Ordered From Swann Island Dahlias this year.

I have been trying for years to grow dahlias, but mostly the tubers don't grow. Well, some grow but I am lucky if I get half of them to start growing. Then when they do start, the darn slugs (or maybe its citworms) chew up some of those. So I end up with a dahlia plant here or there instead of what I had in mind. Not good. I had always bought locally or from or those really cheapo discount catalogs. Not this year.

I started thinking about dahlia growers. So I looked up their Swann Island Dahlias on the web and ordered (yestersday afternoon) 6 dahlias. Kept my order under $50.00 including shipping because I did not want to spend more on this experiment. But their dahlias sure are beautiful.

What really was the deciding factor for me was the fact that I looked on their guarantee page and they guarantee true to name and that they will grow :-)) I saw the picture of one of their tubers and it didn't look anything like the dark, shriveled up tubers I am used to seeing.

I ordered one small one, a bedding type, LITTLE BLESSINGS and 5 regular dahlias from different flower sizes. I just picked some that I thought were the prettiest, while staying away form the $20.00 or over tubers. My tubers were six dollar ones with one eight dollar one. I bought CLOUDBURST, DR LES, HOT TAMALE, UPTOWN GIRL and MANIAC. That is more than enough for me. Should take up all the room I have leftover.

The ones that say really large flowers, like the 8-11 inch size, does that mean you have to pinch off all the side shoots that would have made flowers to get that one big one? I never do that and just leave them be.

Rita I guess that the other post with the pictures did us in. I placed an order yesterday for a total of 23 tubers. I'm sooo excited to get them and plant them.

Yes, Rita, that is precisely what it means: pinch or you won't get the size they mention. I don't pinch either and I'm very happy with the dahlias.

Yes, the pictures on the Swan Island Thread really got me going. I had to order but I only got afew. I would never have room for 23 dahlias!

Pirl- Thanks for the explination. I am not going to pinch. I don't care if the flowers are smaller. I would rather have more flowers than one really big one anyway. I suppose the truely huge flowers are really good for the people that enter shows.

It is okay not to pinch, the problem however with dinner plate dahlias, even if the blooms are smaller by not pinching, the flowers (usually about 3 in a stem) are still too heavy. Not only you get a shorter stem, it will most likely going to break due to the excessive weight it can handle.
If you prefer not to pinch, it would be ideal for you to get the smaller flower types..

I too ordered from Swan Island - mostly the new introductions. Also ordered several from Corralitos Gardens and a few from Connells Dahlias.

Oh yeah, just to remind you, you may have to 'top' your dahlias too according to your preference. 4 pair of leaves from the bottom or wait for seven pairs and count 4 pairs from the top and remove lower pairs. Confused yet? LOL!

I do top mine for bushier plants when they have a few sets of leaves and always apply slug bait as I plant each one. I don't pinch to get larger flowers. I know I should but time has a way of escaping while we're all in our gardens and other jobs take priority.

Not staking each plant has been my biggest mistake but I learned and now I stake in advance.

I am going to top this year (never have before). I will probably disbud a few here and there, just to see the difference. I don't care about bloom size, but disbudding does make for a longer stem. My flowers are only for me, but it is a lot annoying when there's a nice big flower with a 2" stem I'm trying to finagle into a glass or vase LOL.

Staking-oh my, I learned my lesson on that one, too, pirl!

newyorkrita there are several helpful videos, if you do want to see for yourself and decide what you want to do. It's not as hard as it sounds. There's no right or wrong when you're growing for your enjoyment. I let them be for the first few years I grew them, learned my rights and wrongs, now have decided to top and occas. disbud. It's always a learning/evolution process for me...Good luck.

Topping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AjLzIlGJo
Disbudding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wFuwzH-cnM

Well, lots to learn apparently. I had not ever ever heard of topping dahlias. I was going to ask what that was as I read it but instead watched the videos and got much smarter :-)) Thank you for those links! All the times I had grown dahlias I have never known why mine were not very full but instead skinny and tall. Now I know and also know what I should have done and will deffinately do in the future.

I also watched some of the other dahlia videos that came up there at You Tube and realised that I don't know anything about dahlias :-((

I plan to put tomato cages around mine after I plant. I guess I really should not have ordered those two that I got that said they made the extra large flowers (11 and 8 inches) but I just loved the looks of those pictures so thought I would give it a try. Not because of the extreme size but because they are so pretty. I guess I can always try some disbudding. So do you think with the tomato cages they have enough support? How does one correctly support such big flowers anyway?

I was certainly not looking for ones to enter in a show. I have no interest in flower shows. Nor do I usually cut flowers for a vase. Only put flowers in a vase inside if I had to cut them because they were broken or something. The dahlias would be a garden flower for me as is pretty much everything else around here that blooms including my many roses and daylilies. I like alot of color in the garden so love lots of flowers in the garden.

Another problem I have had in the past is that slugs just love to chew up my dahlia plants. In fact one of the videos mentioned that slugs just love the tender young shoots of dahlias. My garden is very heavily muched and I do have lots of slugs. I will have to see what I can do about that.

Rita - if you only have a couple of the A/AA size dahlias, then you don't need to worry as it doesn't really take that much time to disbud them. You can even select the stems you want to disbud and let the others the way they are.
Some dahliaholics here got fields of dahlias, which then it seems it will be a full time job just to disbud. LOL!

There are a lot of commercially available slug baits. Also from what I was told (can't attest to this), cocoa shell mulch which I'm using this year, deters slugs and some insects. Don't know why. But then I never had slugs in my garden.

Rita are your plants on their way already?? Mine were shipped this morning and should be here by the end of the week. Will have a busy weekend planting.

Fields of dahlias, no I only bought 6 tubers. That was alot for me. Two of them are the really large ones. I guess I will be out there after they grow figguring out what I should do and the pinching and disbudding.

I will never have lots and lots of dahlias because we have to dig and lift them for the winter, store them and then replant. Too much work for me, okay for afew but not for alot.

I never use slug baits although I do put out the beer in traps when I can. Last year we had so much rain, I did nothing about the slugs. So I expect them to be extra thick this year. I don't want to use any poisons, trying to get toads established in my yard.

Ah, no I don't think so. They said on the website they ship at proper planting time for your zone. It would be much too early to plant here. Of course your in Miami and have no real winter.

Opps, I just got an e-mail right now from Swann Island. My Dahlias are shipping mid April by Priority mail. I didn't pick the other shipping options.

Disbudding becomes second nature as you walk by a plant, trust me. It takes no time at all- snap snap and it's done. For the larger blooms, if you expect heavy wind or rain, it really helps to cinch their branches up with a tie: just give the plant a big hug including the heaviest branches up near the flowers, snug up and then tie gently. They will likely survive any storm just fine. Old pantyhose or T shirt strips work great as ties. T shirts mildew and rot after a year or two though, at leats out here. Rolls of plastic tie tape are inexpensive. If the flowers break under the heavy weight of rain or wind anyway, you'll have some pretty bouquets to grace your home!

Tomato supports work great! See http://dahlias.net/dahwebpg/Support/NoStake.htm for 'how to.' If you have only a few plants, they would be super easy.

Wasn't there some earlier discussion on some info contained in the dahlia videos on YouTube? Don't believe that everything you hear/see might apply to your growing area. Variations will apply to just about every one of our zones and particular growing conditions. I.e. when I hear "shake the dirt off the clump after you dig it," I just peal with laughter! It is so wet out here at digging time, the clumps are heavy and sodden with muddy moisture. If you shook it, you'd be breaking the very dahlia tubers you were hoping to save. So proceed with care and see what works in your area- that's the very best advice.

The videos by Lance, The Dahlia Guy, were very good. The ones we didn't like were from another site.

Heed Poochella's advice about wind! I had mine tied well enough or so I thought and then a storm passed through that broke off Blown Dry right where the stem and earth met. I do think it was a freak storm and can't see how much more I could have tied to stop it from happening.

Swan Island just sent me an email that they just shipped my tubers today.
Actually 3 vendors sent me emails - plants "shipped today". Next couple days I will be expecting dahlias, roses, daylilies.
Anytime from now I will also be expecting 157 lily bulbs. Oh boy! I can feel my aching back already.

I had a big bulb lily order arrive yesterday. I have lots to plant.

Nothing new about the dahlia tubers here. But if they are shipping to NJ then they must be shipping soon to Long Island.

Got my Swan Island email as well. 157 lily bulbs sounds like Christmas in April!

Me too, me too! I got my Swan Island Dahlias shipping confirmation. Went out today. Hurray! I am not ready to plant them yet. Plus its been cold the past few days.

Is it mean to say my SI order is in the ground and several inches high? I was very pleased with them. They sent very healthy tubers.
I would love to see pics of everyone's lilies this summer (157?!). Guess I'd have to wander over to the lily forum.

Yes, come over to the Lily Forum. There are always lots of nice pics as soon as things start to bloom.

From last year and just meant to tempt you!

Salmon Star

...unless you'd find this more tempting: Red Hot Lily.

Wow!!! You're mean! Kidding of course, but those are gorgeous. Of course I love salmon, peach, etc. But that Red Hot is awesome-does it not have the super pollen-y stamens (correct anatomy?) like other lilies? It must smell like heaven in your garden.

Not all that super polleny but they all smell great. With 107 + a few more I ordered and the 417 I have (not counting Asiatics) it will smell great!

I can smell them from here! I was always the one with the big yellow/orange stain under her nose at lily blooming time LOL. They are gorgeous!

Thanks, Annie. We do enjoy them.

These are in the white/pink/dark pink lily garden (as if you couldn't guess).

Bonbini

Well my Swan Island dahlias are starting to come up already. Now to let them get a bit bigger and off with their tops. The Brent and Becky ones are growing fast.

Mine from Van Bourgondien and Blooming Bulbs are growing by leaps and bounds.

How soon do you behead them, Roly? Third leaf set?

Yes. After the 3rd set of true leaves I chop the top off to allow for the development of the lateral buds.

Thanks. I have one that needs it right now.

pirl- Are your Dahlias inground already?

No. I plant them out at the end of May.

Oh ok, I wondered about that. Seemed awefully early to me to have them planted inground. My tubers aren't even here yet but were shipped. So I guess they will be here soon. I doubt I am going to pot them. So most likely wait to just put them in ground in May.

I don't pot them up either. I'm near enough lunacy without doing that.

So, not to turn this into a lily thread, but do you have to dig these up? My head swims with thoughts of digging 500 up!
And they only bloom once a year right?

No! They stay in place for all time. They do only bloom once a year but each one blooms for about two weeks - some less, some more.

My Dahlias are here. I unpacked them but left the peat in the box and put the tubers in it like they were in the bag. I don't know what else it do. Its too early to plant them. Its cold and yukky today.

That's a poo feeling, isn't it? You have them, but you can't do anything with them. That's why I started putting mine in big tupperware-type storage bins with some potting soil (not now, but in Feb.). Made me feel better, anyway. Glad you got them-soon, soon. :)