3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Ohhhh I want so many but sooooo little room. I have placed an order with Swan too but memory this morning isn't working and toooo lazy to go check my list if I even still have it. lol! I did go ahead and place an order with Jans and have several other places I would like to try a few from just trying to decide which ones since I am so pushed for space. WOW, 150 Liza, how gorgeous they must be when in bloom. I have that many roses and lilies and love them but was wanting some dahlias to change it up a bit. Enjoying looking everyones choices so far. Judy
Judy, I have no idea where I am going to plant all my new ones but I have all winter to decide what part of the lawn I am going to dig up now. I too, have lots of daylilys and I love them too. They provide lots of color before the dahlias start blooming so I really don't want to get rid of them. Every year my lawn gets smaller and smaller but who cares? I just have to mow it anyway lol.
Looks like everyone is a fan of Islander. I have never had that one but I LOVE the pictures I have seen.
Phyllis, Its too bad you didn't get to see Bonventure. I love the AA's and A's too and they did well for me this year. I am getting a bunch more for next year and I really hope I get to see them all bloom. If its heat and sun they need to grow then they should do well here and long as we don't get an early frost.
Lizalily, Wow I wish I had 150 varities! (I say that now until I have to dig them all up in the fall, then I will change my mind). I only have 27 varities but with the new ones I am getting thru trades and have bought I think I will have between 60-70 next year.
I too, would love to know what your favorite workhorses are. I love to cut them and bring them in the house or take to work.
Linda
Hi Cindy. I'd have responded directly to you but my big clumsy fingers somehow hit delete rather than respond in my yahoo email and they don't have a 'deleted' file to recover it from. I currently have cuttings started of
Native Habitat Double Peach
Pink Sauvolens
U-conn Treasure
Frosty Pink
Isabella
Flame
Charles Grimaldi
Brenda's Yellow
Ecuador Pink
Phanamanal
Strawberries n Cream
Milk n Honey
I just this week put cuttings into perlite from a trade of
Berkonigen, Candida Dbl White and Sam. I have fair luck w cuttings so might have one to share come spring of 1 or more of these.
Let me know what you'de like and your addy and I'll get them out.
We're having an unusually mild indian summer here but than can change in a flash in MN (even in the 'tropical' end).
Will
Gail, when you dust them with the sulphur do you put it in a bag and mix it with vermiculite and then add tubers and shake it around? Or are you just applying it straight?
Ted, I did manage to find some eyes after I cut away the rat tails and twisted roots and split it in half. Thanks for your advice. I have a few more to dig and hopefully they do not look like that.
Linda
My guess is that they're starting to dry out. Get them into storage as soon as possible.
For storage, I shake them in a plastic bag of sulfur so that the tubers are completely covered. I then wrap the bag loosely and put them in the root cellar for the winter.
You could do a search on "storing for winter" to see what method might work best for you.
Gail
My success rate with Janz dahlias has not been good, including a dahlia that never showed indication of having an eye, a couple sprouted tubers that rotted underground, and several that just didn't thrive to bloom. The fault of her tubers? My methods? Taking tubers from a fully organic environment to one that isn't has an impact? I can't say why. Why is it that two tubers from the same clump in one garden thrive, and another you get puny blooms?
I will be sticking closely to the vendors that sell me tubers with a high rate of success. Personally, I have a high success rate with Accent and Swan Island. I'll try other vendors if I want one specific bloom, and maybe I'll find good tubers there also, as I'm sure there are other vendors tubers that will thrive for me. But those vendors whose tubers don't work well for me seem a waste of garden space. If Janz work well for you, then maybe your method/soil/weather are more similar to hers than mine. She is definitely a dahlia lover and is personable and willing to share what she knows about growing. And I too, enjoy her web site.
Hi Phyllis, I have never had a flower over 10" either but I don't disbud and I think that you probably have to do that to get them bigger. But thats ok with me because a 9 or 10" flower is pretty impressive. Sounds like you have some wonderful new varities this year. I think I am getting Neon Splendor in a trade this fall. I love the picture of that one! How did it do for you? Some of the new ones I got this year were Hot Tamale and Punkin Spice. Hot Tamale way out performed Punkin Spice. Punkin spice didn't bloom a lot and stems were weak. They were planted right next to each other.
My plants did get a little frosted last night. Some look pretty bad and others right next to them are fine. I'm a Hottie is still beautiful with about 20 blooms on it. It supposed to get down to 28 tonight so I am sure they will all be toast tomorrow.
I guess thats ok because it is supposed to warm back up into the 60's so I won't be freezing while I am digging them up. I am already looking forward to next year because between the trades I am getting and the ones I have ordered I will have about 35 new ones!
Judy, no my bananas don't produce fruit because the growing season here is too short. But they do get big and give that wonderful tropical look that I love.
Linda
I disbud earlier in the season, and I especially disbud the AA's and A's while there's hope of getting big ones. It seems that the big ones like more sun than they got this year. Our real sunshine didn't start until what . . . July? And the summer was so short. I'm used to AA blooms by late August, and often in the 11-12 inch range. Only Ivory Palaces obliged me in August, and those blooms were 10 inches. Oh well, maybe next year will be sunnier.
When I start digging about October 15th each year, the temperature is in the 60s. The tubers dug this early do just as well in storage as the ones dug later. Here we do not have killing frosts until mid November and waiting for a frost means digging in cold wet, weather. I am not into that. Many of you want to savor your last blooms before the frost and I can relate to that. But that means you will be digging in cold conditions.
I'm so sorry you had a freeze. grrrr.... I know its gonna happen but you still hate it. We might get one Saturday so I went out and cut what few I have. Now tell me what are you hoping will be showing by Monday or Tuesday? Oh wait, you dig yours up and I don't so thats the eyes, right? Think I answered my own question. Its almost my bedtime and my brain must have already went nighty night. Your pictures are so lovely!! Can I ask how close you plant your tubers? I am hoping to maybe plant some a little closer so I can have more of them. Judy
Hi Judy, yes I am wanting to see the eyes so I will be able to divide them easier. I plant my tubers pretty close together, maybe 15 inches apart. Mine were growing really close together and seemed to do just fine. No weeds grew under them. Swan Island says to plant 18-24 inches apart but I put them closer so I could fit them all in the garden. One mistake I made was putting shorter ones too close to tall ones. Next time I will put them somewhere else so they don't get overshadowed.
Linda
I love the Gardenman Scissors too, which I bought form Lobaughs.
The handles are a flexible vinyl that is easier on the hands, and the long pointed blades get into the tight spaces. Also, you can sharpen the blades when they get dull. I use mine for everything and have multiple pairs.
just a little advice about the earwigs (i had this same problem too) if you spray the flowers with soapy water every couple of days once the but starts to open a bit (i mean a very tiny bit, petals showing even a little) about every 2 or 3 days, then the earwigs will not eat them. Soapy water, there isn't much in the way of garden pests that it doesn't work to repel.
Every Dahlia vendor's website I visit has pictures of their flowers planted in rows. Seems like a great way to grow them especially if you'll be using them for cutting. Wish I had the space to have a nice, well-organized place to plant mine in easy-to-weed rows!
Dahlia seeds go through stages of development that can be seen in their color. They go from green, to white to gray to dark gray and finally black. The fatter seeds that have a "baby bump" in them are the most likely to sprout. However, if you get some seeds from some varieties that do not make very many seeds, keep them all as even some of least likely candidates will sprout. Dahlia breeders go through great effort to get seeds from some varieties and would never throw away a seed because that may be the only one to sprout. If a variety makes a bazillion seeds for you, certainly you can sort them into the darkest black, fat seeds and toss the rest.
I took out a large maple tree that was dying and turned it into my dahlia bed. I just added some more topsoil so I wasn't trying to dig in the tree roots that were still in the ground. My dahlias did really well in that area.
Good Luck
Linda
Thank you for your input. Still not sure what I will put there in the spring.