3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Thank you Willow :)
It bought last year and I didn't get to see the first full bloom (I got it in the ground too late and the bloom didn't get full til it was too late and Jack got ahold of it)
I'm very proud of my babes this year. I'm already looking ahead to next spring and what I'm going to get :D
Nikki, there are alot of dahlias out there, 50,000 or more, and more developed annually. Alot of them look alike and are almost impossible to tell apart from widely variable internet photos/colors, sometimes even in person.
I don't think any site would intentionally misinform you- but webmasters or contributors get tired and make mistakes lablelling or uploading photos, the same and all of us. I would go for majority rules, if you find two sites that say your flower looks like "X" call it X and don't worry further. Spend more time looking for "Y" and "Z"- that's my motto!
Yes, that's a problem at that page, sorry I forgot to mention that. You can always google "dahlia anemone" or "dahlia Formal Decorative" etc and probably get to a page that shows them. I bet other individual dahlia societies have a working photo link.
MITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't want it to be mites. I pulled my browning/papery leaves off and will give that plant a spritz tonight, just in case I have the same problem. Can't hurt anything. The leaf problem darn well better not move to any other plants.
Thanks for the info.
Hello again!
I finally got my tubers into large pots (I think it was mid-July!) and was rapidly rewarded with sprouts! I have lots of buds now, one of which is opening. Good grief--do dahlias always then decide to open one petal at a time?! Doesn't it know I really, really want to see its full flower?! LOL! What is open is so pretty (a blue-purple whose name I've forgotten--but tag has been saved!), especially since I happened to set the pots near a lovely pink rose.
Thanks, everybody!! :-)
Poochella--Knock on wood, no slug problems (they've already gorged themselves on everything else), but I had a snail on the fascia board above the second story! Nothing stops those guys, including common sense!
wow- second story slug travel just gives me the creeps! What was he after? I've endlessly wiped slime trails off a big sliding glass door- up to about 4 feet and a window at about the same height. Better to need Windex than to replace eaten plants, I guess.
Anna, sometimes you get a malformed bud. Last year I had a triple centered monstrosity that just didn't develop right. I might have hurt it early in the disbudding process, or it was just formed that way.
I have another that looks like it's smiling- much wider center and a bit of an oblong bloom- again, that's just Mother Nature having some fun.
Let a killing frost blacken all your foliage. Cut off the main stalks leaving about a 6-8 inch "handle." Some people protect the open end of the stalk from rain at this point with foil or such. I use milk cartons and what a sight that is! You should transfer a label to the stalk or a stem so you know what variety you're dealing with- alot of them look exactly alike when out of the ground!
Wait a couple days then, using a tined fork or a carefully operated shovel, loosen the soil around 3 sides of the clump. I aim for about 8 or so inches out from all sides of the stalk and about a foot deep- often they are much shallower. Then you can get under the clump and gently rock it out of the ground; sometimes using the handle stalk to help lift it. Don't know if that will hurt your perennials or not, but they should be able to be patted down in place again, no sweat.
Once out of the ground, you can gently work off the big soil bits, rocks, worms etc, then wash it all well with a hose. Some people swirl the clump in a final wash of 10% bleach water, I save that for the individual tubers because there is invariably more dirt in tiny crevices you can't get to when they're still clumped. And a worm or two. At this point I jot down the variety on a couple good tuber candidates in case the label comes off. There are good pencils available that write on damp tubers without hurting them. No Blot Ink Pencil is one. Some use Sharpies on a drier tuber.
Let your washed clump dry a few hours, or overnight in a shaded, dry, non freezing place. Then cut off tubers (see link,) to prepare for your storage method. I use gallon zip lock bags with a little vermiculite inside to let the tubers dry a bit more before final storage. The bags are labelled for each variety.
If you read back to October/November of 04 you will find no end of threads on digging, dividing, storing tubers. I am a recent convert to the Saran Wrap method and will do that again this year for its excellent results.
If you do a search of dahlia websites available, almost all of them have advice on this process and a Midwest one might have more specific pointers for your zone.
Here is a link that might be useful: digging and storing
I don't think you need to worry about heat in BC, but I wish you could squeak in a little earlier sunshine.
I have dahlias in a garden that really don't get warm sun until about 11 a.m.- 5 pm and they do fine, but 2p.m. seems late to me. Is the new place going to be just for dahlias? Maybe you could try a couple and see how they do there.
It would mainly be for dahlias yes. I'm already looking ahead for suppliers here in BC lol. I know it's only barely September, but the earlier the better (in my books lol)
Where my Dahlias are now, they get the morning sun, and when the sun goes around the side of the trailer they're rather shaded. (we live in a mobile home park and our space is limited) I would have to say the new spot would have more sunlight opposed to what they get now.
I guess I kinda answered my own question hu? lol.
Nikki~
Ok, I wasn't paying attention before I clicked submit...I made a mistake when I posted prior. In ref. to my white dahlia, I didn't mean White Lady..I ment White Linda. I found a pic of it and it looks really close to what mine is. Here is a pic of mine, and the second pic is of one I found online. What do you think?
Poochella: It is on my list to send to you. Last night when I was watering, I broke this blossom off- bummer. Since we are not getting those 90 degree days, the flowers are lasting soooo much longer. YIPPEE
Gorgeous! Looks very similar to my Nenekazi.