More blooms 8/21

The other thread was getting kind of long. Here's some new photos from this morning.

Wyn's Mystic Moonlight is spectacular - huge flowers and oodles of them.

Another shot to give you and idea of the number of blooms.

An AC P that hasn't been chewed, finally.

Isn't Pretty in Pink a pretty pink?

Here's the dahlia bed this morning.

It was hard to get a photo of this one - the flower is about 7 feet up. It's Wyn's Magic Touch.

Ya wanna see a big Sir Alf Ramsey? This is the one with the monster stem I posted photos of the other day.

Gus was supervising while I was out there this morning.

AC Garfield is covered in blooms too.

Smooth Operator has really nice dark foliage and a gorgeous color.

Spartacus is still going strong. This bloom is huge.

Wyn's King Salmon. Big flowers and a beautiful color.

Taiheiyo is covered in blooms too and they're all huge.

The little red border dahlias I got on sale at Walmart. They didn't have a name.

Got back out and got a shot of all the blooms on Taiheiyo.

Now I want to make dirt angels in your garden!!!! Your Wyn's are marvelous, of course. My number one favorite is your AC Garfield. And Wyn's King Salmon. That Taiheiyo is insane! I've never seen it look like that-all pictures I've seen in the online catalogs look very unimpressive and yours is gorgeous. I reiterate my statement about you (and several others here) selling your photos to them. I would love to see a close up of Wyn's Magic Touch. PLEASE don't try to get any closer, I don't want you to go climbing any ladder.
And your Sir Alfred Ramsey is awesome-it looks as big as the one on his website-LOL! How big is yours? How long do the blooms last? How big is the bud before it opens? Sorry, I've never had a bloom bigger than 10" before.

Carrie

I hope some of the buds on Magic Touch will bloom closer to the ground so I can get a better photo. You certainly don't have to worry about me volunteering to get on a ladder. I did water them this evening though and was able just now to get a bit closer. I still have to shoot straight up into the sky to get the front of the bloom, though, and it's never good to shoot into a bright sky. Plus the wind is blowing them around a bit so it's hard to keep them in the center of the shot.

No, Alf isn't as big as the ones on Accent. It's about 7 inches across, maybe a bit more. It will get bigger though, I'm sure, because it hasn't been open for more than a day I think.

The Taiheiyo tuber came from Tod so I'm sure starting with Tod's fantastic tubers helps. Those blooms are really big, about 11-12 inches when they get fully opened.

Shoot, it would help to add the photo.

Got a nice shot of AC P that shows the side more so you can see the form a bit better.

Love that AC P.

I love them all! Whatever prep work you did on your bed has certainly paid off in spades. My Wyn's Mystic Moonlight was a non-mystic washout here last year. To see that color as it should be is nice.

AC Garfield catches my eye too. Might have to order that one; looks like it has good stems and lots of them. I thought the same thing seeing Sir Alf "Just like the Accent website!"

Well done, Hart.

AC Garfield was one of the first to bloom and has been a blooming machine ever since. The color is probably my favorite of any color in the bed and the stems are long - would be terrific for cut flowers. It has really nice foliage too.

AC P has been a good bloomer too but AC Garfield and Mystic Moonlight have been unbelievable with the number of blooms. Spartacus too. MM flowers are huge too even though I didn't do any disbudding of anything.

I really didn't do anything special to the soil. My dirt is horrible but I added in some bags of the cheap garden soil from Lowes, sprinkled a little Planttone (actually it may have been Hollytone) and used that fertilizer in the yellow bag from Lowes. I hadn't used that fertilizer before and everything I've used it on this year has bloomed like crazy so that may be the secret. I think it's called Lily Miller.

I'm going to be googling planttone and hollytone this winter along with Accent Dahlias. ♪♪♪♪ Next year, next year; here we come next year ♪♪♪♪ Thanks for the inspiration Hart! :)

Accent will be my first choice as well. I ordered from far too many places (just a few from each) but I'd be less crazed ordering from just two companies.

Pooch, you shouldn't have any problem finding Planttone or any of the other fertilizers by Espoma. I give everything a sprinkle in early, early spring before anything has emerged other than maybe daffodil leaves and then again about three months later.

Hollytone is more for plants that like acid soil. I think I ended up with a bag of that just because they were out of Planttone and my soil is alkaline so it won't hurt. Anyway, Lowes and Costco carry them. Most of the good garden centers around here carry them too.

I really think the difference might be the Lilly Miller fertilizer. It comes in a fairly small yellow bag and Lowes carries it. I've used it on the dahlias and on my other flower beds and everything has gone wild this year with blooms. Or maybe it's the combination of the two. I just looked at the Lilly Miller bag. It says Lilly Miller in small type, Ultragreen in large type. Color Bloom Plant Food and it's 15-30-15. Planttone is only 5-3-3 but it has a lot of good organic stuff in it.

Yes, I will also be ordering from Accent. I have a nice, long list. AC Garfield is of course at the top of the list, w/AC P.

On a hot and sticky day like today, since I've finished the outside work, I'll sit here and make up an Accent order for next year.

I'm amused. Went to the site and the second photo (under "by variety") is AC Aquarius and it's now on my list. Might be a very long afternoon!

Funny-I like to do the same. It's raining here (big surprise), so it's perfect timing to make lists. Sadly, I have a list for many sellers-Accent, Swan Island, Dan's, Wynne's...some have 5 on their list, some have 20! I will have to narrow it down, or re-finance!

This message was edited Aug 22, 2009 1:10 PM

Wow! All great! If that's my Taiheiyo, I think it sported itself, I had the all-purple one. I like the variegated one better though. The AC P is excellent, and the Wyn's Mystic Moonlight is super!

Catching up on everyone's pics cuz I'm so behind. Outstanding oodles hart ^_^

How did the final legs of your trip go Les? Hope your garden maintained itself well-enough and no evil cat-sitters maimed any plants this time.

I shouldn't even read these threads: I keep thinking I have to cut back, and then spot more I have to try next year.

You're the one enticing the rest of us, Annie!!!

Had a wonderful time in MT Pooch ^_^ The non-evil catsitter did a fabby job. Had to do alot of deadheading and disbudding when I got back though.

Thanks everyone. Tod, I don't know what happened but I did reply to your post a while ago. That is your Taiheiyo. That's really something that yours is solid and mine is striped. Want me to try to save you a tuber?

I'll try to get some new photos soon. Several of them are just covered in blooms. The AC P is incredible. I couldn't count how many stems it has with blooms.

Thanks, but I was just curious about the variation in the thing - some sell the all purple Taiheiyo, like Dan's, where I got it, others sell the variegated version. Maybe they are one in the same? :)