I am very pleased with Wyoming Wedding, a plant I got at Lobaugh's this year. It is always loaded with nice bb blooms, a kind of blended pink that includes Raspberry, orange and purple in its tones. The flowers are always nicely shaped, it carries many of them at the same time and is sturdy. It was also one of the earliest to bloom and is still going gung ho with probably the most flowers on it at one time.

Not sure who is healthiest...all seem to be reasonably healthy.

3...Again, Wyoming Wedding

4..Tallest would be Hamari Gold, and Hollyhill Icarus. SOmetimes Clack's Rocky.

Biggest flowers, good ol' Cafe Au Lait, its really happy this year!

Longest in a vase...probably Verrone's Sandra...big honeycombs of soft orange with many many petals of good substance. One of my favorites!

Didn't keep track of your next two questions...I prestart all my dahlias in gallon containers so the first 1/3 bloomed about the same time. Still waiting for the last 1/3 but they are growing as we get a few warmer days.

I am growing about 160 varieties so I can't have just one favorite! The ones that come to mind are Merlot, Loverboy, Cyma Warrior,, Bluetiful, Bahama Mama, Narnia, Lemon Ice, Peaches n Cream, Newaukum Grape, Nick Sr (Just picked first bloom!) and of course, Wyoming Wedding! Not a dud in the bunch except something lavender that has opened each flower with an open center this year. Oh yes, LOVE Fatima with its hot pink poms on long stems!

It seems to change from year to year. So far this year........

!. Which of your plants is growing the prettiest flowers? Dr. John Kaiser is my new favorite this year. But I always love my Juul's Allstar orchid type.

2. Which of your plants is healthiest? Most look great though three plants (out of 35) had split stems at the bottom that I taped over with electrical tape.

3. Which is the most prolific bloomer? so far Kenora Jubilee, first to bloom and right now I have 2 in a vase, 2 ready to pick 3 close to opening and 5 other buds

4. Which is tallest? Pinelands Princess and Lady Darleen. Often plants that are supposed to be 4 ft. with 7" booms - for me are 7ft with 5" blooms (not enough sun)

5. Which is growing the biggest flowers? Maniac so far

6. Which plant's flowers lasts the longest in a vase? Any of the cactus varieties seem to do best for me in a vase. Lacerated petals - the shortest.

7. Which dahlia plant grew the fastest? My Ginger Willow poms, huge shrubs

8. Which plant started flowering the fastest? Kenora Jubilee

9. Which do you like the best so far? For me this is the same question as "Prettiest" but I still have a lot of new plants that havent bloomed.

Last year I participated in a tuber swap through this forum and went from 12 types to 30 types I'd love to do it again next spring. Both of you seem to have completely different plants if you are interested in doing some trading let me know.

1 Prettiest: Northlake Pride
2 Healthiest: Sweet Dreams
3 Prolific: Cherry Wine
4 Tallest: Carmen Fiesta
5 Longest in vase: Hollyhills Spiderwoman
6 Fastest growth: Wyoming Frost
7 First flower: Cherry Wine
8 Best liked: Hollyhills Spiderwoman, with a close tie for 2nd being Snoho Doris (PERFECT ball) and Northlake Pride. Mostly liked Spiderwoman because it's such an interesting bloom. Pretty wouldn't be the first word used to describe Spiderwoman. You know, it's really hard to pick this category . . . the more I sit here, the more I think this one and that should also tie for 2nd . . .

1. The prettiest-I can't pick just one... I would say Hot Tamale, I'm a Hottie and Loverboy.

2. Healthiest- They are all very healthy except Mystic Beauty. Dont' know whats wrong with it but it seemed stunted and didn't grow more than 15 inches high and no blooms.

3.Most prolific-I have many plants with at least 15 blooms on at all times...Candlelight, Raspberry Punch, Show n Tell, Thomas Edison,Lucky Ducky and Sonic Bloom. They are all blooming like crazy!

4-Tallest-Helen Richmond

5-Biggest Flower-Kelvin Floodlight is 9 inches without disbudding.

6-Longest last cut flower-Raspberry Punch, Firepot, I'm a Hottie.

7-Fastest growing- A noid white cactus type

8-Fastest flowering, the white cactus and Candlelight.

9-Like the best- I love so many of them its hard to pick one but I think I will pick Hot Tamale because this one is new this year and I just love it.

I have 27 varities and would love to swap tubers if anyone is interested.

Linda

9

Yeah, I'd be willing to trade tubers.

I only had room to grow 9 dahlias this year, of 9 varieties, because I'm growing other flowers and a vegetable garden. One of the 9 that I was looking forward to was Tutti Frutti, a beautiful coral cactus variety, but it died at 4". We have 1.25 acres, but most is tree covered, otherwise I'd be growing many more.

The dahlias I'm growing are: Crazy Legs, Freckle face, Citron De Cap(not open yet, 1 week to go), Vassio Meggos(opening now), Blackberry Ripple, MacAllister's Pride, Fuzzy Wuzzy, and a mislabeled red/white one that I cannot identify.

Wow, Lizalily has a good selection with 160 varieties! How much room does that take up?

Weston Spanish Dancer! Amazing!

I'm growing about 25 varieties this year; and many haven't even bloomed yet here in Minnesota.

1. the prettiest - Tahoma Vivian(so far)
2. is healthiest - AC Ben
3. most prolific bloomer - that's a hard one for me to say - I restrict a lot of laterals cause I'm trying to get into the competitive side of dahilas...
4. biggest flowers - AC Ben
6. Which plant's flowers lasts the longest in a vase - I'm not sure about this one.
7. Which dahlia plant grew the fastest - Verrone's Sandra J (nothing comes even close!!)
8. Which plant started flowering the fastest - Tahoma Vivian and Verrone's Sandra J.
9. Which do you like the best so far - I'll have to get back to you on that - right now - Tahoma Vivian (again)

Can't really answer most of these because many of mine were store bought and I don't know the names anymore.

Why I AM responding is to ask a question.

A couple responders mentioned Loverboy and I am perplexed. My Loverboy has never done well - last year it gave about 3 blooms and never got over 2 1/2 tall. I blamed myself for not using MiracleGro and trying a Manure Tea plus a 0-20-20 box fertilizer and NONE of my dahlias did real well.

So this year I had a great crop of dahlias but again, Loverboy bloomed (about 3-4 blooms again) for about 3-4 weeks and then just sits there, no more than 2 ft high. The few that have bloomed are OK but there is nothing remarkable about the color to make it even one of my top 20 favorites. (I might mention cactus and semis are NOT my favorites but I like variety so I bought it anyway.)

I have also never seen the 'blue undertones it is supposed to be famous for either.

Is this just a case of 'beauty/in the eye of the beholder' or is my Loverboy just a dud? I was seriously thinking of tanking it next year since I rarely give problem plants more than 2 years. What am I missing here that others say it is one of their favorites and I am ready to shovel it into the bin?

Also, where are all these 'Wyoming's' coming from? We don't get them here in the Bay Area stores and I have never seen that name from Dans, Sw. Isl, Connells, Lynch Frms etc. They sound exciting!

Just google Wyoming wedding Dahlia

My Loverboy is about 5 feet tall and currently has 5 flowers out and many more buds getting ready to open. It has perfectly formed flowers that have a lot of depth and I really like the color and form of the flower. Maybe you do have a dud.

I don't give any of my dahlias miracle grow. The only fertilizer they get is some bone meal at planting time and a little more sprinkled on the ground later after they have started growing. They are all blooming like crazy right now. This has been my most successful year for growing dahlias and I think it is because I made a new bed for them which is in full sun all day long and I give them a lot of water pretty much everyday. Some of them started blooming in the last week of July which was very exciting because last year I had some that never bloomed before they got hit with frost.

!. Which of your plants is growing the prettiest flowers?
Brittany Rey and Arabian Night (AN isn't always this pretty, but this summer it has been absolutely stunning)
2. Which of your plants is healthiest?
My un-named semi-cactus that I grew from seed a few years ago and save the tubers from every year
3. Which is the most prolific bloomer?
See #2
4. Which is tallest?
see #2
5. Which is growing the biggest flowers?
Ryn Fou
6. Which plant's flowers lasts the longest in a vase?
Haven't cut any
7. Which dahlia plant grew the fastest?
see #2
8. Which plant started flowering the fastest?
Arabian Night
9. Which do you like the best so far?
That is so difficult...I really loved the bloom on Myrtle's Folly, but it was only one bloom. The plant itself just hasn't done well.