3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
There are many single dahlias available for purchase. Look for ones called "Single Dahlias" or "Novalties" and buy them in different colors. I love mixing them through my flower beds, and bees LOVE them. Where as bees are having a tough time of it now, I like seeing them so happy on my single dahlias. TO me, these look like butterflies dancing in the wind among my roses and lilies and other flowers. I'm thinking of planting some with my beans and tomatoes to encourage my friends the bees.
Yes. I think this might be d. Coccinea.. I specially ordered single bedding dahlias, and the disappointing wine coloured ones I ordered are this type. In any case, I plan to divide the orange one come October, and spread it all over the garden. With any luck, the spell will stay unbroken, and I'll have a spectacular show of this weird orange next season.
Nice Steve - I have never dried spring flowers to use later - I like that idea, and I didn't know yarrow could be dried at all. I especially like those poppy seed pods and the reddish grass tassels in your arrangement.
In my vase - I think the Dahlias in the center are McAllister's Pride and Touche and there is a Ginger Willo pom. There are lavender and white Tower Asters, a few Zinnia, Black Dragon Coleus, Angle Wing Begonia, a spike of Liatrus, some of a similar sedum to yours, (but before it turned red), and nasturtium vine. I had a lot of nasturtium growing last year, and really liked using it in arrangements. It held up much better than I expected it to.
I know this one is a bit of a crazy mish mash of flowers. I think the reason I am drawn to it is that I had never used so many different textures all together before.
Here is another one with nasturtium, not a very balanced arrangements, but I love the linear nasturtium. The red Dahlia is Dana Iris, the purples are NOIDs, there is a green envy Zinnia in the back and some of the same sedum.
I find the idea of using vines like Nasturtium for greenery rather intriguing. I've seen ivy used in arrangements too though usually they are low lying table arrangements with the ivy trainling a long the table. I've used Vinca occaionally and it hold up very well. Another vine I haven't tried but seems like it would work well is sweet potato, either edible or ornamental would work. I know the vines root easily in water so they would have a very good vase life likely putting out roots and growing in the water.
The gold Achillea filipendulina yarrow cultivars like Coronation Gold, Cloth of God, Parker's, etc., dry very easily and hold their shape and color well. Just cut them at their prime and hang them upside down in a warm dry location. The other types of yarrow are much more prone to wilting though they could probably be dried in silica gel.
I've recently learned of Hilltop Gardens located in North Carolina. They specialize in dahlias and may have more heat tolerant varieties than other vendors. Symi77, I can see how some part shade would help keep your dahlias cooler but don't the tree roots draw too much moisture away from the dahlias?
I have not had good results from Touché. For me they rarely came out fully double so after trying it for several seasons I have now trashed it. My climate is also hot and dry in summer which tends to make dahlias open up in the center. Some varieties are more susceptible to this problem than others. You may want to consider varieties that are listed as being more heat tolerant. Check out the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Heat Tolerant Dahlias
Looks like Thrips damage to me. They bite the plant in the summer than leave a virus which only appears many months later in some cases esp. bulbs and tubers. Try cutting back all the foliage and keep the tubers cold for several months if you don't already live in a cold winter area. As soon as new leaves appear in spring spray with Neem to stop the critturs coming back. Good luck - ian.
We get this type of occurence (possibly the same pest), every year with various perennials and shrubs, such as Philadelphus, Phlox and Rudbeckia.
We never see what causes it, but at a certain stage of growth (or time of the year), the leaves get twisted and distorted. After some time, new growth appears, which is unaffected, but we never get around to actually spraying the plants.
don't know your climate, whether Dahlias like it. July could be somewhat too early,
I plant mine mid- late May, in July they just about start flowering (need to check my fotografs)
apart from that: you would`t bother with seedling Dahlias, as they are of mixed parentage and will show all kind of different colors.
and it could ruin your timing, assuming that you don't have a greenhouse at your disposal?
The Dahlia seeds sold in garden centers are often from short ones (perhaps additional filler flowers) but nothing really amazing.
Do you know what kind of colors you need/ want?
I would decide on the colors, then pick some named cultivars.
I gather that growers like Swan Island (did I get that right?) have recommendations for cut flower cultivars (long stems, long vase life).
quantity is tricky,
mine (mostly water lily types) produced about 2-5 flowers when harvesting about once a week.
you could ask on the cut flower forum about quantities, lots of people selling theirs on the market so they could give you a better guess/ calculation.
did you grow Dahlias before?
Well, best of luck,
bye, Lin
I am in zone 5/6 Pennsylvania, and the earliest I've gotten dahlias that we're suitable for cutting was July 15... But that was also starting them from tubers mid-march so they were 12-18 inches tall before setting them out. Even so, most of mine were blooming mid August.
Remember, if you are thinking of purchasing tubers, that typically the larger the flower, the later the bloom.
The vendor Lin mentioned also sends dahlias all over the US at decent rates. If you choose to try growing your own dahlias,that is great! You'll have lots of fun learning about them! BUT have a backup plan in case that cute bunny over in the neighbor's yard comes over for a dahlia snack before the plants can fend for themselves!
Best of luck!
CC
Lin, thanks for posting this! I watched/listened to most of the thirty-five minute presentation while my furnace was being repaired.
Wish the poster of the 'video' had asked to use his slides, as it was frustrating to not see what he was talking about. For those not wanting to watch but want the general ideas, this is what I got out of it...
-Look for dahlia varieties that have constant flowers with blooms above the foliage (many competition varieties do not make good garden varieties)
-when pairing dahlias with other garden plants, blend lacy leaves with broad leaves, light with dark, pastel with vivid colors
Anyone else got another good pointer from the presentation to share here?
flipping through youtube, I came across that snippet of film.
Is at least 12 years old, when the tropical garden (that Fergus Garrett talks about, they use the Dahlias for that spot) is in its third season and Christopher Lloyd still alive.
Amazing.
Still need to listen through that talk again and take notes about plant combinations.
take care, bye, Lin
Here is a link that might be useful: garden for which Dahlias are used: Great Dixter
You might ask Teresa of Cowlitz River Dahlias via email if she grows it. She imports from overseas often, but doesn't offer for sale to the general public until she has plenty of stock. If she doesn't grow it, you might pique her interest to get it in the future.
So variegation and bicolor is not created from recessive genes, but from unstable genes... That's gotta sit a while on my skull before absorbing! Time to Google transposons and McClintock.
A very experienced dahlia grower has said that multiple attempts to grow Harvey Koop with variegation has failed, and the grower blames the soil for it. The grower claims that when the reverted Harvey Koop tubers are given to other growers with different soil, the variegation comes back. I suppose unstable genes makes more sense, if the theory about the soil is accurate. Your thoughts, Ted?
Transposons are DNA sequences within a gene that cause genes to to turn on and off in a somewhat random pattern. They cause the red pigment formation to turn on and off, creating variegation. Because they are unstable, they can sometimes "jump too far" or some such thing and affect another portion of the DNA and stay there for awhile. Later they may relocate back to the pigment producing area and again the flower would be variegated. I do not know what environmental factors affect transposons but have heard of this happening over and over to variegated flowers. Many times the variegation never again appears. I doubt that it is soil related but it may be related to excess heat.
And dahlias do not have "recessive genes" in the diploid sense because dahlias are octaploid, For a dahlia to be homozygous for a recessive trait 8 genes must be the same whereas in diploid plants only 2 are the same. It is nearly impossible to breed dahlias with all 8 genes being the same. If you know how to do it let me know.
Yes, CC, the vary pale pink stellar is V's DF. The "Pink Cactus" is an end of the season HH Cotton Candy. Not sure about the "Red WL" It might be an end of the season HH Black Widow, or something that is usually deep purple like Fremont;s Memory.
Hard to tell at the end of the season just before frost! Just below the dark red is a HH Butterscotch and I think the last of the Hart's Pink Tickled Pink. Right below it are a few very pale, fading away Verrone's Rosalyn.
Hollyhill Court Jester's most outstanding trait is the variability of the flowers. Nearly all of them have some white on them. Here at Hollyhill, we have found that Court Jester is not as vigorous as most dahlias and is a bit below average tuber maker. At it's best, it is a great flower. But you have treat it well to get nice flowers. It's parent Hollyhill Jester is much more vigorous and easy to grow and it makes lots of tubers. However, most of it's flowers are solid red and just a few have the white blotches. The parent of Hollyhill Jester was Hollyhill Jokers Wild. It has very consistent white splotches on nearly every flower. It is still sold by a few nurseries and is worth trying if you like this type of flower.
Last fall I wrapped my dahlia tubers in newspapers and put them in paper bags. I checked them in January and they looked okay. Yesterday I checked three of the tubers (I have 16) and they seemed dried up. I put the three in water overnight. They appeared a bit better this morning. I have them drying off before I wrap them again. I have to take a look at the remainder. Should I do what I did or something else. Any help would be appreciated. Maxyck
Maxyck, I don't think that wrapping tubers in newspaper is such a good idea. As you have observed they will lose too much moisture.
There is excellent information about digging, dividing and storing dahlias on the web at the following link:
http://www.dahlias.net/dahwebpg/TuberStor/TuberStor1.htm
Another storage method that I have used successfully is to dig the entire clump and pack it into a 5 gallon bucket surrounded by regular garden soil. It is fine for the soil to have a little bit of moisture but you certainly don't want it to be water logged. I store the bucket somewhere where the temperature will stay cold but not freezing during the winter. You can divide the clump in the spring or replant the whole thing.