Dahlias Summer 2015

A few more blooms from the past couple days. Some are not quite filled out yet. As I checked my chart today, I noticed I don't have as many new varieties as usual. I used to always have about a 50/50 split of old vs. new each year. I guess I have slowly accumulated so many "have to haves" that I don't have enough room for as many new ones as in the past. Lots more buds ready to pop. We're in need of rain.

1) Vassio Meggos. I lost mine is storage and a vendor sent two freebies. Very nice unexpected gift.
2) Elsie Huston
3) Tom Sauk. Much deeper red than the photo shows. Sun is washing out some color.
4) Kogane Fubuki. Turning more pink as I had hoped. First blooms were all yellow.
5) ?? I've never had this 3" ball type and didn't order it. I think a vendor sent me a "ringer."

One more. This is Zorro. It's 6" but usually gets to 9"-10". Unfortunately, this one won't get any bigger. It was the only bloom or bud on the plant and like the klutz that I am, I turned it a little to take a photo and snapped the whole stem off. Darn it! I've never seen a dahlia stem that brittle. I hope it will have more buds. I have another one in the backyard bed but it isn't growing like it should. Zorro is a very deep red that my camera can't capture. I hate losing the only bloom.

Your dahlias look so perfect in the pics. Almost like the ones at the florist. Tom Sauk wins for me in this group.

I have one blooming now that has an open center and I see what you mean about being disappointing. It looks little ragged from JB damage but hopefully the other buds won't emerge the same way.

My lead volunteer dahlia has a bud that's just starting to emerge and it looks like it might be a whitish color. I don't have white dahlias so we'll see when it officially comes out.

The JBs are definitely slowing down. It think we're coming to and end of the season, finally.

Thanks Jeff, but mine are far from perfect. Tom Sauk, (I've seen it spelled Salk) isn't completely filled out yet. It should get better.

Every time I think the JBs are about finished they make another appearance. Still not in any great numbers but they seem to converge in small groups on my best blooms. I found two earwigs yesterday among the leaves. I knew they were still around but hadn't seen any in a while.

It'll be interesting to see how your volunteer turns out. I've never had any come up from seeds. I don't know but from what I've heard it's mostly the smaller varieties that can grow from seeds. I might try some next year.

The flower in the photo is Red Emperor. It's the first bloom on the plant and has an open center. I wish I knew why I have so many of those this year. A lot of the smaller varieties are naturally open centered. It's a look I don't really care for. After the bad start I should be thankful for any blooms.

Do you think the open centers are weather related? I have open centers on some that have never had them before. It's a little strange.

I've heard that open center blooms can be caused by the weather or poor planting stock. I've read many times that some people dig them up in the fall and toss them. I assume they are saying this a trait/condition that will continue into the future, so they throw them away. They start over by buying replacements the next year. I'm not sure what is causing mine but I have more than my share. I saved a few open center tubers from last year to test but forgot to mark them when I planted them among the new ones of the same varieties I bought this spring. Brilliant move on my part!

There's a lot of strange things going on with the dahlias this year. Besides all the open centers, I have about a dozen plants that a barely knee high. Most of these are normally three to four feet tall by now. I also have a few of the shorter plants with blooms on long stems that are 18" or more above the highest foliage. Longest stems I've ever seen. Really odd looking. If you read some of the other garden forums you'll find that a lot of this weirdness is going on in different parts of the country.

Dan I think that would be a great experiment. To save some of the open centered ones and some of the normal to see if it carries through next year.

I have had very good growing conditions this year. With the high temps we are experiencing , I may have to water tomorrow, if it doesn't rain tonite. Supposed to cool down Sunday.

That's what I intended to do this year. Somewhere between the sprouting, potting and planting, I didn't mark which was which. I saved a couple open center Canby Centennial tubers last fall and bought a couple new ones this spring. Two of the plants are growing close together. One is blooming normally and the other has open centers. I'll bet I know which one is a tuber from last year. lol I'll try to remember this fall to mark and keep them separate. I would love to find that they can outgrow this.

I'm glad to hear you're getting good weather conditions, Gary. We get the occasional sprinkle of rain. But I still have to water several times a week. I'm dreading the mid/high 80 degree temps they're forecasting through next Wed. or Thurs.

I have open centers on plants that I saved tubers from last year. I don't recall any on them last year, so I was just wondering what might be the cause. The plants look healthy enough and they are blooming like crazy. Maybe it it just a "weather thing" , and we will never know exactly why. lol But it is odd that so many are experiencing the same thing. There must be some common factor.

Alright it's cloudy and warm/humid but can't count on any rain, so it's off to water I go!

We had a nice rain late Friday night. It didn't rain long but put down a pretty good amount of water. It saved me from a watering chore this weekend. The chance of rain today is now gone but replaced by a chance every day this coming week. The temps are now forecast as high 70's to low 80's for Mon. through Thurs. instead of high 80's. Of course, I'll have to check the forecast again in a few minutes. lol

I have a lot of blooms opening. I'll try to get photos tomorrow. On the down side, I'm seeing several that are not going to be what the plant tag says they are. Nothin' new there!

Dan, I hear you about the JBs. I've only seen one here or there but today I saw a bunch on my Allegheny Viburnum flowers. I'm sure they are on their way out though. Maybe a week yet.

My volunteer dahlia bloomed. I don't have a pic but it is a single dahlia and pure white with yellow towards the center. It's quite pretty and very up my alley. They are my favorite types so I'll be keeping this one. It's not super photogenic because it's missing a petal but there is another bloom coming online in like a week so I snap a photo of that. I don't have any white dahlias so I'm not sure how the genetics worked out to make it.

Well I did some watering but then it started to rain! Got a good inch or more so didn't have to finish that job. While watering I noticed what I thought was a very large bumble bee pollinating the phlox flowers. Upon closer examination it turned out to be a moth! I have never seen such a moth before. It was bright yellow and black with long trailing black hindquarters. I am going to have to see if I can find it online. Picked tomatoes and had BLT for lunch.

Well it wasn't difficult to find online. It is one of the humingbird moths which is active in the daytime. I enjoyed watching it fly about the phlox.

Enjoyed looking at the dahlia blooms. I got a bud on mine this year before the grasshoppers hit. Intended to spray the plants with neem oil to see if that would help, but didn't get it done in time. I

I've never seen one of those hummingbird moths but have heard they are cool. Skipper butterflies are also about during the day and they can look like moths at times.

A few blooms that have opened in the past couple days. I have more blooms but they're still being chewed on by the JBs. When will this invasion be over??

1) Ben Huston. Almost 7' tall. I need to grow or get a step ladder to get a photo. Not cool.
2) Islander. Should get bigger than the present 6"-7".
3) Alfred C. Another in the early stages.
4) Kidd's Climax. Better bloom than I posted earlier.

Geez, 7' tall! What a monster.

A coule more new ones and some repeats.

1) Lady Darlene. Hard to believe but this one should be mostly golden yellow soon.
2) Vassio Meggos. Getting bigger and the leaves have started to fold back.
3) Snow Country. I can't see any difference between this one and Fleurel.
4) Kelvin Floodlight
5) Group shot of Firepot.

The 7'+ plants are a royal pain in the butt when it comes to staking. Especially in the early fall when we start getting the stronger winds off Lake Erie. I hate to see them grew beyond four or five feet.

I was reading an old post on another forum yesterday. They were talking about open center blooms. One lady said one of the main causes was hot weather during the time the plant is forming buds. She was hoping the blooms would improve when the weather cooled. There were no follow-up posts so I don't know how it turned out. I'm hopeful but not so sure. I have at least a half dozen plants, so far, with the ugliest blooms I've ever grown. Many are mis-shaped, dull colored, small and all have open centers. Most have some yellowing leaves. I think some of these will soon visit the trash can. I'd hate to think it's a virus that might affect other plants. This year's problems are trying my patience to the max.

is JB June bug or Japanese beetle?

JB = Japanese Beetle. I haven't seen a June Bug around here in years. Oops! I said the same thing about Japanese Beetles a few years ago and look what I caused! lol

Earlier in the year I had a lot of June Beetles, aka Brown Beetles or May Beetles. They are copper colored and a little smaller than the JBs.They burrow into the ground during the day and only come out at night. I'm sure some people have them without knowing unless they go out at night and check with a flashlight. Darn things can do a lot of damage to the leaves. I was blaming the damage on earwigs until I happened to look one night and saw hundreds of them. They didn't hang around too long this year.

NIce blooms Dan. The Hummingbird moths like the Echinacea especially well. I had one nearly fly up my nose when I was weeding the bed around the garage. lol I got a bit too close to the flower it was hovering over. They sound and look a lot like a Hummingbird in flight. Fun to watch.

Those hummingbird moths are amazing. I used to have more wildflowers than I do right now (plan to remedy that this fall) and when I did I had both hummers and the moths zipping around

New Dimension

I love New Dimension, Nanny! I tried to buy that one late this spring but the clumps in the store looked a little dried out. How big is that one in height and bloom size?

I've had a couple pleasant surprises the past two days. The first photo is Red Emperor. I posted a photo earlier when it was blooming with an open center. The bloom is looking a little ratty now but has at least filled in the center. Maybe it just needed a little time.

The second photo is one of my Apache plants. All three plants were blooming with open centers. Today I found that the new blooms on one plant look a lot better. I hope this trend will continue. Maybe the slightly cooler temps are helping.

New Dimension is about 3 ft tall with blooms about 6-7 inches. Apache and Red Emperor are lovely. I don't have anything that shade of red yet. I will have to work on that.

I can see that I won't have much that is photo-worthy until the JBs are gone, whenever that will be. Three are new ones and a couple are repeats which have filled out a little more. Bonaventure is my all-time favorite. This one is complete with JB "droppings." lol

1) Bonaventure
2) Babylon Bronze. At 4", it's definitely not a dinner plate as advertised.
3) ??? Very pretty deep purple ball-type. I didn't order it, so ....
4) Painted Madam
5) Alfred C.

Nanny, if any of these survive storage this year, I'd be glad to send tubers to you or anyone else on the forum. After last winter, the "if" is the troublesome part. lol

Thanks Dan. If I have any you would like I would be happy to trade for them. If they survive storage of course. It always contingent on survival of the tubers, lol. I have had pretty good luck so far with the tuber storage, but strange things happen. Best of luck to all of us in that dept.

Waaay cooler today. I had a nice all day soaking rain. Didn't get outside but was able to get some things done inside today. It is unusual to get this kind of rain in August but welcome. Many beautiful photos posted!

Gary, send some of that rain and cooler temps out this way. We're supposed to hit 90 tomorrow. There's an 80% chance of rain tomorrow night. The 50-60% chance yesterday and today must have gotten sidetracked somewhere.

You can keep the cooler temps but I'll take some of the rain. We've had about 1.5" in the last 30 days and the outlook is grim. We have a chance today and tomorrow but after that the forecast is nothing but sun out to the end of the 10 day forecast.

It rained for a few hours this morning temps only in the 60's. It is supposed to get warmer as the week progresses, but only up to about 80. Sounds great to me. Looking forward to a sunny day tomorrow and temps in the 70's. I wish the west coast could get some rain like we have had. Not much wind and nice soaking type rains.

Currently 70 with a small breeze. Woke up to 50s this morning. Felt good but was a little chilly at the same time.

This is what I get for not paying attention. Posted in wrong thread. lol.

Gorgeous dahlias though everyone!! I have one, Fireworks, if I remember right. Starting to go gangbusters on me finally. :~)

This message was edited Aug 19, 2015 6:33 PM

Welcome pepper23! I just hate it when I do that! And I HAVE done that before. lol

I've done it too many times to count. LOL!!

Not at all difficult to do, especially if you are watching several threads. Sometimes I get lost. ;)

After failing to receive any of the forecasted Mon.-Wed. rain, we had what amounted to a short, light drizzle or mist early this morning. The soil is still bone dry. As I expected, I'll be watering this afternoon or tomorrow.

I have a lot of blooms opening every day but not many new varieties or ones that haven't been perforated by the JBs. The ones below are nothing to write home about. Better days are ahead!

1) Drummer Boy. This one is already 8"+.
2) Alpen Bill
3) Ferncliff Inspiration
4) Frost Nip?? Definitely not the white one it's supposed to be.
5) Hollyhill Six in One. All the blooms are mostly white this year instead of mostly yellow as in the past. Weather related?

Dan you have some very nice blooms there. I especially like Drummer Boy and Ferncliff Inspiration, but the others are nice too. They all look good to me.