you know what dahlia classification 'Mystery Day' is? I wanted to tag it since I like the flower so well. I have it in too much sun right now (the leaves are bleaching out) but next year I can move it elsewhere.
I got off tangent a little -- I am wondering what some easy and cheap ways are to start lots and lots of tubers to get a jump on he season. LOL! Maybe 50 total, so maybe not lots and lots to you folks! Can yo uput them all in a big box, or would they get tangled up and become too difficult to remove for garden planting?
Thanks,
Lime
You can start them in a box or carton if you want. They'll not get all tangled up in the short time they are eyeing up & sending out some feeder roots, We save the 1/2 gal milk cartons, staple the top shut, lay it on it's side & cut the side out of it, leaving enough of a flap to write the name on. Put in some potting soil or whatever medium you are using, cover most of the tuber leaving the neck out. We start 2-4 of them in there & they do well. If you want a cheap medium for starting you can use vermiculite or sterile sand. In late June I found a flat under the potting bench that had 2 dahlias in vermiculite & the plants were green, healthy & 8" high- hadn't been watered at all nor had they received any care since being shoved under there & forgotten about. They got put out in the garden & are just as beautiful as the rest of the 10,000!
I'm not giving up my coffee!
Suebb- have you noticed a lack of slugs in your neck of the woods in WA this year? There is talk here in the NW that it is a very slow slug year and while watering (yet again) tonight I can attest that my own usually slug-infested gardens are virtually devoid of the creatures even under the nicest, coolest foliage or rocks.
It's really weird.
I find one on the rare occasion but not in the gardens. Early in the season, Sluggo bait went down pretty routinely but I've used that before because nothing, nothing is going to eat my dahlias, if I can help it LOL! I've used Sluggo before regularly, but even then there were slugs 3 ft up on dahlia plants, more damage evident on other plants. Even my hosta leaves barely have a nibble out of them.
What's the slug report in your area?
thank you so much and yes I remember the name after you told me thank you so much and so glad that I found someone else who watches the program! Rita
Hello again you know I have been looking for the wittham dahlia and I have been on so many website's trying to locate it do you know who may have them? I get the name now cannot find the flower?Thank you