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mrsmortarmixer

Could someone identify this for me?

mrsmortarmixer
9 years ago

I bought two dahlias from the greenhouse down the road. Both look about the same, although one looks more red than purple. I'm absolutely in love with it and would like to get more, but I don't have a name. The flowers are 2" or less in size, and the plant is probably 8-10" tall and 12" wide at this point, but I'm not sure how big it's supposed to end up. There was no info on the tag.

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Comments (9)

  • fleegle96
    9 years ago

    I just poked through google images and found this website... Perhaps an email to the artist if no one else can identify?

    There was also a google image tracing back to this site and someone called it Barbershop... I didn't see it as an exact match, but close!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Garden photography

  • Tiffan
    9 years ago

    Yours are already blooming in MAY?!?! What zone are you in, and did you overwinter them in the ground?

  • mrsmortarmixer
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    fleegle96- I went to the greenhouse again today to see if they had any dahlias similar to it. They didn't, mostly just solid colors, but approximately the same size. They don't have a nursery tag, just a white tag with hybrid dahlia handwritten. The owners of the greenhouse didn't have any additional information either. I tried google images as well and found a few that looked similar, but if it's a hybrid, I'll probably never know what it is.

    cagoldbear- I bought both already blooming from the greenhouse around mid-April. I honestly didn't think it would survive the cold, but I've just been covering both with large glass jars anytime the weather got below 40 or 45. I'm in zone 5, just north of the zone 6 cutoff.

    This is only my second time trying dahlias. I tried a couple years ago, and it croaked before July. Not sure if I will treat these as an annual or attempt storing them for winter. I'm pretty bad about forgetting about everything that needs dug up.

  • tonhogg
    9 years ago

    There are tons of registered named dahlias. It would be pretty hard to identify this dahlia. However, it may not even be a registered dahlia. If it had been grown from seed by a garden center, it wouldn't have a name. I have found if I don't have a name, forget finding it in most cases. All you can do is look through pictures looking at the flower and average height, and find something similar. You have a dwarf dahlia if it's blooming at that height.

    You're best bet is digging it up in the winter and saving the bulbs. You would have more for next year. About all you can do.

  • fleegle96
    9 years ago

    I would love a tuber if you divide them in the fall! Named or not, it's stunning!

  • mrsmortarmixer
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Can I divide them the first year? I'm completely clueless on anything that requires more than planting and neglecting. I tend to deal with perennial bulbs, so I can afford to be clueless. If they can be divided the first year, do I need to do anything special? Fertilize or anything? I'm more than willing to send a tuber.

    Here is the other hybrid dahlia. The flowers are maybe 1/2"-1" larger on this one, but the plants are about the same size so far. This is an in-progress bloomer. They start out a deep red.

    {{gwi:640345}}

    Then turn to a bright red. This was taken two days ago, and yesterday it was started to turn brown and wilt. I've been pinching them off when they get like that. Is that the right thing to do?

    {{gwi:640347}}

    And here's some more of the magenta/pink.

    In-progress. This should give you a pretty good idea of size.

    {{gwi:640349}}

    Completed bloom

    {{gwi:640352}}

    And another bloom on the same plant. It's been rainy here, so they keep getting all muddy :(

    {{gwi:640355}}

  • fleegle96
    9 years ago

    I'm a trial-and-error kind of gal so I think someone else here could give you better advice on if they can be split after the first year or not. I would think they could, provided you are in an area where you'd be digging them up anyhow and storing for next year. I just think that smaller flower with the solid-looking petals behind the magenta/white ones are so unique and cool!

    There are a million videos on YouTube about dividing dahlia tubers - I'll be consulting them myself once I dig up my massive stash from this year!

    We'll keep in touch throughout the summer I'm sure! :)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Dividing Tubers

  • CCvacation
    9 years ago

    This bedding dahlia is most likely mass propagated by cuttings, and is intended to be treated as an annual. It's also possible that it is from seed, but I doubt it. Seeds normally result in plants with mostly open-centered flowers. Dahlias do not produce seed true to the parent.

    You CAN dig it up and overwinter, and you CAN divide the tuber clump....
    however, my experience with this type of plant has taught me to not bother. But then again, I mostly grow the 3 foot and up varieties, so I'm biased.

    If this little guy was grown from a cutting and not another tuber, it makes for tough dividing, and what tubers you might get are often scrawny little things that I've had a hard time overwintering. It's better kept as a clump, and before planting out the following spring, you might be able to cut it in half if you can keep a sprout on each half.

    It most definitely is not Barbershop, which grew to four feet with 5 inch blooms for me last year. Your bedding dahlia IS definitely cute, though!

  • gardenper
    9 years ago

    It looks a little bit like dahlia "Mystery Day", though I'm sure there are some others with a similar pattern that someone might be able to distinguish better.

    Although it is generally recommended to split every few years, but some do split the tubers every year, because they want more plants in a shorter amount of time. Just consider that case that you could get 2-3 or more plants every time you split, so doing it every year will give you that much more, even if the tubers are smallish, but as long as you have a plant that blooms that can later be split again in that same year, that is the goal.