Dahlias 2014 Part 4

I apologize. That is Gallery Art Deco. Must have been a butterfly or something that grabbed my attention! LOL!

I love them all, too. Guess I'm hooked!

thanks. We usually just jerk our head to the right or left when someone pulls a 'where did that come from' and shout "Squirrel!!"

Hi, I have never posted on this forum before because I do not grow the amounts of dahlias you all do and I have never figured out how to download pictures onto the computer, But I have followed this thread for a long time I only have 15 dahlias growing. Well it would have been 16 if Hollyhill Spiderwoman would have come up. Right now here in northwest ohio on the western banks of Lake Erie we are over 2 inches below on rainfall That does not help . And after last weeks water crisis here where we could not drink the water because algae bloom had settled over the water intake and caused toxins in our drinking water.Now they say for now its safe to drink but we are to conserve water till algae bloom season is over [it doesn't usually peek till september. They don't want us watering our lawns, washing cars, etc. It is requested not mandatory. I broke down and watered my dahlias last evening. they were really wilted. I felt guilty doing it though, But hey I didn't water my 200 daylilies though I wanted to. I just wanted all of you to know I really enjoy your postings and pictures. Hopefully I will before november have some blooms too. Karen.

Welcome to our thread and forum. We can tell by the number of 'views' that many people like to look at the pictures and follow the chat who don't necessarily post anything. Not a problem. Sounds like you are heavily into daylilies so assume you do post to that thread.

Can't imagine having the water problems you do, and rationing water. We don't even pay for our water usage. Just a flat charge no matter how much we use. All those glaciers and glacier fed streams have to be good for something. lol.

Chime in any time you like.

Nice to have you with us, Karen. The news about your water problems was on the nightly news here. Sounds horrid. Some of California is experiencing sharp watering restrictions as well, though not due to the same problem.

You know the dahlias need water when they wilt! I'm glad you gave them a drink. The daylilies are more suited to drought with their rooting system. I still have about 500 from my days of buying and hybridizing daylilies.

We will all enjoy seeing your dahlia blooms. I think they do best when the weather begins to cool off in September.

I think I'm in big trouble! I went to the Swan Island site. Oh my!! What gorgeous blossoms!

So do you have very best favorites? Could you share what they are?

Do those huge blooms really grow that large in a regular garden?

Therein lies the problem. We look, we buy, we stress!

We each have our own favorites, I'm sure.

The blooms never get that large for me since I do not disbud. The heavy blooms seem to weigh down the stems so they need more support.

1. Blown Dry (sold at Corralitos)
2. American Dream (sold at White Flower Farm)
3. England's Glory (not often seen in catalogs)
4. Lady Darlene (sold at Corralitos)
5. Vancouver (even available at Home Depot here!)

Tomorrow I'd probably have five different favorites!

I absolutely agree. And Snow Country is the first dinnerplate dahlia that is actually the size of a dinner plate. Looks sort of silly as the bloom is half the size of the plant! Which I guess is good as the stem is very sturdy and not up there where the wind can whip it about. I think I have two plants as the one next to it is also white and has no tag. I thought I was so careful but I have a few unidentified. Actually I got one through the winter that lost its tag last fall so really have no idea what it is and now not even WHERE it is. lol.

Although I didn't think I could make a bigger mess of mis-labeling plants than I did last year, I believe I may have achieved just that. Many seem to be in the wrong place. I charted all ten planters by tuber names when I started the them in April. Unless I took them out of the planters from the opposite end, I don't know how I messed up this badly. Each new bloom will probably be a surprise. These photos were taken early this morning and don't do the blooms justice. The first blooms are sometimes not the best and I can only hope that is the case with these.
1) Akita. It's already over 8".
2) Lady Darlene
3)Canby Centennial. This one can only get better.
4) Art Deco gallery. Looks much better than the photo. lol
5) Another shot of Lady Darlene.

Mary. Embrace is partially open and looks just like yours. Unless it changes drastically, it is not Embrace. How does yours look now?
The Japanese Beetles started off slowly this year but are now making up for lost time. Yesterday I squished at least twenty of them off the Kelvin Floodlight bloom I posted earlier and over a dozen more this morning. My second KFL has opened and they are already devouring it. I'll have to spray again as soon as our rains are over, although that may be a few days from now.

I'm heading out to fertilize with my bat guano. Rain is forecast by around 2:00 pm.

The suspense never seems to end! We can all get crazed with keeping names with plants and then we can find an error by the seller, not our own.

I haven't spotted a JB in a long time - probably a month.

Really Pirl? Geez JBs are still all over the place here. Luckily they love the yellow Knockout Rose more than the dahlias. Every KO bud has 10+ JBs on it. It's getting old but by my calculations, we should start waning soon. The bumblebees go crazy over a couple dahlias in particular. It's fun to watch them work.

I like the purple one in the last pic Pirl, very nice :)

That first one in your last pic set is pretty too Dan!

Joyce, I'm a relatively new dahlia grower too but I did not start mine indoors before planting them. They have all had great success this year except one new purchase from Swan that really hasn't done much. I don't think it will bloom this year and it's kind of wimpy looking.

Your dahlias are all gorgeous I love the colors because they are blended. Why don't I see these (or appreciate them) when browsing the online stores?

Now I regret placing my orders so early. I should have waited to see yours first. But I only have so much ground so that is that. But I will drool over all yours for the next weeks.

Do the beetles fly around or do they crawl up the plants. Other than spraying is there nothing you can put in the soil that would deter them? To wait for so long for our flowers only to have those @#$%^&* chew them would make me crazy.. okay, crazier.

JB's do fly and land on the blooms and eat right through them. Their orgy of food and sex is over here by mid August and it's only one reason why I don't want dahlias blooming in July or even early August. It's horrid to see them, one atop the other, having fun while destroying the blooms.

So far I haven't seen any on my KO roses.

The earth can be treated but it has to be every square foot and has to be done for years to be effective. Just doing your own property is useless (no matter what I've read here) because the neighbors still would have to do the whole Milky Spore process and I don't see that happening.

Mary, there are systemic insecticides that will kill them and protect plants but then those are also toxic to bees and other pollinators. It's sort of just a thing we need to tolerate here. I used a systemic on our Katsura tree because they were eating that pretty good but now they aren't >=)

I appreciate the compliments. I'm never happy with the first blooms. But I've learned to expect it. The next round of blooms should be better (fingers crossed).

It started to drizzle as I was 95% finished fertilizing. I also had to re-tie 50-60 plants that have had a growth spurt. The forecast was calling for high winds with the storms so I wish the rain had held off a little longer so I could have re-tied a few more in the front beds. I hope the bat guano will soak into the soil without getting too diluted.

Mary, when the JB's are the most numerous you can see them flying in on the plants. I used to grow a lot of green beans, both bush and pole beans. Every year the JB's would absolutely devour the tall pole beans and never touch the short bush beans which were a matter of a few feet away. I asked an long-time gardener why that was. He said the beetles would fly in and conveniently land on the tallest plants in the area. I don't know if I totally buy that theory but I haven't come up with any better idea.

There are systemic insecticides that the plants will absorb but I've never had much luck with those. I'll spray with the Safer brand spray when the rains end, hopefully by Wednesday.

I read about the milky spore thing elsewhere but Arlene kind of puts that one to rest. Good point. Not much use if your neighbors are furnishing breeding grounds.

From another forum: "Mary - I had so much trouble with Japanese beetles this year that I purchased milky spore to kill all the grubs next year before they turn in beetles."

Dan, would you take a picture of your dahlia beds from a distance. I would love to see the entire layout.

First blooms on NOID dahlias, I had moved them around so mixed the labels. The purple one is taller, with dark stem, small flowers, the off white one which I like a lot is on short plant and her leaves are kind of mildue, jut 20 inch. tall. Maybe I should not try to grow cold climate flowers dow in Ga, just like I gave up on growing Peonies, it never bloomed for me. Etelka

I once read that those beetle traps (bags) like they sell at Home Depot will definitely kill the JB's but will also attract at least 10 times the number of them that you would have had in the first place. Someone told me the traps attracted them from as far as a mile away. Possible, but I'm a little skeptical. A mile??

Mary, I'll get some photos of the beds as soon as I can. Hopefully, I'll have some blooms by then.

Fubuki has opened!!! I am so excited and thrilled. Poor little tuber when it arrived. it just goes to show that, as Dan says, never assume anything about tuber health til it proves itself one way or the other. I want to wait til it opens a little more for a picture. I thought it was going to look rather like Fuzzy Wuzzy but it is very different and lovely. Thank you so much Arlene. i am not going to try to cut the tubers this fall. Just knock off excess dirt, dry and store very carefully by itself.

The first one might be Thomas Edison. Not sure about the second one. I wouldn't give up on growing dahlias just yet. Maybe have a soil test done. From what I've seen, dahlias seem to prefer a slightly acidic soil. Mine seem to do well in our sandy soil. I'm not sure how much your plants are affected by your warmer climate but several of my family in Virginia and North Carolina have great dahlias and I believe they are in at least zone 7 and they have a lot of hot weather.

Wow, I don't know about a mile Dan but I have heard they attract way more beetles than the trap can handle. It doesn't really matter because you could put up 10 traps and once they were full there would still be droves of them coming to eat stuff. Ever day I was flinging them into soapy water but the next day there would be just the same amount as if I hadn't done anything. We just have to wait out the cycle. Little jerks...they're right up there with rabbits on my list.

Jeff, living in Pa. are you plants bothered much by deer? I bow hunt in Pa. every year and see lots of them everywhere. I've hit six deer with my vehicles and 5 of the 6 were in Pa. You mention JB's and rabbits so I was curious about the deer.

One of my aunts in Va. had a father-in-law who raised a huge vegetable garden every year. I noticed at least a dozen green cylinders around the perimeter of the garden one day. They were about 5" in diameter and 15"-18" tall with a funnel on the top. There was a wick that he put some kind of lure on by the hole in the funnel. The hole was big enough for them to enter but small enough that they couldn't find their way out once inside. He would dump the beetles out several times a day and spray with something to kill them. I saw dozens upon dozens of piles the size of softballs that he had killed. I would never have imagined beetles that numerous. But the lure was probably attracting many more than he would have ordinarily had.

Yeah deer are a major problem to those poor folks who live where they are. I live in a suburban neighborhood not far from where we've seen deer but far enough where they wouldn't bother us. Rabbits are bad enough, I couldn't imagine having to contend with deer. That's pretty crazy about your aunt's relative. They have to be crazy numerous though because you can see their damage from the highways. They love to eat Black Locust trees and everywhere you go around here those poor trees are brown in the canopy.

Mary - I added the disclaimer about what others say regarding Milky Spore. It simply won't work if all the neighbors don't do the same applications. I don't see it happening anywhere!

The dahlias are doing well for you, Etelka.

Those JB traps have to be carefully placed a specific distance (and downwind) from where the problem exists. We'd have to put it on our neighbor's property! I doubt he'd enjoy it. I don't know about a mile away, Dan, but when you see how fast they fill up it's rather shocking. Traps have to be replaced every few days.

So glad to hear it, Mary. I'm still waiting for mine to open. Those pot tubers did look so dried out!

You're so right, Jeff. It's impossible to keep up with them.

When we moved here there wasn't a deer problem. Then neighboring deer herds liked this area. Now it's history. We're plagued with them.

I always wonder how deer get over to an island....

Dan here are two shots of what I had labeled as Embrace. Did you get yours from Alan Lowe also? He said he doesn't have anything that looks like this.

This message was edited Aug 11, 2014 12:41 PM

Mary your Pseudo-Embrace are stunning! For that much beauty I might be willing to put up with lack of identity. Hope you two figure it out though.

Etelka your dahlias are gorgeous too. I'm in the same zone as you and it is currently 99 degrees outside. My dahlias are doing fine as long as I water them.

Karen, you made me laugh: you have "only" 15 dahlias? I have two! plus three Gallery types. And yet here I am, lol. Welcome!

Ahhh, Turtles. We shall encourage you go 'go forth and multiply!!" lol.

90F? I remember now. You must be in that part of Oregon that gets so hot. I was down the visiting my son who lived in Vancouver and was shocked at how hot it was. I couldn't stay out in it and would move swiftly from car to mall.

Oh they are all so beautiful! My list is getting longer and longer! How did I survive so long without them??

The JBs are happily munching on my Crepe Myrtles and Mallows. Hopefully they won't sample the dahlia smorgasbord. I put Grub Ex down for the grubs. Every year I have a few less. When I see them on a plant I squish them where they are and leave the buggers. Hoping that their relatives will see the dead soldiers and head for the hills!!

This is the very early stages of the Embrace (?) I got from Alan Lowe. I believe we have a match. The JB's have totally destroyed the first three blooms on this plant. I'll try to get a better photo when it opens a little more. I don't know what this plant is but if it turns out to look as good as yours I won't be too disappointed. Did you get a sheet of paper with his numbering system on it? If I recall correctly, all the tubers had numbers written on them instead of names. If I have the paper I'll check some photos on the internet to see if I can find this one. Doesn't really matter to me, just curious. At a cost of $2.00 per tuber I don't mind an occasional "surprise."

this is so weird. Think I will send him a note and mention the fact that you also received one of these dahlias when you ordered Embrace. He has to have that plant in his yard somewhere. Shoot. Maybe he has his whole selection of this plant mislabeled. No, I would have chosen from a picture not a list.

Curiousier and curiosier...

Mary, I'm probably wrong but the only two possibilities I can see on Alan's website are a Bahama Mama or a Papageno. So I think we have either a Mama or a Papa. lol I'm not sure of the bloom size of either but the one I have looks like it's going to be a small one.

Jeff - they do swim. We've seen them.

Now you two have the Mamas and the Papas! What next? I remember Alan Lowe's numbered list. The one you have in common with Mary is definitely not Bahama Mama. I've grown that one.

Alan said he would be glad to send us the correct tuber next year. I told him neither one of us were that obsessed with color combinations and we really liked the one we got. Just that we post pictures here and like to give them correct names in case someone would like to buy one and needs to know what to look for.

Hope that is alright with you Dan.

Papageno is indeed similar. Swan Island says it is a late bloomer though and yours and mine (especially mine) were not late. In fact mine was one of the first to bloom in my garden.

Yes, it is about time for me to multiply! Yahoo. Do you think if I ordered Embrace from this Alan that I would get the Shrug instead, line you got? I would be very happy if so. Shrug is what I'm now calling your non-Embrace.

Is there a Papagena? Since its not BahamaMama.

Can't believe deer can swim. How do you swim with a hoof? Crazy. Oh well I've seen buffalo swim and they were pretty decent swimmers so I guess anything is possible.

Mary, I love that 'Embrace'!

The most graceful swimmer we ever saw was a hippo, down in Busch Gardens, Florida, in one of those glass enclosed aquariums you walk through. Who could have guessed that?

The most graceful swimmer we ever saw was a hippo, down in Busch Gardens, Florida, in one of those glass enclosed aquariums you walk through. Who could have guessed that?

Oh man, Hippos are nasty beasts! They're aggressive and mean. It's crazy though that they make a graceful swimmer.

Horses also swim if they have to. So it isn't what is on the end of your extremities, it is the motion of the extremities I guess. They don't call it the 'dog paddle' for nothing you know. lol