My First Dahlia Bloom.............

Firepot is my favorite dahlia. I tried a few in pots t/y, but they did not like them! I replanted them in the garden, but they're still grouchy and won't bloom. Yet. They'll forgive me and come around.

Not a big difference but here is Firepot today. The next one is JJ's Izzy based on what was written on the tuber. I can't find a picture online to confirm this. The last one is Phoenix. I believe there are a lot of 'phoenix's' of various colors but again this was what was written on the tuber. If someone has a more precise name, would appreciate it. It is just opening, like Firepot, so should be quite large when done. Also on Aug 24 I misnames the last flower. it isn't Innocence, it is Chilson's Pride, shown below again

Xaltd1 - (like your name :-))) Yeah, I'm going to replant them in the garden too. I thought pots on the porch with just some morning light would make them happy, but alas, Texas is still hot. Maybe more pinching to make them sturdier and strong?

Oberon - You must spend a fortune on tubers......but your payoff is good! Do you know where I could get a Firepot? Just for that, I'll have to try again.

I have bought from a couple of places but lucked out last year when two DG'rs offered tubers for postage. I think I received 8 from one and over ten from another. Best deal I ever made. The rest are from Swan River, Old House, and one from (hmmm, Brucks -- no that isn't it). They had what they advertised as a blue poppy and from what I could see photoshopped the picture to make it look blue. It is a two tone lavender, dark on the bottom side and lighter on the top. A fellow DG'r ordered it for me (as they wouldn't ship to Alaska) and I paid for the order then paid for postage from her place to Alaska. Pretty spendy for something I could have probably gotten somewhere else much less expensively. But it is lovely. I now have around four plants and have sent some away.

If you google you will find several places that sell Firepot. I still have about 10-12 that are not open yet.

Yikes.....35? Don't the places guarantee them to bloom or something?

Oberon - I found the Firepot....YAY!!!! I've gotten most of mine from Swan Island, and they had it. Course they won't ship until spring, but that's OK.

This might be the first time I dig them out of the pots and store them for spring. Da#%......never really wanted to do that. :-))

Morgan

I have had them too long for any types of guarantees to still be valid. Some of these tubers have got to be at least 10 years old. I am hoping because we still should have decent weather for another couple of months, that most of them may come around.

,

Why do you suppose that they haven't bloomed? Too hot, too dry? That isn't normal is it?

I have been wondering if our super dry weather early on is part of the problem. I noticed my rose of sharon and the Black walnut tree in my neighbor's yard are already losing leaves. I think this is also due to the dry weather early on in the summer. I know our temps have been higher than normal this year.

Dan in Ohio said that he lost a lot of tubers early on and that they were having horrible dry weather too. He said that they plants are short and many have not bloomed yet. I was hoping that you all would get a nice wet edge from Isaac but not the heavy duty storm stuff.

We are supposed to have rain tomorrow. We will see as it seems the weather forecasters are wrong more than anything else :(

I noticed that Karma Choc is starting to open. She is one of my favorites, but then I think they are all my favorites :)

I looked it up. I thought my Hockley Maroon was dark but Karma Choc is even darker, especially at the center.

Thomas Edison is in bloom now but not as tall as it should be. This year I'm like Carolyn and grateful for any blossoms at all.

Gorgeous color, Arlene. Mine are not as tall as they should be either.

Last year spring was so cool that it was awful for clematises. This year the clem's did fine but not the dahlias. I'd love a normal year if that's possible.

I hope we never have another long hot summer like this one. Too much drought and too many problems for farmers, horse lovers and gardeners. I want sweater weather!

A few pics from this weekend

Lemon tart- so pretty,awesome yellow, a mixed bouquet, Lucca Johnanna who is blooming her little head off. She is a keeper! Next,short little yellow ones unknown name and a pretty red one.

So pretty!

My heavens. I love them all!

I love this one of yours, Mary: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1278388/

Thanks Arlene. One of my favorites too. it has been (continues to be) so much fun this year having received about 16 new dahlia tubers. Like Christmas watching them open up. Some I didn't even have pictures for so didn't know what to expect. Bit by bit I am substituting my own pictures in my database for those I did manage to find online. Fuzzy Wuzzy is still a problem. I just don't see how the one that I ordered matches the picture on line.

Morganc, I have plenty of 'Firepot' tubers. Do you want to trade?
My 1st 'Firepot' bloomed yesterday, then the blossom was eaten down to the stem today. WHO is responsible??? The list is a long one! Someone also ate all the leaves off my sunflowers up to about 4' so I am suspecting Bambi & friends.

I was afraid as Firepot matured the colors would mute down or I would lose some of the wild contrasts, yellow-orange-fuschia, but no way.

I think 'Firepot' has every color in it. It's misleading- I'd call it 'Kaleidoscope'! (Thanks, spell check.) It's such a little trooper! While I'm trying to keep the big dahlias staked, dis-budded, de-lateraled, it just blooms along! There are some real bullies in the dahlia world. This year, I actually cut down 2 'Blue Boy' b/c they were shading everything else! 'Crazy Love' is a garden hog, too. I guess they need a special area to be big w/o taking all the lunch money from my other cultivars.

I hear you to those who haven't had a lot of blooms yet. I bought of tubers from Swan Island during their very late season sale. They didn't get into the ground until about July, but those prices!!! But also, lots that haven't bloomed yet. (Rawhide, Sandia Shomei, Lauren Michele, I'm a Hottie, plus about 6 others) I'll be happy if I get more tubers, anyway.

BTW, I saw your post on Corrilitos, pirl, and I will NEVER buy from them again!!! They are the most pathetic, sickly plants in the garden. They suckered all over the place, without one true strong stem emerging. I've cut them back to encourage growth, but they can't keep up with their neighbor dahlias, so they get shaded. I BETTER get tubers from them! They aren't going to bloom, and I paid over $10 each for the 4 plants I ordered (after shipping). I emailed them last month w/ photos, asking for advice- NO ANSWER. They are the only grower who hasn't quickly responded to inquiries, or sent replacement tubers on my word only.

I've had Firepot and loved it. Not sure if it is growing this year or not as I've been busy with other projects outside.

Melissa - call Kevin Larkin, one of the owners of Corralitos (Phone: (831) 596-0323) and tell him what you told us. I bet he'll make it good for you. I've never once had your problems with Corralitos and if I were to order again it would ONLY be from them.

I have ordered from them and had long conversations with Kevin. He is really a great guy. I know what you mean about the suckers but no main plant. then mine took off. Well, some did. But I never got tubers from them. We speculated it had to do with our long cool days. The plants need a certain shut down over time to develop good tubers. I decided, however, that for the price difference, which is small, I would rather get a tuber and grow my own plant. But he is a really responsive, or has been to me.

What I meant my 'suckers' is that none of them had one solid stem; they developed 5-6 tiny stems that took off horizontally. None of the stems could support the weight of a bloom; they were smaller around than a pencil. I have kept cutting these mini-stems as the plants developed, but only one has a very stunted blossom. I emailed them, like I said. Mary & pirl, what did Kevin say that you like his product now? I'm disgusted & have nothing to say to him.

yes, I understand what you meant about the suckers. I fought them also. All those myriad stems that seemed to eat up the plants energy. I think it is the nature of how he propagates with root hormone. I even tried to start out early the second year nipping the side branches but no luck. Just succeeded in killing one plant. I guess it isn't the product so much as he seemed like a nice guy. But that doesn't mean I am buying from him now. I am hooked on Swan River stuff and full blown tubers. I wonder how he will stay in business unless he has people who don't mind buying dahlias every year to get the same plant. I rather like having the opportunity to break up tubers in the fall and spring for multiples. Plus it is fun to have extras to trade.

I have propagated dahlias from stems myself and it works pretty well but the same problem develops in mine - no tuber in the fall and fighting the multiple stems.

This message was edited Sep 6, 2012 9:24 AM

I ended up with normal tubers from Corralitos so I have no complaint at all. Kevin was very pleasant to speak with and helped me select plants that would provide lots of flowers.

You do have something to say to him, Melissa. You can tell him he didn't answer your Emails with photos or give you help. What do you have to lose by trying?

Mary, I agree. One of the reasons I love dahlias is that you get TUBERS, like I said before. It's so exciting to see how many more potential plants you could have. Dividing is fun, too (IMHO). Swan Island is my favorite vendor, one reason being is that they stamp the tuber name ON THE TUBER! How incredibly helpful!!! And I find that the stamp survives the growing season. This has me writing the name of the cultivar on the non-Swan tubers in sharpie marker as soon as I get them. BUT, as I have seen this year, by not stamping the tuber, other growers often mix up the cultivars- hel-LO Lynch Creek and Red Hawk!!! I will always buy from Red Hawk, as they are generous with bonus tubers and have incredibly low prices. Plus. all the tubers grow. They may not be the correct dahlia, but they grow! On the other hand, I've lost 3 out of 10 tubers bought from Lynch Creek- and they are not cheap.

Arlene, I should have said I have nothing in a positive spirit of cooperation. I'm mad. I went to the trouble of taking pictures & sending them with no response, so I don't want to waste any more time on him. I've already lost $40 plus time & trouble trying to get his garbage to grow. He can't do anything for me. If I call him and he criticizes my cultivation, I will loose my temper, b/c I am already disgusted. When a tuber fails, it fails, you forget it or get a refund. With his stupid plants, I've staked, pruned, nursed, cut other dahlias back... all with pitiful results. The other dahlias from tubers have crowded his out! He's also cost me 12' of garden space!

Sorry!

Okaaaaayyy. Exhalted! Don't hold back. ROTFL. I guess I agree. I waited for two years for blossoms on what should have been a white azalea from Bluestone perennials. It was pink. And they said that they couldn't send a white one because they were out. Space we can make up and repurpose -- years of our lives (especially at my end of the chronology) not so easy.

So we shall put CG to rest. RIP.

Sorry, gang! Jax just presented me with a deceased baby bunny, my toilet just backed up, I have trash to take out, & I'm out of Pinot Grigio! Aaaarrrgghhh!

This message was edited Sep 6, 2012 6:33 PM

Hey I was okay until the last item. That truly is deserving of a moment of RAGE!!!!! :)

There was a dahlia co op years ago with Ednies and I did get into that co op. They had sent dried out tubers and only about half of them were viable when I received them - also, they didn't have half of the varieties they said they would have for the co op. Since then, I have stayed with Swan Island and will continue to stay with them.

I concur whole heartedly.

And, there is no such thing as leftover wine either!

ROTFL

Me too... LOLOL... my mom made a fruit-fly trap out of a bottle of wine that had a good 1" of wine left in it!!! Why give fruit flies the good time? Well, I used beer for my serious slug infestation this spring... I guess they met the Grim Reaper with smiles on their little slug faces!

You have to all feel sorry for me, too, b/c I live in MA and I think we have the most strict liquor laws on Earth. Grocery stores can't carry any alcohol- you have to make a "packie run" as they say. Inconvenient, but I am sentimental about the law.

My dahlias look GREAT today- BACK ON TOPIC!!! Lauren Michele and Rawhide are almost blooming, but not quite. Back to why I LOVE DAHLIAS- if you are growing a cultivar that you haven't grown before, it's so much fun to wait for that first bloom!