3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Classic case of: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Grow what you like. Put your own name on this one and keep it. I doubt that it is a named variety and it is probably a seedling that came up in that person's garden. After a mild winter, dahlia seeds that fell on the ground can sprout in the Spring. I visited the garden of friend who had this happen and she wanted me to see the seedlings. Unfortunately, none of them were attractive to me.
Many dahlias are never identified. Lots of reasons: there are thousands of varieties out there. Many look similar in pictures. Some garden grown flowers may well be seedlings that were never named.
If you do post a picture of an unknown, be sure to list the size of the flower as pictures do not capture that. Also, if you have any part of the name or a list of possible names, that would really help. If you have had it for many years, that is pertinent too. And any guess as to where it was purchased helps too.
What I thought was an easy answer is not so easy. When I learned about gardening zones in the 1960s, we used the maps in Sunset Western Garden Book which was our gardening "bible". The zones are called: Sunset's Climate Zones. According to them we here in the Portland, Oregon area are in Zone 6.
But the USDA has a a different system called the USDA Hardiness Zones. According to their charts we are in zone 8a.
But again there is another chart called the AHS Heat Zones that tracks how hot you get in the summer. They count days above 86 degrees F. We are in zone 4 for that one.
I still like the Sunset's Climate Zones because they take into account both cold and heat.
We typically have a few days over 100 degrees and about 20 days over 90 degrees. We seldom go lower than 10 degrees in the Winter and in a typical year the lowest temp is about 15.
Our last Spring frost date with about 95% probability is May 1st.
In the last 22 years at my location, the latest killing Spring frost has been April 22nd. In the Fall we typically have a killing frost about October 31st. This year we went well into November without any frost.
That is the long answer to your short question.
Don't put peat moss (the regular peat moss) in the soil for a dahila.
They need very good drainage and peat moss will hold the water and rot the roots.
You are talking about bringing the tubers in the home for winter right? In a pot?
If you put it in the soil outside for your tubers next spring, you can put a little peat moss in the soil. A little.
Peat moss is an excellent soil conditioner and one bag of peat moss would break up clay soil or add organic material to a small (10 x10 foot) garden. It is a bit acidic but that is good if your soil is too alkaline. Most of the expensive potting soils have a peat moss base. They add a surfactant to allow it to take up water quickly and some lime to increase the ph.
I ordered a dahlia last spring from White Flower Farm called 'Karma Choc' that has very thick stalks and didn't need any staking until the end of the summer when some of the smaller branches got a bit floppy. You might try this dahlia. It has a beautiful full flower and is as close as you will come to having a dahlia that doesn't need staking. The only problem with this dahlia, from my perspective, is that it is not resistant to powdery mildew, which got worse as the summer went along. Still I plan to overwinter the bulb and try again next year.
Jerry
Swan Island Dahlias do not stake their dahlias. They grow them to about 2 feet tall and then mow them down to about 1 foot tall to create laterals. They also push the soil up and around the base of the plants as they come up. The plants are held up by the extra soil. They also get extra drainage from the mounded soil.
Most gardeners tie up their dahlias. It is not nearly as time consuming as one would assume. They only need to be tied to the stakes two or three times. If you leave your dahlias in the ground during the Winter, they will come up with weaker stalks. Best to dig and divide them each year.
Nice, Teddahlia! How big does it get? I have Lyn's April that looks a lot like your Lyn's Marilyn. I'm assuming they are the same breeder with that prefix. I absolutely LOVE my Lyn's April. It is very prolific, long-stemmed, and long lasting. It does fade a little on the back side when it gets older but I think that makes it look a little "country". When the bloom reaches that point, it always makes me think that it would look good with denim--maybe in a vase sitting on a denim tablecloth.
Anyway, nice shot of a pretty dahlia. Thanks for sharing it.
Annabeth
I grew Lyn's April and Lyn's Marilyn for the first time this year. I am not growing April again(I just did not like it) and alas Marilyn made almost no tubers. The best Lyn's that I grew was Lyn's Concord and it had lots of tubers and the really dark purple-maroon color was excellent.
"They" say that it's easier to see the eyes in the spring."
It is easier to see the eyes in the Spring. But the clump will dry out and toughen up making it much more difficult to divide. You will also lose tubers trying to get it divided. Also, if the stem has rot in it, the rot will continue down to the tubers and kill the eyes on the tubers. Best to divide in the Fall if you can.
Tonight, I'm listening to the rain pouring down on my roof, and know that it's seeping into the ground where my tubers lay up until just a few days ago. The tubers still looked good when I dug them up, and hopefully, I'll keep a lot more than last year (when I lost most.) At least come early next year, with a review of my boxes, I will know what "garden must haves" that I "don't have." In prior rainy springs, there was no opportunity for a casual inventory. And by the time I got all my tubers dug in the spring, either my favorite varieties were sold out, or growers that carried my favorites had closed down for the year. I'm feeling pretty good about the storing decision this year, even though it's a lot of work. Now, I just have to keep an eye on them . . .
These are real nice dahlias, Ted. Thanks
Jacques