Dahlias: What do the trial garden reports mean?, 0 by Poochella

Poochella wrote:
The thing is.....it's really hard to not try new ones over time. What if you're missing out on a really great plant that would be just perfect for one's goal/growing conditons? That's why a resource like Plantfiles is so helpful, because it's not just the vendor touting a certain product, but practical input from varied users of that product. So it's my hope that youz guys LOL will all put your experiences with various varieties in a database somewhere for future reference.

I want good cutting flowers, so a variety that puts out four flowers a season is going to fall off my "grow it" list after trying a couple years, and hopefully a better, similar replacement will come along. I really appreciate it when a seller says "blooms late" because I'm most likely going to avoid that one. DO YOU HEAR ME, FERNCLIFF ILLUSION? (I really want to have droves of that flower, but it's such a late show here, I'm afraid it's just not meant to be.) But what if someone else comes up with an equally drop-dead gorgeous white with striking purple accents that blooms in July? I would never know, unless I tried it and grew it right here.

Therein lies the 'gotta try it' rub.