3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
STL, I'm also a pretty novice gardener...live next to Kansas City now but used to live in St. Louis. I came to dahlias by way of Mystic "Illusion" found in a local nursery. It's much shorter than most of the dahlias and has black/purple foliage. I've been growing them for two years in a half barrel, this winter I tried storing the tubers (fingers crossed, haven't had the courage to check on them yet). I know my apt in StL had AWFUL soil so maybe one of the smaller varieties would be good to start with. Boy, I wish I could go to the MO Botanical Garden sale...miss that place!
STL_novice, some of the mail order companies are indeed good and I've had good results ordering from Swan Island, but mail order in general tends to be expensive and can be hit or miss on quality depending on the company. For a novice I would actually recommend just going to Walmart or Lowes and getting whatever they have in packages. Often the packages are transparent and you can sometimes find tubers that are already sprouting in the package so you know they are viable. The varieties will be very limited but for a novice this isn't such a big deal. I've had great success with Arabian Night, Kelvin Floodlight, Akita, and Onesta from chain stores. Plus if they don't sprout the chains are good about giving you replacements or refunds. Once you get hooked you can always explore the near limitless varieties in the catalogs.
I leave my dahlia tubers in the ground and mulch heavy for the winter and have had good luck with this method. However this year one has put up a shoot through the leaf mulch. This was a new tuber last year but I've never seen a dahlia break dormancy this early. It has been a mild winter but not that mild. Has anyone ever seen this--I've been growing dahlias for 30+ years and this is a first. I think I'll just wait and see what it does.
I would pot those babies up in gallon pots and let them start making roots. And I would probably keep them in the greenhouse. Just don't overwater. I pot mine up about now and keep them fairly warm, but barely moist. Make sure they do not freeze or drown. If they grow too tall before planting time just pinch them back. I do this with all new dahlias and get blooms about a month earlier then usual.
I see no one has answered; so I'll take a stab at your question. Other more expreienced growers can correct me an my ego will not be damaged. :)
I checked my 1976-2011 Composite guide book from ADS and my 2012 Classification guide book. Only Karma Lagoon is in the 2012 ADS book. It is classed as a 7309 (Waterlily = 73, Purple = 09)
The other two are not in either book. That means, either they were introduced before 1976 (not likely) or they have never been "introduced."
"Karma" dahlias are patented. That's a much different legal process than "introducing." A patented dahlia is not necessarily "introduced" by ADS; but it could be. Having a patented dahlia means is there are some hoops to go through if you want to hybridize them, and you CAN'T sell them without permission.
If a dahlia has never been introduced - that means they never scored in a trial garden, seedling bench, or won at least two blue ribbons in an ADS sponsored show during any one growing year. That does not necessarily mean it's not a good garden dahlia - it just hasn't been shown and/or it has not been successful at shows. Karma Lagoon has been sold a few years; and just now showed up in the guide book because it won a couple blue ribbons in 2011. It will stay in the guide book next year. It might also stay in 2013 - but only if it continues to win.
Why does anyone want to know the number? One (or two) reasons.
#1) You want to show the dahlia; and want to know what category it would be in.
#2) You just want to be able to better describe your dahlia; so that you know what size, form and color it will display.
If your answer is #1 - At the show, you will need to bring it to the judges; and they will "classifly" it for you based on how YOUR bloom looks. You can't just take the description of the seller.
If your answer is #2 - Check out the link I have below. It will help. You'll also need to know the difference between formal / informal decorative etc. And some of the color names are up for debate. But it's a starting point.
Take Fremont's Memory for example. Swan Island sells it and calls it a B ID Purple
B=2
ID = 1
Purple = 09
So Fremont's Memory is likely going to be in the ADS class 2109 as long as your's grows to the same size, form and color as Swan Island's. If you took it to a show, and it looked "pink" to the judges - they would put it in 2104 (04 = pink).
Anyway, that' a really long answer to your simple question. Hope it helps.
Here is a link that might be useful: ADS Classification
I've grown York & Lancaster, I live in a pretty hot & dry climate during the summer time and the first year I grew it in a pretty sunny spot and most of the blooms were an pale red and as the season wound down I finally started to see a little bit of variegation in the blooms.
I grew it again last year but this time in the shade and that seemed to help quite a bit with the variegation and I saw a lot more white petals on the blooms right at the end of the season there was quite a bit of variety.
I've gotten some sizeable clumps of tubers from them but the tubers are quite round and dividing them is a crapshoot. I happened to buy mine from a seller on ebay and not from Old House Gardens but I'm guessing the seller had originally purchased her tubers from Old House Gardens because she had a few varieties I'd only seen offered on their site.
I am already dreaming of spring...Got my first seed catalog in the mail yesterday! And winter hasn't even really begun here. Still waiting for the big snow storm.
I have been eyeing Gitt's Crazy...that one is really stunning and Snoho Storm too. Think I will have to wait for the price on Gitt's Crazy to go down a bit before I buy that one.
It is fun to look at all the different websites and dream of the dahlias I will have next summer. I have already ordered 10 new ones and received a bunch in a trade but I might still order some more. ;)
Linda
Hi guys
I got my trade list together. If anyone of you have extra white or dark purple dahlias (any size) I would love to trade with you! I am doing my won flowers for my wedding and the colors are olive, plum and white. I have a few white and purple dahlias, but need a few more, especially the pom pom varieties. If any of you have extras or have a suggestion for a crazy bloomer please let me know! Please e-mail me for a list of my dahlias
Thanks so much!!!
Keriann~
Wow. Maybe we should trade plants - I'd LOVE an 8 foot dahlia. The workhorse dahlia in my yard was store bought, gets the MOST sun in my yard and grows about 5 1/2 ft of foliage. (I can be eye to eye with a few of the blooms and I am 6'2). The vast majority of mine seem to be 3-4 feet. I have never even SEEN a dahlia that was 6-8 feet high and I go to the SF Dahlia Garden every year as well.
It may be whatever fertilizer you are using. I once closely inspected the many fert. choices at Home Depot and was surprised to learn that the "0-10-10" numbers not only applied to the ingredient percentages but that the first number was meaningful to plant growth, the 2nd was bloom size and the 3rd was applicable to whatever. (Don't hold me to which is which however - I'm paraphrasing.) All I remember is ferts. with a certain specific number said 'promotes bloom quality/quantity'. I thought they ALL promoted plant growth AND bloom production but apparently you can have one over another by choosing the right fert.
I think Ted's your man when it comes to fertilizers. He knows more about that than I'll ever learn.
David
Dahlias grow taller in part shade. People who grow them under shade cloth report that a variety that may reach 5 feet in full sun will grow to about 8 or 9 feet tall under shade cloth. Many people have dahlias reach to 10 feet under shade cloth.
So, I am assuming that you have a bit of shade in your garden and dahlias are reaching for the sun.
Fertilizer in so far as what the ratios of N-P-K are used has little to do with plant height. Dahlias need fertilizer that is balanced, meaning that some of each number is present. Since phosphorus, the middle number is being banned in some states, it may be difficult to find a balanced fertilizer. However, most gardens accumulate phosphorus and if you fertilized in past years, there will be enough in the soil.
I use fertilizer that is high in both Nitrogen and Potassium. The ratio is 4-1-4 and the actual numbers are 20-5-21. I mix my own fertilizer and buy three fertilizers to achieve that number. This is very concentrated fertilizer and a little goes a long way.
Whatever fertilizer you use, apply in small amounts very frequently and the plants will do better. People tend to over fertilize and that is not good for the environment.
Very nice! But the pic needs to be BIGGER. And it is a must that when you put pics on the forum of such beauties, they have to be identified so we can all be enabled into acquiring them too. :) I love the fluffy yellow one in the middle--could that be Citron du Cap? What about the maroon ones directly behind the yellow and orange waterlily?
Actually, I already have Citron du Cap but I got it at an "end-of-the-season" clearance so it was planted too late in my garden to bloom. I think it was about to send up buds when our first cold weather hit and melted them all down like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Very nice dahlias you posted. Keep 'em coming!
Annabeth
For those of you that start them only half buried in the soil............How tall do they get before you plant them out? Last year I started mine early enough that they were between 8 and 14 inches by the time they were moved outside. I cant imagine that half buried tubers would stand up. Whats the trick?
I would love not to have to search for large pots and use so much soil.
I want to try the plastic baggie method. I will put one tuber and a handful of soil in each bag. Then I will put the bags in a foil lasagna pan from the dollar store. The pan will go in front of a glass block wall on a shelf in a bathroom.
I think this way I will be able to throw out the duds?
when do I take them from the baggie and plant them in the ground?
We too have a problem with clay based soil throughout our entire region. I just dug up ALL the clay from the holes I was going to plant any and all of my plants into, including my vegetables, flowers, etc. I threw almost all of the native clay that I dug from the holes elsewhere. Then I made a mixture of soil using bagged topsoil of good quality, plus some peat moss, some Southeastern Pa. mushroom compost and some tree leaf compost. I ended up with a mixture that was about 80% organic and 20% topsoil. That worked well for me.
I made sure that the soil I made wasn't too fine in consistency, and the bagged soil that I used was somewhat coarse, and so was the mushroom compost. That way it drains pretty well, but with the 30% or so of peat moss, it held some moisture.
Then I had to fertilize too later on.
I learned something too. Thanks again Ted!
Unfortunately VM got such a late start last year that I never got to see much of a performance. But it already is as far along as it was last year in May...and no magnifying glass needed, either. YAY, I should get to see some spectacular blooms this year!