3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
They work very well- esp. if you're growing in pots. I think the Colorado Dahlia Society site has a bit about tomato cages on it- they turn them up-side down but when I used them in pots I just stuck them in the normal way & they held the plant up fine. The only problem might be if you have really tall dahlias they might flop over the top.
I have a few tomato cages, bought several as well as those 4' square cages. Last weekend, a neighbor cleaned up his garage and threw out five 4' metal plant stands.... They are sturdy and when turned up side down, they stand just like tomato cages shown on the Colorado Dahlia site, except taller. I just used one for my brand new 'Camano Pet'. I might have to add a taller stake later. I use bricks to anchor the stand for now. I'll have to see if the bricks will be enough.
Do gophers do this to your lawn and gardens? This was early March and there were plenty of mounds inside the garden beds as well.
One year I stood in amazement and watched a 2 ft tall dahlia jig left, then right, back left and right. Thought I was losing the last remnants of my mind! Seconds later, out of the shredded leaf mulch popped a mole!
Thanks poochella for those measurements, that is exactly the information I was needing. I don't have a lawn but yes they do that to my garden. They are devastating. Last year they ate three 50' long rows of perennials in a matter of a few weeks. I built a homemade gopher blaster this year and I expect to be rid of them by the end of summer. Blasting their tunnels and caving them in to rid my garden of the network they have mined throughout the years should help get a handle on the situation. Combined with trapping and wire cages, I may be able to keep a perennial around for more than half a season. Someday I will tell you about the corn stalks they were pulling down in their as I stood there and watched. Dana
They are usually planted horizontally because some can have very long tubers & you don't have to dig as deep a hole to cover them if as you would if planted vertically. Some people plant them vertically & declare the tubers are then in neat rows around the stem - easier for cutting but someone in our dahlia society did an experiment -- some planted one way, some the other & brought them to a meeting in the fall. We couldn't really tell which had been planted which way on most of them. A very few looked like they were in rows but the rest had the usual clump.
Thanks for your input. I think I'll leave the vertical tubers as they are. I've placed another order from Swan Island--these will go directly in the ground, so I'll plant them horizontally. If nothing else, I'll learn something from this!
Poochella, land is plentiful and cheap here--otherwise I couldn't afford this piece of the forest!
Valerie
After 6 years of having started my garden, something was munching on my oriental lillies and hydrangea this spring. I went out at night with a flashlight, only to find three caterpillars. I guess there may be more, but just getting rid of these three seems to have helped the plants a lot. At least they are growing faster than they are being devoured so far.
I don't understand where they get that Crazy Love is a short border dahlia? It took mine a few years to get going but last year I had a massive plant that was taller then 6" and completely submerged my big Othello rose bush. That thing must have been atleat 6' each way before the lower branches lay down and spread! I could pick a whole bucket of just "Crazy Love flowers every second day off it!.
IT really is a beautiful flower!
And the edging is more purple then pink, but very delicate. A great cutting flower!
Zone 4, and your last frost date is Monday ? ? ?
Interesting, I am zone 5, and our last frost date, as printed in yesterday's paper is May 30th.
I would be getting them uncovered in the warm days, but still be prepared for a frost when you can cover them with an old sheet or such.
There are theories about the development of tubers if they are planted deep. I would think that if the lower leaves were removed, and that is all that is done, then there would be no significant difference. However, if there was some hilling of soil, or the plants were planted deep enough to cover the defoliaged leaf node, then there may be more tubers formed. That is just a thought though with no scientific proof to back it up.
OK, It's actually about a week away, but am afraid if I don't get the started dahlias in their assigned beds the beds will be lost to my 150 annuals I have to set. Figure to put them down 4 to 6 inches and fill in the hole around the shoot as growth continues.
Set my "new green stakes" in the beds. That should discourage annual setting!!!! Do you think 40 Blue Butterfly delphiniums (the little short edging delphiniums I started myself--about 12 inches tall) around the edge of the bed would have room?
Or would 4 or 5 magic fountain white delhpinium with a dark bee be good down the center of each bed instead of the center row of dahlias? I'm setting the dahlias 2 foot apart in all directions, and if I eliminate the center row to delphinium_____ suggestions welcome. Or would alyssum hanging down over the edges of the raised beds be better???
We are getting similar weather now as well, but if one looks at the long range, I still see a lot of dips in the evening temperature. This Thursday, we go down to just above freezing, but the next day will be in the 80's. Strange weather extremes!
HI,
I wouldn't chance it I'm zone 6 and it has been pretty cold here I'm not planning on planting any Dahlia out until June.
I left a Dahlia seedling out on my front porch (enclosed by glass windows) the other night it was around 40 degrees and the seedling turned to mush.
Today I read in a gardening magazine not to plant dahlias until the soil temp is a steady 65 degrees.
You could start them in pots inside the house to get a head start. I have some tubers in 10 inch hanging baskets from last years flowers they are doing great soooo tall!
Just be sure to remove the hanging device if you use them.
Good Luck!
Laura
I bought seven dahliettas last summer. I put six of them in a half-size whiskey barrel planter with good-draining soil (lots of perlite), located where they get full sun most of the day. They were given a good sprinkle of time-release fertilizer over the soil surface to feed them for several months. One went into a garden with marigolds.
With deadheading, they did very well right up until cold weather. I dug up a couple to try and overwinter, but they shriveled up (should have wrapped the tubers in saran/cling wrap.) Much to my surprise, though, four out of the five left in the planter have come up and are putting out leaves like crazy in the past couple of weeks. (I'm in Zone 6, but the weather has been more like a z 7 or 8.) The one I left in the garden has come up too, tho' it's obvious slugs or some other critter has been snacking on the leaves, under the pine straw mulch.
I'll fertilize them again and hope that they flower this year, too. They really don't get too large, so if you're only planting one, a 6" or 8" pot should be roomy enough.
The only thing I didn't care for about dahliettas was that the flower stems were quite short, so that the flowers were often hidden among the foliage. Too bad, 'cause they were very pretty.
LindaSkyview
Thanks,
I have a 8 inch pot I'll try it in that. I tried some from seed with no luck. I'll try the paper towel method in a week or so I'd like to get a few started from seed. I couldn't belive how many flowers the one I purchaced had on it. It's beautiful.
Thanks again,
Laura
It sure sounds like your stored dahlias have come out of the closet in good shape and the ones with green sprouts are ready to go in the ground as soon the threat of frost goes away.
There is nothing crazy about it. This is how you overwinter dahlias, and you could likely divide them to get more plants. That's when the crazy part comes in.
For the ones without sprouts showing, look for small obvious swellings in possibly dark pink, purple, or even green colors on the stem end of the tuber, right near last year's stem. Those are the eyes and will go on to produce plants.
The ones without visible eyes are worth saving for now. Expose them to some bright light, be careful they don't dry out, mist them with a spritz of water every few days if they do. Give them time to "eye up" and prove that they have life left in them. Some varieties are VERY slow to show eyes. Pathetically slow, really. Hideously slow.
If they are mushy, rotten, moldy or dried up like mummies toss them.
Good luck with your plants.
Here is a link that might be useful: dividing tubers-Colorado Dahlia Society
A lot of people buy (or make) wooden steaks and hammer them into the ground when they plant thier tuber. (they put it in when they pant thier tuber because they dont want to put a steak through the tuber :o) ) You can get steaks like that at a hardware store. I think that even a plastic or metal treated pole or a tomatoe cage whatever you have will do the trick. :o)
Wooden stakes, pvc or rebar lengths are all easy to store in the off season. Tomato cages, fencing posts and strings or wires are other options.
Here is a link that might be useful: Supporting Dahlias
Bedding dahlias can be planted in mixed pots quite close together- I've put them in 10-12" pots with lots of other plants & they do very well so I would guess that you would be just fine putting 2 or 3 in a 10-12" pot. You don't have to pinch them back but be sure to dead-head all summer to keep them blooming. They will even grow some little tubers for you to dig up & store in the fall.
Lucky you. It sure sounds like you've got yourselves returning dahlias for the new season.
Was it a mild winter for you this year? Perhaps they were deep enough to escape a deep freeze.