3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Surprisingly, my dahlias are still going even after 3 mornings where I woke to frost on the lawn and glass deck table. Apparently dahlias are more cold resistant than I realized! :) Some of the open flowers were damaged but the leaves weren't damaged much and new buds have continued to open. I've had temperatures down to 28F or 29F but I don't think it was for very long, maybe just a few hours early in the morning.
Most of mine are fried, but I happened to take cuttings to root indoors before the first frost, and today I put leaf bags on top of the outdoor dahlias which seems to be the most effective way to over-winter them around here.
Here's a blog on some of my dahlia blooms over the summer. I have since collected many more species.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia blog from over the summer
We have 2 or 3 cactus varieties that came from seed packets we got at home depot. Most seed packets you see in seed racks are usually dwarf types and they do well. I have a few beds of dwarfs but they don't give the blooms that the larger varieties do. Local florist like large blooms and they want long stems. We breed some and buy seed to expand our gardens.
I was hoping some breeders would connect with me and we could
exchange seed or I could buy some. It's not easy to breed dahlias a lot work is involved.
I like to let them go a bit past freshly closed. Tho it seems to slow down the flowering. I have found it best to time it about a month before the frost around here. (Early Sept. is when I stop deadheading and start letting selected ones go to seed). If you have the space I say you go girl....I have had some wonderful results and some that I have kept over seven years cause I liked them so well. They have even had sports that I enjoy also. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Hi Steve. guess that is not much of an answer but most dahlias have a tendency to show open centers and weak necks late in the season. Not all dahlias but many. Some say you can partially overcome this by foliar feeding late August or early September. Hope this has been some help to you. Steve in Baltimore County.
Any sprouts should be snipped off. You want to store them with no roots or sprouts. They will sprout again in the spring.
I have a similar situation with some of my tubers. We had a hard enough frost to kill the plants, but since then it has been quite a bit warmer so they are making another try.
I have some "eyes" or the start of new sprouts on the lower areas of stems, which I have never seen before in the fall. Those I will just cut off and toss.
Dahlias are very prone to mutation so generally the seeds are not saved, rather the underground tubers are saved and traded. The tubers can be divided to produce more clones of the same variety of dahlia. The seeds will very likely not have the same characteristics as the parent plant.
I realize this is an old post but I decided I would like to plant dahlias with my roses and have been researching the older posts. I also have never grown them and needed some background. I LOVE those soft yellow ones you have, would you happen to remmember the name of them? I am thinking to go wild and bold, or unique mostly but the soft yellow would sure fit with the rest. I think I am going to order some from Swan Island and the rest from Lynch for my first time. My roses are all diifferent but primarlily climbing. Thanks!
For the first time this year I decided to plant two tubers about the size of an average potato and they both developed substantial tuber growth. I don't really want a bunch of the same dahlias so dividing them seems pointless except if doing so will benefit their growth next season.
1: Should I divide them now or will they store better if I keep them whole until spring.
2: Will they put on this same growth next season and become too crowded if I don't at least cut them in half?
They are both 8 inches in diameter.
ziyakr: Some dahlias will only bloom for a couple of months so it is possible your dahlia will SOON be done. But by 'done', I mean no new buds, leaves yellowing and drooping, looking very fatigued, etc. Your original note said you had BUDS still, so that does not sound like it is done (though it may be NEAR to be done).
I suspect lack of water caused your problems but definitely you may only have a few weeks to go to the end of its life span anyway. I also know that growing other plants within the same containers as a dahlia ALSO tends to cause a lack of proper water in the dahlia, combined with your saying it drains well makes me almost positive lack of water is your problem.
I would NOT cut it back! I have never cut mine back nor have I ever read that doing so was beneficial in any manner. In fact, after the plant is truly done, you should let it sit for weeks because just like tulips and daffy's, this is when the plants get energy to bloom next year. Maybe others can chime in if they have done so but the only pruning I do is when you pinch the first bud to promote more growth and bushier dahlias. One of the problems with cutting a large stem back is that they are hollow and water could conceivably get in the stem and ride down all the way to the tuber and start a rotting process. Perhaps if you are careful when watering that would not be an issue but I don't cut mine back after flowering - I just let nature takes its course and get renewed for the next year.
Good luck.
I wanted to thank you again, David. I think you were right about watering, generally. The plant survived 3 more weeks of blistering summer with minimal damage at higher watering levels. It's only just this week opened a new flower, and I wanted to try and put up a picture (the flower is smaller than earlier, about 2.5 inches across but still lovely and I'm thrilled to see it). I am going to try again to overwinter the tuber, but next year it will be in it's own moveable container. That way I can keep a better eye on moisture levels, and slide it into part shade if need be during heatwaves.
MANY grower sites I have visited will tell you that a lot of bi-colors will pull one way or the other on a whim. Check out "Rebeccas World" dahlia - it may pull all crimson and little white or all white and no crimson and of course it is supposed to be half and half.
Have had the same thing happen to me on several dahlias in my yard. Next year I am going to try Court Jester from Hollyhill. It is said it will also pull more white or red depending upon ???? There is no rhyme nor reason to whether it goes all one color or the other - they just do.
Beautiful daughter and beautiful dahlias. Mine just got hit by frost last night. Early for CO so am disappointed. I hae always wondered if some dahlais do better in some climates than others? Do you sell your tubers? I wonder where Poochella is? I see that this is an 08 site. Haven't seen any posts from many of the people tht have commented here.
Not as nice as other years. We had horrific hot days with lots of humidity.
So-so for me. Established plants seemed to slow way down; the others went into suspended animation till the nights turned cooler and then they bloomed their little hearts out. I'm still learning, and don't think I fertilized enough. I was also afraid of overwatering, so I probably could have given them an extra drink on those really hot days. I grow mine mostly in pots. Tuber production was excellent and digging was a breeze.