3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I have blamed myself for not amending the soil enuf, etc. etc.
Then a bad year with pocket gophers did in my old reliables.
So I tried 5-gal pots. Limited success.
I'm ready once more, this time armed with wire mesh small enuf to protect from any re-visiting gopher.
Drooling over the online catalogs!! What beauties there are! My garden needs them!
Some dahlias are just better keepers than others. It's all in their genes. The late Earl Huston- he of the Huston dahlia beauties bemoaned the fact that he got a non-keeper dahlia parent mixed in some of his newer stock & they won't keep for love nor money. A lot of the Camano dahlias are this way & Dick & Susan Ambrose are the first to admit it- & always tell the public to grow pot tubers of them to keep them. Some dahlia tubers grow with those skiny little necks that dry out or break off at the drop of a hat so they don't keep worth a darn, either. Of course, it's always the ones you don't like as much that don't keep!
Being my first year with dahlias and all...I'm no expert. Sounds like Poochella knows what she's talking about. I've found that a 'frog' does nicely in holding up blooms to show. I'm talking about those flat round things that have little spikes sticking up to hold the stems. I also use a little bleach in my wash water for vases and bowls for flowers, then they are squeaky clean for the next time - no bacteria. I have a lot of short 15 - 24" bush varieties this year and the flower stems are very short - maybe maximum 4" and often just an inch or 2. I've been using small pretty bowls with a frog to hold 3 or 4 blossoms. They come out looking rather Asian in influence.
poochella has excellent ideas on preparing dahlias for "show" as i call it.....many friends cant stop looking at them....ive been gardening many years....but really got into dahlias bout 5 yrs ago...and love them.....they take up more of my space every year.....good luck..
We use green metal fence posts to tie up in the gardens where we grow dahlias for show. They are tied up about every foot or so. I don't think you'll ever find anything that doesn't show & will hold up the big dahlias well. I know some growers use tomato cages & some use rebar but we've found for the big ones that the fence posts work best- & they're green so sort of look OK. In the big garden for rows of seedlings & seed parents we use Christmas tree twine & string it through holes in crossbars-- see the pictures in our "Seedling" album. The picts. are towards the end around pages 5 - 6 -7 or so.
Here is a link that might be useful: Wynne's Picture Albums
plantlady2....we also like the green metal fence posts for the large tall dahlias.....for the shorter to medium ones we use concrete wire made into large cages...but i also put a stake by them when the tuber is planted.....and tie to it when small.....
I checked the Big List & couldn't find anyone selling the Zufall introductions but I did find them in the 20 year Composite Listing of dahlias so there might be a chance that someone out there still grows some of them but doesn't show or sell them. You should ask on a couple of the other dahlia message sites like the one below. Good luck & sorry I couldn't find much out for you.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlias
Yes, Diane- the Green Thang is quite a character- every year we get a few of this kind of mutant- one more reason not to sell seeds. We usually take one of them to the shows & amongst all the perfection, guess who gets the most attention??? Of course it's the Green Thangs & EEEKK!!- probably one of the most asked for dahlias this year & with the worst form of any cactus!! The people have spoken & they like WEIRD >:)
Can we exchange with each other on this forum? Why does this have to be so difficult?
Let's get back there and voice our requests for a dahlia exchange forum again. The new owners would do wonders to do something positive for Garden Web, given all the skitters and uproar about the new policies in effect today. I think it would be much easier to trade if we had a separate forum for such.
Here is a link that might be useful: Exchange request page again