Dahlias 2014 Part 4

Dan, as I recall the last time you 'cut back' from 100 you had 125... even with my limited math skills that does not compute. lol. No rain today but I have no new dahlias to bloom. Valley Porcupine isn't going to make a flower this year, nor is Bonaventure. Hopefully I will get healthy tubers from them for next year. I will take a walkabout to see if a couple of late lilies have popped. I am fortunate that the lilies and dahlias seem to bloom as the same time and make a lovely show.

I would also consider trades assuming a good winter storage.

I have had pretty good luck with storing mine for the winter, so far. And apparently I have been doing it all wrong, Lol
I just dig them clean the dirt off and put them in a cardboard box and put them in our garage that is for the most part unheated. (It does have heat, but we never turn it on unless the temps go down in the teens. It stays above freezing in there unless it is really cold outside.) I haven't had a problem with rot, because I don't get them wet.
Ocasionally I will have some that shrivel a little , but they usually recover nicely after planting. I do my Cannas and EEs the same way, with pretty good results. I figure if it ain't broke why fix it. My system may be unconventional but it works for me.

I absolutely agree. It probably wouldn't work for me as we 1) don't have enough room in the garage, 2) it is attached and heated all winter to about 50F by a stack robber. Might work in the crawl space where I could spread them out with labels etc. Worth a thought.

In April, I visited my uncle in a hospital in Virginia. He had broken his hip. He asked me to check his tubers (clumps) in the basement at his home. When I saw them, I said "OMG!" Some looked dirty, some were shriveled and all were just sitting out on tables. I wouldn't have given two cents for the chances of any of them growing. His neighbor and grandson planted them a while later and he recently told me that almost every one of them had grown and bloomed. Just shows that you never know. He told me that one of his neighbors simply wraps hers in newspapers and puts them in cardboard boxes. Doesn't even wash them. It probably helps that some areas of the country just happen to have the ideal humidity levels for storage. I also believe that I sometimes over-think the process and make it more difficult than it has to be. lol

lol psudan! Nothing wrong with wanting to give your "babies" the best chance possible. I usually don't have the time to do all that prep, but as I said, it has worked pretty well for me. Two years or three ago I unwittingly missed a few when I was lifting the tubers. Just so happens we had an unusually mild winter and they came up in the Spring, boy was I surprised! That would not have been the case this past winter. They would never have survived. I lost some of my hardiest perennials to the bitter weather we had. I sure hope we don't have to go through that again.

Mary, it's called addition by subtraction and I'm not really sure how it works either. lol

We had a big thunderstorm last night and I had many, many petals lying on the ground this morning. I hated to look.

We finally have some sun and a bout 60F. I pruned, deadheaded, etc to try to prompt just a few more blooms. Still have tons already opened on plants. I love the ones I cut and put in a vase.

I do love Rebecca's World but the stems are really weak. Also on some of the shorter ones. I do disbud to increase size and to assure blooms as the fall comes along. I am afraid if I leave too many buds then there won't be enough energy to open very many. I know Arlene doesn't disbud as she wants to maximize blooms but she has hotter weather and longer summers and falls.

Dan, do you have Elma Elizabeth. I know you like dinner plates and while I don't think she quite qualifies, she is huge and when she matures she is almost a perfect round ball, though not a ball form. She is a formal decorative
http://www.dahliabarn.com/shop/elma-elizabeth/

Unlike Snow Country, EE has super strong stems to support the bloom and I had three at one time one fully open for quite a while and two others opening nicely.

This message was edited Sep 7, 2014 10:49 AM

I tried growing EE last year. One tuber rotted just after it was planted. The other grew but never budded. I bought two from Alan Lowe this past spring. I gave one away and the one I planted is about 3.5' tall but still no buds. I love the flower but haven't had any luck with it so far. The one in the photo appears to be a "relative" with a similar name. It's one from last year named Vera's Elma. It was about 7" in diameter. Beautiful flower that I plan to grow again. Unfortunately, the tubers didn't survive storage.

Shoot. Vera's Elma is huge and beautiful. We'll see how Elma Elizabeth does this winter.

That Vera's Elma is exquisite!

I appreciate the compliments. VE was a freebie last year and I don't remember which vendor sent it. I'm thinking it was Clack's. I always like the looks of the free ones I receive. Maybe I should just let the vendors pick out the ones I buy. lol

I just checked Elma Elizabeth and there's still nothing happening there. Don't understand the problem with that particular dahlia but I may have to give up on that one and go back to VE. They seem to look about the same to me anyway. Hard to compare since EE refuses to bloom for me. We still have over a month of growing season so maybe EE will bloom yet.

More blooms opened up this past weekend.

1) Surprise. This one got off to a slow start. I'm "Surprised" it even grew and bloomed.
2) Vancouver. Finally got a photo of this one fully opened.
3) Ferncliff Illusion. First time with this one. I'm hoping for more of the lavender blush.
4) Juanita.
5) Kidd's Climax. A little better photo than the one I posted before.

Two repeats and two new ones.

1) Firepot. I don't usually take photos in bright sun but the orange seems even brighter.
2) Shiloh Noelle.
3) ?? I only know this isn't the lavender one I expected. The colors look smeared.
4) ?? Not a fan of the little guys. But at $15 for 12 clumps, I'll take 'em. Good for borders or pots.

Well now I have done it. I couldn't figure out why delicado was an orchid form when it was advertised as a decorative form. I sent them a picture and note and they replied that " darn, theirs did the same thing but then 'eventually' produced the full lovely bloom I thought I had ordered. Grumpy?? You get. Sent them a note about our short season and how this information would have been of interest in advance.

Okay. I am fine, Calm. or as close as I get.

So I guess with dahlias, you have to take a "wait and see" approach? I am usually just excited that they bloom at all! lol
But I do understand, how frustrating it is to be expecting one thing and get something else entirely. ;)

I have somewhat of a history of receiving mis-labeled tubers. Most have come from companies selling the prepackaged tubers grown in Holland. Big box stores are a source of those as well as some of the on-line vendors who specialize in "deals." I've had fewer problems with vendors on the Dahlia Big List. They seem to have much more quality control over their products. I'm less concerned about planting certain colors together than I am about having plants of the same height together. I don't want a row of four footers with a two footer in the middle. And it has happened.

Speaking of mis-labeled tubers, I have had three of these plants bloom in the last few days. I didn't order this dahlia. Oddly enough, I'm missing three Otto's Thrills. Hmmm. Coincidence? I checked the site where I think these came from and they sell 3-packs of Thomas Edison. I'm willing to bet that's what these are. And to tell the truth I'm not unhappy about it. It's a beautiful color. Besides, I already had several OT's. I just wish these vendors would get their act together. I'll be sure to see if the name is still written on the tubers when I dig them in the fall.

It does make it difficult for those of us who keep track of named plants. I have three that should have been Karma Gold but are dark red. I have three to choose from on the site I ordered from. Will give it my best shot and at least have them in the database with a label.

Not sure I want to keep them though, as they have really weak stems. As more and more buds open the stems get more and more slender. Kind of like Rebecca's World.

I have a lot of plants with weak stems. Many have fallen over and we're supposed to have high winds with thunder tonight. I hate to think what I'll see in the morning. Why do some of the smaller flowers have bigger stems than some dinner plates? Last year I read that using fertilizer with more potassium made stronger stems but I didn't follow through with that. As usual it's always "next year." lol

I'm seeing that more and more of the ones I blamed myself for mis-labeling were actually some that the vendors sent that were the wrong ones. My vendor list will be shorter next year.

I am trying two new vendors so it will be interesting to see how they do. More potassium huh? Next year.... raining all day today -

The storm last night did a number on some of the blooms, especially some of the bigger ones. But it's the time of year I've come to expect that. These are new ones.

1) Inland Dynasty
2) Danum Meteor. Gonna be a big boy.
3) Homer T
4) Just Peachy
5) Flapjack. In it's early stages.

The first photo shows a Canby Centennial from this year. It's a huge disappointment. I haven't had a good bloom yet. It's much smaller than normal, open-centered and doesn't have the frosted detail of ones in the past. The other two photos are from a couple years ago and show what it should look like. I have another plant that I planted later. It's just starting to bud and I'm hoping it turns out better than the first one.

I see the difference. No where near as beautiful as the photos from last year. I really wonder if the health of the tubers (in ways we cannot see) causes some of the 'busts' in blooms.

You must have a lot of late bloomers. I am always afraid that those won't have enough time up here to do much. I still have lots of blooms but are all the ones already photo'd. Encore and Valley Porcupine are still holding out. lol. Encore might make it.

For having a huge wind storm your blooms (those you showed) are all gorgeous. Mine are starring to show the day after day of rain in terms of drooping flowers on weak stems. Elma Elizabeth continues to stand up there despite the rain and the huge blossoms. Got'a love them. Ice Berg and Otto's Thrill are also standing up (no pun intended) to the rain soaking their huge blooms.

I think you are exactly right about the health of the tuber after (or going into) storage determining what kind of growth and blooms the plant produces. I've never thought about it too much always assuming a tuber is a tuber. Of course, as long as it isn't shriveled really bad. I think you've hit upon something. There has to be a reason the tubers sold by some vendors out produce those sold by others. I do agree with others who say the size of the tuber isn't important as long as it's healthy. I've grown some beautiful plants from tubers that weren't as big as my little finger.

Yup. Me too. But I know that some of my tubers in spring were really iffy and I potted them anyway. If they produced a sprout I figured okay. Now I don't think so. Either the tuber needs to be firm and healthy or I am pitching it.

Although, having said that, Arlene sent me Kabuki this spring and it was kind of shrivelly looking but I planted it anyway. It produced a nice healthy plant about 24" tall with several beautiful blooms. So go figure.

We had so much wind it knocked my Kelvin's Floodlight over. I had to put a tomato tower around to support the blooms. I counted 7 blooms and 3 buds on this one plant. This red one is small, but I like the color and it's a prolific bloomer.

Kelvin is definitely a winner. I have several this year and can't imagine not having them in my flower beds. I have never understood several people who have told me they don't care for KFL because it is so "common." I don't know what that has to do with anything. I think it is one of the prettiest, most prolific and most dependable dahlias there are. I love looking in the garden and seeing those big yellow beacons. I know I'll never get tired of it. I laugh when I think of the people (non-gardeners) who have asked me the name of "that big yellow sunflower." lol

Too Funny! I really like that "Big yellow Sunflower". Do you let the frost kill the foliage back and then dig your Dahlias? Or do you dig them before that?

This is the first year I will let the frost kill the foliage. It gets so cold and wet here by then that I have not waited before but in the interests of perhaps better tubers for storage I am going to do it this year. Brrrr.

I usually dig after the frost, but that is usually because I have so many other plants to deal with BEFORE the frost that I don't get to it until after. I don't know if that has anything to do with my luck at storing them. I have been growing Dinnerplates for about 5 yrs now and have pretty good luck so far.

I know what you mean. I walk through the garden, sorry and cold, and see all I should be doing now and just can't work up the enthusiasm for it. I just need to not think about it first; just grab gloves and tools and hop to it. Once I get started I am okay.

I can relate to that. It has been cold a dreary here today. Spitting rain and breezy. Not very conducive to working in the garden. ;) So I am working on an indoor project. A fairy garden.

that sounds like fun. I am baking for a neighbor whose husband is dying from cancer. They hope he can make it to Thanksgiving. They have been such good neighbors. I know she will move after he dies and we will miss them both. We were to have a small neighborhood get together in their garage but it got vetoed at the last minute so I have a bunch of fresh vegies for a baked vegie medley that still needs to be made up. Figured I could make it up along with a couple of small pork roasts to go with the pumpkin cake. All can be frozen or held in fridge easily. I know they have friends and relatives either here or coming up to Alaska and she can use the prepared food. About all I can think of to do.

That is so nice of you to prepare food for them. I am sorry to hear about your neighbors husband. We lost a friend to cancer recently. He was only 34.

OH my. That is terribly sad. This gentleman is 76. He has had a good run, with a fairly large family. He worries about this grandchildren though. We talked a bit this summer about his treatment and such.

I think I will start a new thread titled something like "Dahlias-Fall Storage 2014". I know that Dan is still posting pictures of his lovely dahlias, but some of us are not so fortunate. I may not add threads lines to it right away, but it will be there for those facing summer's end.

Here is our new thread til next spring. Hope you will all follow us here with our orders, questions, advice, etc.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1375638/