3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I suggest that you leave them in the pots. Even though the original tops have almost died off they may continue to grow or a new shoot(s) should be coming out of the tuber since the old one is not growing correctly. Give them sun & water and let them grow during the rest of your growing season.
When your dormant season arrives cut off the sun & water and let them go dormant in the pots. They will be just fine since you have such mild weather.
I do the same thing with a number of pots I grow above ground. When frost takes the tops I just move them into the cool side of my basement (garage) for the winter. I don't have to fool with trying to divide and store them for the winter out of the pots. When I am ready to start cuttings in Jan/Feb I just move the pots I want to take cuttings from into the warm side of my basement, add water & light and another season begins.
Hope that helps.
I would say yes, to the one grown from seed especially, as long as they have produced tubers. I grew some from seed a few years ago, and there are 2 that I simply could not lose - very simple blooms that I named Lipstick, and Burgundy Silk. Can't find those in any catalog - they are stunning!
Mine did kinda poorly this year :( Here a a couple that did ok.
[IMG]http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l278/bluelytes/IMG_2627.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l278/bluelytes/IMG_2574.jpg[/IMG]
this is a little bitty one:
[IMG]http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l278/bluelytes/IMG_2561.jpg[/IMG]
Best;
Bluey
PS Anyone with dahlia seeds or know where I can get some?, please email me directly with info. Thanx
I live in Western WA.I have talked to two very experienced dahlia people and they have suggested leaving the dahlias in the ground. After you cut them down, put black plastic material down with 5-10 inches of hay or evergreen fronds on top of the black plastic. Other years I have dug them up, wrapped them in Saran Wrap or put them in vermiculate. Neither has guaranteed eyes or survival. I belong to a Dahlia Society and everyone has tried every way possible to get them through the winter. Leaving them in the ground seems a lot easier.
It very much depends on where the dahlias are growing. In our cold and wet little micro climate, I'd never get away with leaving them in the ground regardless of how much plastic or mulch I used. Gardeners in the warmer, dryer Seattle area or the 'banana belt' on the peninsula can do that, but the dahlia that survives a typical winter in our ground is rare.
It IS much easier to leave them in the ground, but if you want some tubers next spring, rather than piles of mush below ground, you have to dig in cooler zones.
The ones that I grew from seeds came on very slow but are blooming a little now. I started them in my greenhouse in about February, they did not get very big in the greenhouse. I planted them after I knew it would not frost, maybe mid March. Only about 5% of the plants matured and I have had some blooms. They only got about 18" tall. I guess that they will live thru the winter and be bigger next year.
I did not have a lot of flowers on the seeded ones or the tubers. However we were away from home from July 15th to August 10th so I don't know how they bloomed during that time. I had someone watering during that time so they probably did not get as much water as if I would have been home.
Next year top your tuber dahlias and what I mean by this is to pinch out the main growing stalk just above the last set of leaves when the plant is about 12" high and has 3-4 sets of leaves. This will cause the plant to put out laterals and will make it a bushy plant and somewhat shorter than if it is not topped.
Corralitos Gardens in California has a number of bedding dahlias that will stay short and not need staking. A couple I have grown and would recommend are Jazz, and Princess Paige. These both grow well in our Southern heat.
A dahlia growing guide for Southern Gardens is available on the Dahlia Society of Georgia website. Click on the DAHLIAS THAT GROW WELL IN THE SOUTH PAGE.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia Society of Georgia
Here in zone 8 I keep picking until the first frost. For me,that is usually around Halloween. As the days get shorter the plants will produce fewer flowers and they will be paler in color. Storms may break the plant, or break off flowers, but every late bloom is precious, bringing color into the drab damp weather! During this time your plant is getting ready to sleep, a natural process but not harmed by continuing to enjoy the blooms. The other thing that I notice with my dahlias is a lot more open centers on them. Still bright and rewarding but not as pretty a form. I would say that your should get a number of flowers still as we have some beautiful weather still to come.
PrettyPetals--I know what you mean about the dahlias surviving the heat. We had a day last week where the temp hit 114.6 and the relative humidity was at 13%. Even though the dirt the dahlias were growing in was visibly moist, the dahlias were still wilting. I got my hose out and overhead watered but I was getting overheated. The watering helped the dahlias a little but they didn't recover until nightfall. No surprise there.
The Big List is put together by the Colorado Dahlia Society but everyone in the country uses it (as evidenced here on this forum). They list North American dahlia varieties by name and match them to vendors who sell them. That's it. The list doesn't go into other details such as color, size, type, etc. You just scroll down the alphabetical list until you find the variety you are interested in and then go to the vendors. They have all the vendors websites linked at the top. I find the list to be so long that when you get far enough down it is easier to open a new tab in your browser and start a second tab of the Big List in that leaving the vendors' links up top. When you find your variety, say Vanquisher, you click in the second tab and go to the link of the vendor in that tab. It is much faster than scrolling all the way from V back thru A to get to the vendor list. By that time I usually forget what vendor I wanted to look at.
Good Luck with your hunt. I wanted CAL really bad and found that most of the vendors were from Canada and some wouldn't even ship to the US. Therefore, I was quite happy when I saw it at Costco this spring. If you don't find it next spring, maybe we can arrange a tuber trade. I usually divide mine in April but I could probably do it sooner than that, if necessary.
Annabeth
Here is a link that might be useful: The Big List
Thanks Annabeth. Sorry for getting back to this post so late. I keep forgetting about starting this one. You are very sweet for giving me all that info. I will try to go check it out now and see if I can find it. I appreciate you offering a tuber trade but I couldn't tell you the names of the ones I have. I don't usually keep up with the names and this year I haven't had hardly any of them bloom. Not sure if its the heat & lack of rain or what. So disappointing though. I was hoping when it cooled off a bit I might get some blooms but it just won't cool off any. I'm usually not ready for winter but I have to say I am this year. lol! Thanks again and take care, Judy
Can you store the divided tubers in a refrigerator? We store a lot of bulbs in an extra frig in our garage. If we can store the tubers in the frig it will be much nicer than taking up room in containers in our small garage. This is my first year with Dahlia's so I am anxious to learn and not damage my beautiful flowers.
The survival rate is much better if you dig, clean, store as prescribed depending upon what you desire to do wit the pot. If I left mine in the ground here, they would definitely not survive. If I left mine in the garage, they would still freeze if I or my wife accidently left the garage door open. I find that the plants to A LOT better if the roots are not excessively crowded. For sure, I would be digging and storing them.
It should survive for next year. There are some areas of the country that have already had their first frost. I would go ahead and dig it and prep it for storage for the winter. With no greenery, leaving it in the ground could cause rot if you have a wet Fall. ( If it was 7 feet tall you might try a sunnier location next year - if you have one)
Jerem,
A little over a week ago we got hit by Hurricane Earl here in Nova Scotia. The same things happened to some of my Dahlias and here is the link of my post inquiring about broken stems. Poochella was very helpful!!
Here is a link that might be useful: Hurricane hit - what to do?
Dahlia Imperialis, and they are fun to watch grow if nothing else. In zone 5 you will have a challenge to get them to bloom, but it's sure fun trying.
Here are sources from the Big List
* TREE DAHLIA Alpen Gardens
* TREE DAHLIA 3 VARIETIES Corralitos Gardens
* TREE DAHLIA 3 VARIETIES Plant Delights Nursery
* TREE DAHLIA IMPERIALIS Alpen Gardens
* TREE DAHLIA IMPERIALIS Dahlia Dandies
* TREE DAHLIA IMPERIALIS Eagle Dahlia Farm
* TREE DAHLIA IMPERIALIS Love House Dahlias
Here is a link that might be useful: Find them all at the Big List
Not a silly question. Dahlias are a breed of their own.
Most of the answer you seek is because some dahlias 'sprout' in early spring and are called early bloomers. Meaning (according to your conditions) anywhere from April to june.
Most dahlias are summer dahlias and then there are the late bloomers. I have 4-5 late bloomers still blooming and it appears a couple will last into Nov.
Under your conditions, you could pretty much plant anytime you wish. The only bad times would be trying to plant an early bloomer in March.But you could plant summer and late bloomers that late with little downside.
As for catalog ordering, most cats we all peruse (Swan Island,Dan's,Amer. Mdws will say 'sold out' or out of stock until Summer.They won't accept orders usually until near fall and they ship sometimes as late as March to CA. So 'their' dahlias may well say plant in Spring since they don't intend to get them to you until then.
Hope this helps.