Des fleurs de Dahlia : Deuxième partie (PART TWO)

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1100703/

Allright dahliaholics, please continue to post all your lovely blooms here.

Tyler James again (with Jazz).

Here is a velvetty red beauty - American Beauty.

Another shot without the rain drops.

I've mistaken this one as 'Bodacous' and keep wondering why the color is orangey-pink. I did some ground cleaning yesterday and found the tag that says: BLOWN DRY. LOL!

One of my favorites, Junkyard Dog.

Pink Petticoat.

The classic 'Pooh'.

Ryan Fou. Hard to take a good photo when it's 7 feet tall.

Note to myself - go easy on fertilizer next year! LOL!

Here's a young Santa Claus. The first batch of blooms were all red. Now this one looks like almost all white.

Lady Darlene. Grower noted that this is a late flowering dahlia but worth waiting for. Well, I didn't had to wait as this is one of the first to bloom for me.

This is Darla. Tried several times and I still can't capture the true color.

Here are the 7 footers. The trellis on the right is 6 feet tall.
I got a dahlia forest.

More. I'm switching to Alaska Morbloom with zero nitrogen. Still have over 2 months for the growing season.

Beautiful. I love Duet and Ryan Fou.

Yep! So many beauties from the pevious thread. Trying to make a list for next year. Wish I got the space to plant more.

Gloriosa - been a constant bloomer since last month, yet I almost gave it away for lack of space. Gave about 7 tubers to my back neighbor.

Nice. I may try a few more next year. This year it was about giving them one more try to see if I could get them to grow and bloom better down here. They seem like no more than 1/2 a day sun in this tropical climate.

Jon - maybe you can find a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade.
Or - Ive seen in photos, some growers use shade cloth hanged high enough in an angle to filter afternoon sun.

That's where this years few Dahlias are. They're in an area with midday only sun or behind the screening around the pool which filters some of the suns rays. There's still plenty of unused space in that flower bed.

Cool! Then start making a list and reserved some $$ for next year.

Soooo many beautiful blooms. Love the dahlia forest! :D

I need more bold colored dahlias- bright oranges and reds are my favorite. Please feel free to send me your extras. LOL! ;)

I've already ordered some for next year, but could use a few good sources for Dahlias, especially an online retailer with a large selection. Any recommendations?

Jon - For quality tubers, I recommend Swan Island Dahlias. Really good selections.

http://www-dahlias-com.netsolads.com/

For rooted cuttings - Corralitos Gardens. Live small plants. shipped in specially designed plastic containers. Saves you the trouble of planting tubers and waiting for them to sprout. They will roduce tubers too by the end of the season if you want to keep them.

http://www.cgdahlias.com/

Lovely blooms, everyone.

Psudan - from the previous thread, my Aloha looks more like your Hawaii. Your Lavender Perfection is still a gorgeous bloom even if it does have the wrong name. Duet is a winner and so is the little fellow's smile.

Tex - you're doing superb with the dahlias!

Love Blown Dry. By late September mine goes to orange and yellow and I still love it.

Lady Darlene is such a winner. When she didn't over winter I bought her again from Corralitos.

Pirl - What do you mean by "didn't over winter"? You leave it on the ground or the tuber got rotted in storage?

Rotted in storage. We can't leave them in the ground out here or they'd freeze.

That's what I thought so. My back neighbor, she left a couple of her dahlias in the ground, dump a boat load of leaves on top of them and they came back. I told her she still need to devide the tubers but she won't listen to me.

Thanks for the information Al. Very much appreciated and I've already been taking a look at both sites. My oh my.

Al - your neighbor can leave them but if they aren't divided they will starve to death since each tuber wants to be fed. I made that mistake (of not dividing) with Bishop of Llandaff and no longer have it. Lesson learned!

Are you supposed to lift them and divide them every year, even in a climate where they can remain in the ground year round? I'm assuming I should do that in the fall, down here, but was wondering if I then store the tubers until spring or can simply replant them back into the ground after dividing?

Jon

They should be lifted and divided for best performance. I don't know about growing them in Florida as to when you'd plant them but Carrie grows them in FL and she would know.

I can't see why you couldn't replant them in the ground in spring but don't know if it could be done immediately after dividing.

Thanks for the information pirl. I know its hard to give advice for a climate so different than what we live in. I can relate to that. People would ask me about winter-sewing other types of plants and I would tell them "I have no clue" on when to do it. Once we sew something in South Florida it starts to grow immediately. That's why I don't know if it would be a good or bad thing to immediately replant divided Dahlia tubers in South Florida.

I'm not positive but Carrie may have planted hers in March. I did send her a link to your question and I'd guess she'll post after she's home from work.

Bright light just went on: Dahlias want warm soil and here we plant them when we plant tomatoes (55 degree ground temperature, not air temperature) so that might be a clue.

This may or may not help - I got some tubers last year from the generous Todgor, and 7 grew the first year. My plan was to leave them in the ground, and only divide them every 2-3 years. Out of those 7, 5 are growing this year. Kevin floodlight was really big and healthy last year, but kind of wimpy this year. The others are doing better, but still did not have the vigor of last year. I have a one border dahlia that came back well every year for about 5 years, then got overcrowded and I divided this year (got about 24 plants out of that 1 original). The few other shorter border dahlias that I have do well remaining in the ground over the winter.

So, since I am on the lazy side, I will plan on dividing every other year to avoid overcrowding and will replant so that I don't have to worry about storage. The ones that I treasure and want to increase their chances of survival, I will dig up every year, divide, replant a couple, and store a couple over the winter if there is plenty of tuber formation. I only have 30 different dahlias, so my job is simple compared to those of you who have hundreds and have to dig up every year in the colder zones.

This message was edited Aug 19, 2010 12:02 PM

I can't imagine having to dig up 100's of them. That's quite a chore and some serious dedication. I was reading about Dahlia care on www.cgdahlias.com and the recommendation was to dig them up every 3 or 4 years in climates where they can remain in the ground. I'm sure if I keep reading on various websites.... will come across several different opinions regarding the subject. I guess the best thing is to read as much as possible and try to come up with some kind of consensus.

You could also start a thread asking others about their experiences with leaving them in the ground and not dividing them. That might help with your decision.

Looking lusciously luvly Tex68.

"Tempest" might be my favorite so far of my dahlias that have bloomed this year.

"Rae Ann's Teacher" bloomed about a month and a half ago and finally started blooming again.

"Juul's All Star" is just a teeny tiny feller. This bloom is around 2".

Tempest is lovely, Ed.

Regardless of the new ones I bought it's still Colorado Classic that's my favorite.