I started growing them for the first time this spring, really sucks this had to be the coolest summer in NW OH on record. Season is probably going to be short, and the cool temps have all the dahlia's in the area growing at about half the height. High 40's at night in june/august! what gives? lol

So even though they are not very tall, nor are they rare/uncommon varieties, i'm still very proud of them and i think they are beautiful ....but what dahlia isn't? :)

I'll post pics of my dahlia's in the near future, 3 out of 6 started blooming, one is budding and the fourth guy doesn't even have buds yet. the fifth guy.....it was mowed over and that was the end of it. I have coup de soleil potted with tiger lilies (bad, i know). I think i'm going to replace it. It's pretty, but i think i can do better.

Welcome! Yeah, it's been a weird season. In my case, I added many dahlia very late as well...so I'm running under a double disadvantage. I've still managed lots of pretty blooms, so I'm not complaining too much.

Kogane fubuki. Camera doesn't show color very well, the outer petals are much more pink.

Pretty sure this was labeled color spectacle, but not seeing white tips. Pretty though, i even loved it before flowering, nice stems and foliage.

Sky Angel is gorgeous; will have to get it next season.

carol

from one of the big box stores that was labeled Color

Spectacle. Mine ended up without white tips also;

so I thought it was just mislabeled.

carol

I find I don't mind. The flower is pretty enough without it to pull it off.

I don't mind at all :)

I don't know anything about dahlia seed in particular, but i can tell you that no plant seed conceived naturally is the exact same as the parent, in some plants the differences are negligible, but in others it is greatly varied. Things like that don't bother many people...but for some reason i'm weird about it. Everything has to have a name for me....

Unless i have this wrong, i'm pretty sure all dahlia's have tubers and are tender perennials, not true annuals.

There are quite a few dahlia types.....i'll provide a link to a list i found on google.

someone more qualified than me will probably provide some input soon.

Correct, although I treat my Harlequin as annuals as a general rule. I don't have to, they could be lifted.

Really, a lot of plants in our gardens are short-lived perennials we treat as annuals in our respective climates.

>>I don't know anything about dahlia seed in particular, but i can tell you that no plant seed conceived naturally is the exact same as the parent,

By definition, although I've collected seed from plenty of Salvia species and the daughters are the same as the mothers, for the most part. Over time, the Salvia splendens are getting a bit taller and I did breed a few cultivars together to get the leaf and flower style I wanted.

Dahlia are incredibly unpredictable. We humans have two copies of each chromosome. Many flowering plants have more than two (even some with odd numbers like some zinnia species--Profusion has three). It helps if you can't meander around and find a mate whose genes don't resemble yours by keeping harmful mutations from reinforcing as easily.

That's why plants can self-fertilize and the daughters usually do just fine.

Dahlia have eight copies of each chromosome! (The technical term is "octoploidal.") The number of possible recombinations just on a self-fertilization is incredible.

Unfortunately it means it's hard to breed any two plants and get anything you expect.

The only reliable way to reproduce a dahlia with the same characteristics as the parent is by cloning. You can split the tubers, or root a green shoot, both work fine.

Most of us split the tubers to reproduce our dahlia but some people around here do root cuttings.