Better late than never

1.) Pre-hurricane Cynthia Huston
2.) I managed to snip a few blooms off before the bad weather hit.

Thanks, Arlene. This is always a sad time of year seeing all the beautiful flowers dying. But it's also the start of planning for next year's gardens. The on-line catalogs are out in all their glory and it's perfectly alright to go a little crazy ordering. LOL

Luckily for me, I have the old Swan Island catalogs at home so I'm safe until I learn to work the new laptop.

Of course, I could go online here at the library but that's just not as much fun.

Swan Island's catalog for 2013 is due to come out soon! I'll have worn out the pages before Feb. It is truly "Gardener Porn!"
But I resolve to buy from more far-flung, smaller outfits that need biz and have lower prices and no catalog. A confession: I just ordered $75 of tubers from Aztec. I forgot about them until I consulted the Dave's Dahlia growers page. Aztec has an awesome on-line catalog, and better-than-Swan prices on many of the same types. I made a mistake buying heavily discounted dahlias late season from Swan. They were so late in starting, only 2/3 ever blossomed. Swan seems to be able to hold their tubers in a state of suspended animation. HOPEFULLY I'll get the bargain in lots of tubers.

Dan, you have so many beautiful dahlias and I love the group shot. Dahlias put on such a nice show up until frost, then we dream and plan next years garden.

I looked through the Aztec catalogue. They had Cafe au Lait thought it was sold out. Also Nick Sr @18.50. Boy am I lucky!!

I'll go shopping tonight. While I was out of commission I went through my plant receipt folders and noticed the differences in shipping charges. I guess that will remain an issue with many of us who want plants from four or five different vendors.

daisy lee, thanks for the kind words. Dahlias can be addictive. Many times while ordering on-line, I've had to slap my own hand away from the keyboard and tell myself,"Enough"! LOL

Mary, a friend of mine bought Cafe au Lait last spring from, I believe, East To Grow Bulbs ( maybe it was American Meadows ??). They were sold as clumps rather than individual tubers. When she divided the 3 sprouted clumps she ended up with at least 6 plants. They are usually 3 clumps for around $10.00.

I think I DID find it at American Meadows now that I think of it. In addition to Aztec. I looked up Aztec here and their record is rather varied.

I just googled Cafe au Lait and found a sale at Blooming Bulb. You have to buy in quantities of 3 and the price is $2.07 each. I have to warn you though that I have not had much luck with ordering their dahlias. Over a two year period, I ordered 11 different ones and 7 were not what they were supposed to be and one never bloomed. Funny thing was they were always the right color in each case but the wrong dahlia. I noticed that they are in Oregon and I believe the tubers were sent from Michigan. I assume they are "middlemen" who are just sellers and not growers and don't have a hand in quality control. I e-mailed them and they were very nice and offered a full refund but I didn't take it. I haven't ordered anything but daffs since.

Yes, they are not on my list to order from anymore. American Meadows is on the edge but the fellow who owns it was so nice and sincere the last time there was a mistake that I really hate to 'blackball' him without giving him another chance. I am sure Cafe au Lait will come up at more reputable dahlia growers soon. Sweet May is another one I am looking for. I had one and it just galls me that I put it in the wrong place and didn't keep checking the tuber when it wasn't growing. It rotted. A very expensive one. Opsss. that was a peony not a dahlia.

Has anyone seen the new Taylor Swift dahlia. I just couldn't resist it. Got it from Dan's dahlias. It was 3.00 more than CG but I get a tuber. I just haven't had much luck up here with the propagated dahlias making good tubers. Kevin said it had something to do with our length of sunlight.

I haven't had it or even seen it.

I'm surprised that your length of sunlight would have detrimental effects on the dahlias. I'd have thought they'd grow to giants.

Oh they do! Huge. but the tubers from propagated cuttings don't always form tubers that can be saved. It has something to do with what triggers the plant to start storing nutrients to the tuber instead of to the flowers.