3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Thank you plant lady !! :)Your flowers are soooo beautiful ! I am so envious... however...I was wondering how a dahlia can look like the 9204 seedling green thang O_O...Pretty scary lol...
Another thing I'd like to touch on. I have been looking for this particular blue star dahlia. I love blue flowers especially this one but could not order it as I live in Finland and they don't ship it to me. I am hoping I find it from another website instead of Breck's.
The "Green Thang" was a scarey looking thing for sure but a lot of people loved it! Don't know if it did the same thing this year or not- will have to go out to the big garden & have a look. It was a dahlia that just gave us bracts & no petals-- maybe this year it's doing something different. If so I'll take another picture of it & put it in the album- unless Walt beat me to it & yanked it up & fed it to the cows!
Don't get your hopes up over any dahlia advertized as "Blue" anything. There aren't any blue genes in dahlias & since blue is a primary color & can't be mixed up from 2 or more other colors there won't ever be a truely blue dahlia.
I like to bunch them for show, but leave a good foot between. They will fill in and look even more massive. I 'm glad to hear you are sharing tubers. That way if something happens in the winter to one batch, there is another batch to fall back on. I usually make that a condition of a neighbourhood share.
Wow, alyrics you have the touch, or the luck of the IRish- something!
I was saddened to be watering the other day and find Jomanda, one I really wanted to see, lying inert on the ground, far from it's towering 5 foot former self. I restaked it, but many of the best stems were already crooked having aimed for the sun while sideways. I am hoping the new ones will behave and I've yelled at it to "straighten up!" The plant seems to be carrying on unphased by its little sidetrip, so I don't think anything was broken.
Well, I plunged part of the top of the stem into perlite and water and it doesn't seem entirely dead (I do that with pretty much everything that breaks off in the garden - sometimes things root and sometimes they don't). What was left in the pot is showing some regrowth, so at least the tuber will be alive for next year. But for our short season, I doubt there will be much hope for a bloom this year. On top of it all, it seems all my dahlias are "dallying" - few signs of blooms - and at this time of year when many other plants are looking tired and faded, the dahlias were supposed to kick in and exclaim "ta-da!! here we are to save the day!" Sigh...maybe by the end of September....
Anna
Do they have buds? How long have they been planted? The rule of thumb is 90 days from planting to flower time. Some varieties are very slow to form buds and bloom. I call them slackers. I say it out loud right in front of them. It doesn't rush them any, it just makes me feel better.
I'd go straight to the folks who know, at the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: N Carolina link
Got some photos for you to check if your bugs are the same as mine.
Here is a link that might be useful: Cucumber beetles
Thank you for the photos - I recognized "mine" in the green ones with the black dots; I also have many beetles of a smaller size, also green, but without dots - not sure, may be they just youngsters. I also tried to pick them, but it does not seem to help a lot, even I tried to do it daily for some time. Insecticidial soap worked, but it was not as efficient as I would hope for What I DO NOT recommend is to use the Spray Oil (on the basis of petrolim oil). It may be OK for leaves, but it burned up the flowers. I am still looking for something more efficient. I will try your recommendtion Thanks again! Will let you know results
First of all- don't expect your dahlia seedlings to look anything like the parent plant- they won't- too many gene combinations for that to happen. The seeds themselves look kind of like flattened earwigs- complete w/ 2 "feelers" on one end-- must be all that time they spend with the little monsters as blooms!
You can see pictures of dahlia seeds in our "Seedlings" album at this site--
Here is a link that might be useful: Wynne's Dahlia Albums
And here I am wanting to print a copy of that great photo JRoot, because I MISS THE GREY SQUIRRELS! They have been driven out by an entire, growing colony of red squirrels who chirp incessantly, constantly raid the bird feeders. Thankfully they don't seem to do much more gardening than to plant pockets of sunflowers here and there (excllent germination rate BTW.) I have seen about one visit from one grey squirrel annually for several years. I saw one last week. It was like a T-rex ambled over it looked so huge compared to the red rodents, and equally rare.
Thanks for your great photo and save the dahlias!
Poochella, watch for a truck load of the &%#* grey rodents coming your way! I have your address! :-P I'll be happy to spring for the freight. Those varmints bite off everything by the fence. Last year, they even took ALL my peaches off the tree.
Jroot, great photo. How come I thought you were a woman all this time? Sorry about that.
Just five????? Well....Hmmmmmm.... I can tell you that I always plant Kelvin Floodlight and Thomas A. Edison. Like everyone else, I get new favorites every year. I am waiting for a few new ones to bloom so........ To be honest, I love them all!!!!!!!!!!!
Spike, Zorro, Edna C, Moonlight Sonata, Almand's Climax, Kidds Climax, Hamari Gold, Hamari Accord, Highlighter, Cinnabar, Bonaventure, Feisty Freda, (oh my gosh- you've got to be kidding-- dahlia growers can't count to just 5!)-- & all of the 6,000 seedlings in our Big Garden!
Oh my well you mentioned your first problem which is that it didnt have any sunshine and the fertilizer may have made them stems mushy but someone else could probably be more help in the department but my dahlias are being finicky this year and not doing well at all maybe its something in the air...
As you may know, dahlias love sun, they do not like wet feet, so fast draining soil is best. Also, if you want to grow the same variety that you bought...seed is not the way. You can propagate from root division, root cuttings and the like. Basically it is like cloning. If you grow from seed, there is no guarantee what type of flower you will get! I would place the plant in a warm sunny location. Give it a mild fetilizing of an organic liquid like Dr. Earth. Trim off the dead parts. Dahlia are pretty resilient..Good Luck...
I've noticed slight variations in colour dependent upon where it's planted.
Mine like sun, but also relief from the hot afternoon sun. At least 6 hours is good. I also find that if they have to work a little to get more light, they will grow taller.
We used to grow Sterling Silver & it always had a hint of Lavender on it's tips.