3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Jim, you'll just have to get a digital camera and post some pictures next year. I am glad that you have had a great year. The dahlias are so colourful, and such magnificent flowers that I love them all ( well most of them. I do have some preferences. LOL )
Hi i cannot send to the U.S.A because of the border if I tryed you would not get because of costoms which I hate. There are alot of dahlia in the U.S.A. I have another name for this dahlia which is show and tell you can go throw the dahlia socity and bye it for 3 dollars. do you have any pictures of your dahlia can I please have the address to go and see them. I love looking at pictures of dahlia. Where have you brought most of your dahlias?
Are you using your own seed or did you buy seed? If it's your own seed you may not have let the seeds ripen on the plant long enough to be viable. I plant all our seeds in full flats in Miracle Grow potting soil, in the spring. They are watered from the top & have heat on the bottom.
Look at your seed. If it looks somewhat a flattened earwig- dark in color & quite heavy & full then it is ripe & should germinate. You can also try "bouncing" it on the table- if it bounces it'll probably germinate- I know it sounds crazy but an old dahlia grower gave us this hint & we tried it for a few & sure enough- the unripe ones don't bounce!! Needless to say I don't bounce all our seeds- but it was good for a laugh when I told the husband what he had to do with the thousands of seeds he picks every year!
Although I have been growing Dahlias for years I haven't done so seriously I love so many kinds of plants and in the last three years we have moved twice. That is a big set back for gardening
Haven't read much about division and plastic wrapping. I shall take some time to look this subject up further
Thanks all
Bernie: all your research efforts are paying off! Give your wife another bouquet and a hug! I sense Saran momentum gathering here. I was sold after one season and am wondering what on earth I will do with the 4 cubic feet of vermiculite sitting in my garage.
Poochella,
Emporer is a late season bloomer. This year the first bloom was September 22 about 2 weeks later than last year due to the weather. I also have Thomas Edison and it blooms earlier than Emporer. Last year we had an early October frost so I didn't have much time to enjoy Emporer. I was determined to have a better year with it so I planted it in a prime spot so it didn't have to compete for sunlight and gave it a lot of TLC. I think my efforts paid off. It was a very good year for Emporer.
I bring many vases of my dahlias to my store for my customers to enjoy. Their reactions are priceless. The day I brought a large vase with the Emporer dahlias one customer went over and touched them and in a loud, high- pitched voice said, "Oh, they're real!" Boy, was she surprised. She thought they were artificial. That made my day.
Oh my gosh- I checked your member page. You grow a key lime? I just can't picture having such a wonderful fruit in my yard.
You are in that tricky warm zone and there is a lack of hot climate dahlia posters here. We need to rally the troops and beg some of the Southern dahlia growers to offer their input on how best to handle digging there.
Congratulations on finding tubers. I have two cuttings that I'm eager to dig up. Only one bloomed. The other was a sprout leftover int he garden from last year, in my way for a new tuber in May, but I couldn't kill it! So I plunked the broken off sprout into the ground and off it went: no rooting hormone, no potting soil, no nothin'--- it's now 2 ft tall and I can't wait to excavate to see what I find.
Wow!I had no Idea that you could just yank out a shoot and it will grow!My key lime is still Quite smallish because I just got it last year.My grandma uses the lime's leave for cooking and I like to make drinks out of their fruit.Can you grow key lime in where you live?
Willow, I hope you're going somewhere warm and dry for a change of pace. Have a good trip.
Granny, speed is my middle name! (Like a slug slithering along the forest floor here...) We must have been typing simultaneously.
PDX Jules, great observation on the water absorption. I did that digging test one year and was appalled at how little depth a couple gallons of water penetrated around a dahlia. I think I used peat moss back then. Now I avoid it unless digging a brand new bed, and will even use it sparingly there. I like compost as the very best thing for loosening soil and allowing quick absorption of water, mulching etc. I can't, for the life of me figure why Swan Island says "use no compost whatsoever" in their literature. It is my garden savior out here in the rockpile we inhabit. Maybe they have really rich soil in Oregon?
Jroot did/do you teach math, perchance?
I agree, dig every year, or two at the most, and save yourself a lot of grief with gnarly tuber masses. You will have healthier plants (if they were healthy to begin with) and extra tubers to try out on the new dahlia exchange forthcoming.
I wish I would have taken a photo of a clump I'd left in a protected spot under eaves and next to the garage for 5 years. The mother tuber was a foot long and about 3 inches wide with a solid mass of mess surrounding her. If memory serves, I was able to get access to only 5-6 tubers out of 20 or so present. They just get too intermingled to easily harvest.
Hi I also just love to see my dahlia on the kitchen table. I also join the society and went to the show I have got a list of dahlia to buy for next year. I allready have 40 and on my list i have another 20. I think i have a little problem where will i plant them. Too bad there is no field near by. next year problem. Anna
Hi Yield Dustable Wettable Sulphur available at farm stores, maybe a hardware store. Haven't seen it at the big box stores like Lowe's or Home Depot. Nurseries should have something similar, probably needlessly expensive.
Andrea I wonder if Schneider's would have it?