Spring Trades: Dahlias I am looking for......

Does anyone have any of the following available for trade in the spring?

Alfred Grille
Appleblossom
Sassy
Sugartown Sunrise
Wildwood Marie


I can trade for other dahlias or postage. The dahlias I will have (providing they make it through the winter okay) can be seen here:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/549992/ (Myrtle's Folly and Hillcrest Kismet didn't produce many tubers this year and those that I have are already spoken for.....sorry)
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/551197/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/555381/

edited to remove 'Wildwood Marie' from my want list....I already have a trade set up for that one. Duh!

edited to put 'Wildwood Marie' back on my want list - she didn't produce tubers for my trader. LOL

This message was edited Dec 4, 2005 12:25 PM

This message was edited Dec 4, 2005 10:46 PM

NoWater,
You are reminding me that as many photos I took last year I still missed a lot of plants totally somehow. Good work on locating pic's though.
AL

Al, I took pictures of all my dahlias but they weren't very good. That is why I had to post pictures I found on the internet on my trade list thread. If I had used my own pictures nobody would have wanted to trade with me! LOL I am hoping to take the time this winter to sit down with the manual and learn how to use this camera properly.

Do you have a digital camera? I would be interested in seeing a picture to see what went wrong. You could dmail me. The biggest problem I have with my digital camera is that I frame the picture by moving the camera away from me and sometimes don't realize that I have my shoe in the picture.

I don't put my foot in the picture (not too often, anyway). LOL

I am having problems getting the colors accurate. Also the lighting. I am using a digital camera that belongs to my sister. All the cameras I have used before this were just point and click so I know nothing about all the different settings. I am also having a problem with the picture appearing centered in the viewfinder but coming out with part of it cut off.

I will post a few pictures so you can see what I mean.

This picture has too much blue in it; some of the flowers look more lavender/pink when they are really a clear pink.

The bouquet in this picture is visible to the left of the bouquet in the previous picture. It was taken a few seconds after the first picture. However, instead of having too much blue it seems to have too much yellow.

This is a bouquet I made for my sister. She took the picture. She is an experienced photographer with a very good camera. See how much clearer and truer the colors are in her picture?

This picture of 'Honey Dew' is much too pale. The actual colors are soft clear yellow blending into cantaloupe.

This message was edited Dec 4, 2005 8:46 PM

This is Swan Island Dahlias' photo of 'Honey Dew'. I would say they might have enhanced the color a little but not by much. Doesn't look too much like my photo, does it?

Looks like I have hijacked my own thread. LOL

Okay, last one. The color is fairly accurate on this one. It was centered in the viewfinder but when I took the picture it came out with the top part cut off.

NoH2o,
There are a few noticable problems.

7:34 posting seems out of focus
7:50 possibly took the picture too close to subject causing chopping

The color issue I can't really help you much on - maybe someone else can. Definitely read the manual to see if there are setting for indoor/outdoor type lighting. Even with autofocus sometimes my camera will not have enough light to focus right (see pic, it's not a dahlia it's Art's Pride echinacea). Might be better to hold the camera with both hands to keep it still when shootin.

Candy Noh20,

First: If your note about Wildwood Marie was regarding me, you might want to keep searching for it as I only had 2 tubers, the mother tuber, and something I noted as "chewed" but apparently saved anyway because this is such a great flower! LOL I figure I can use that one for cuttings come late winter, early Spring. FYI.

Second, Sorry, I do not have any of your sought after varieties.

Third: I love those bouquets, was looking at them earlier ooohing and ahhing again. Now I am on the prowl for the hottest pink, or dark pink cuttable blooms and I wanted to ask you ( again!) about something I spy in your photos.

In the one you think shows too much yellow on the brown tray: what is the bloom to the very far right, just next to the obviously medium pink one? Is it indeed a dark pink and what form/size? I think I see it in your first photo too, front bouquet lower left again next to a medium pink.
Love that little Kingston as well!

There, how's that for hijacking your self-hijacked thread? I'm going to start a separate thread searching for hot or dark pink dahlias....

Oh bummer,
Fourth: I meant to ask you if you checked the camera manual for a "color accents feature." Maybe it's set on something you don't know about? I know my Canon has a little setting where you can highlight blue/green/yellow/red and a few others I haven't figured out yet. If I were half as smart as my camera I'd really get somewhere.

Good luck- I like your photos plenty just the way they are.

LOL, Al, I always use both hands to hold the camera unless I have to hold a stem to move the bloom to a better position. If I only use one hand everything is a big blur. I don't think the chopped pictures are taken too close because the entire bloom was in the viewfinder with sky showing above the ends of the upper petals. But the actual picture has the upper petals cut off. It's almost as if the viewfinder and the lens are not quite aligned. You and Poochella are quite right - I really need to go through the instruction cd thoroughly.

Annie, thanks for letting me know about 'Wildwood Marie'. I will put her back on my list. I have tried to grow her several times (including this year) but have never had any luck. Since you give her such a high rating I will keep looking for a tuber.

Is the dahlia you are asking about the farthest to the right? That one is 'Fire Magic'. Do you want me to put that on your trade list?

I love 'Kingston' too. It is another stunner in a small package and goes well with so many colors.

Do you have 'Ruthie G'? If you are looking for a stunning neon pink with yellow center that is the one. It glows so much it looks radioactive. I think it was my favorite this year.

Thanks for mentioning that color accent feature. It is one more thing I'd never heard of. I have soooooo much to learn. You know, when I was younger winters went on and on and on. That was the season that I got caught up on all the projects that I neglected while I gardened. Now it seems like winter is over in a flash and I don't get anything done. It is dawning on me that this problem started around the time I joined DG.... What do you think? Is that where all my spare(!) time has gone?

Candy,
As for taking pictures, do you use the viewfinder where you put your eye in or do you use the actual viewfinder where you look at the pictures after you take them?
Reason why I am asking is because I used to use the one with my eye looking thru but I was also cutting off the subject. I started to use the main big viewer and have gotten much better with pictures.

Annie, dang it. It only had 2 tubers, that 'Wildwood Marie"??? Well, shoot. Guess I will have to wait another year to get it from you. You need to keep both in case they don't pan out.
Carol

Okay, Carol, I checked my manual to make sure I am using the right words. LOL I look through my viewfinder to frame the picture I want to take. Then I press the shutter button to take the picture and look at the monitor to see how it came out. At this point I see that it has cut off the top of what was in the viewfinder when I pressed the shutter button. If I actually center an object smack dab in the middle of the viewfinder so that there is equal space all around it, when I press the shutter and look in the monitor the object will no longer be in the center but will be shifted up toward the top of the monitor screen. I don't use the monitor to frame the picture before I take it because leaving the monitor on all the time I am taking pictures runs the battery down much faster. (Does any of this make any sense?)

What is it with 'Wildwood Marie' anyway? I have bought tubers from different sources at least 3 or 4 times and they have either not grown at all or barely grew and never bloomed.

I only use the monitor to take pictures with or to look at the pictures I just took. Then I just turn off my camera. I have a rechargable battery so I don't care about the battery life much. I also have a back up battery too so....
Try it, use the monitor for the viewing part for a bit. You will like it, hehe.
Carol

Lol Candy your in the club now ha ha the only thing I can say is do not rush lol.

closer

still not right but I will keep it lol in fact I did this was in Aug 04 I have a camera that is automatic and is good on the color it is down to 159 bux this year lol I paid a lot more. Ernie

Wildwood Marie might be one of those problem 'children' like Hillcrest Kismet: great bloom, tough tuber maker or keeper. I have 2 tubers, plus a mother tuber which I usually discard and some other tuber of it that I noted on my list as "chewed" LOL I am not about to go digging through coolers in the ice cold garage to unwrap it and see what "chewed" means! Even for folks as nice as you : ) Could have been hit by the shovel or gnawed by a rodent. If I have any left over or am successful at cuttings I will send available tubers first come first serve, but don't bet on getting WWMarie from me, is what I'm saying.

FIre Magic! Well, I'm already getting that from Carol OR, right Carol? No wonder it jumped out at me. Looks to be a beauty.
At first I thought Ruthie G was too close to Bliss waterlily for me, but I've looked at a few photos and decided I would like to try it- nice pink! So it would be great to add that to my list, please Candy, but hold on Fire Magic unless Carol is all out or has "chewed" ones LOL.

I don't even ever use the eye piece on my camera: it's the big screen only that I use, and even then I am the queen of cutting off subjects. The nice thing about digital is you can delete anything you goof up right away and pretend it never happened without wasting film.

All this technology is just so incredible isn't it?

Ernie, those are very pretty dahlias. Do you remember their names? What is the make and model of your camera? Have you been happy with it? Doug is thinking about getting a digital camera.

Annie, I have added one unchewed unrotted Ruthie G to your list. LOL I can guarantee the unchewed part but I won't know about the unrotted bit until spring.

I only got 3 tubers out of my Hillcrest Kismet and one of those is the mother tuber. I had been told to discard mother tubers but I kept it in this case since there were so few tubers. Have you had any success planting mother tubers? Do they grow and bloom at all?

No guarantees that's an outrage :{ ) Anyway I will agree with the using the display versus the eyepiece. My understanding is that the angles from the subject to the lens and eyepiece differ enough to cause chopping. I am not an expert - just trying to help. Here's another photo that looked fine from a distance but up close is awful. Just wipe 'em out and rename the good ones!

I've never grown Dahlias before... but after looking at the pics on this thread I might have to start this spring...

Bigcityal what flower is that picture of? It has awesome colors...

Thanks!

almcfarla,
It's a zinnia(sorry) can't remember the type. I do have the package yet though. Here's another one from the package. I think that they repel cameras - didn't I just say to delete these. Dahlias love to be photographed. I think one thing you'll learn from this forum is that dahlias are easier to grow than you think.
Al

Ernie, I agree with Candy: beautiful flowers!

Candy, thanks for putting Ruthie G down for me.

Al, I agree with almcfarla and say those are beautiful colors on that little dandy shown there. What is it? Coreopsis? Heliopsis? Little itty bitty sunflower?

Almfarla, welcome! You should definitely add dahlias of some sort to your garden, so wonderful if you like long blooms from summer to frost. I know ( hope) I will have plenty of a couple varieties I could send you for postage. Won't know til Spring though.

Zinnias! Well those are way prettier than any I've ever seen. Where'd you get the seed and when you have a minute, I'd love to know the names off the packages. Gorgeous!

Pooch,
I always plant 3 or 4 types of Zinnia. Speaking of bad photos I couldn't keep the glare of the packet to post it. They are Burpee "Pinwheel Mix" although they look better than the flowers on the packet. They are supposed to be mildew resistant was the draw for me. I had very little mildew on anything so I can't comment on that claim. Here is there home on my neighbor's property that I maintain.

Al, those zinnias are gorgeous, especially the yellow and pink one. I used to plant zinnias from seed in late May. By the end of July they were covered in mildew and looked awful. One year I didn't get around to planting the seed until the end of June and I had beautiful zinnias that stayed mildew free until frost killed them. Now I deliberately plant them late, usually in spots where spring blooms are winding down.

Big City Al, Nice that you have a neighbor who lets you play in his yard. Oh, I mean Maintain his yard. I agree Pinwheel Mix is gorgeous! It's on my list of things to try.

Candy I bought "cut and come again" zinnias very late last year and lo and behold they bloomed, but not as I had hoped. Can I totally hijack your thread and the whole forum to relay my paltry zinnia story? Ok...

Since I garden on the side of a glacially created mountain we have rocks; rocks and clay. It is unfriendly for many plants, but I dig and haul in garden soil, tons of compost, sift rocks, haul rocks, you name it: I do it. So the first year I created new beds, I was so excited to plant rows and rows of zinnias for cutting. They took a while to sprout. They eventually ( after much cursing and stewing) became 2 inches tall and bloomed! LOL!~~ that's how cement- like the heavy sand topsoil I bought was: 2 inches and the little suckers still sent out blooms! They were supposed to be 18-24 inches tall. That's when I got serious about composting to amend the cement and things are much better now. Only dahlias grow in that space now.....( cleverly maintains On Topic position!)

oh yes Pooch, I would happily take any extras or refuse Dahlias! I am trying to decide which kind to buy. Do you fall plant or spring plant them? The ground doesn't freeze here so... I'm so excited!

Candy it is a Kodiak CX7430 it has 4.0 Pixels. The camera is fine the Easy Share software I found anything but easy to use. I Bought the dock to make one touch transfer and to charge the nicads. Doing it over I would buy the camera and forget the software the dock and just buy a charger for about 30 bucks.

Annie probably likes this and I am not sure I even dug it what ever it is.Ernie

Candy it's there but I am not sure I got it you may have to get three to find one after you grow them lol. Ernie

Yuk hope winter freezes gets this one.

Yuck???? What do you mean yuck??? I think that is beautiful!! I fell in love with that color this summer. Here's what got me ~ 'A La Mode'

I think this is Horsefeathers Candy want itI can't tell for sure with this thumbnail I guess if it isn't I can edit and say nope.

Grrrrrrrrrrr nope sorry

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 9:35 PM

I like A la Mode and am signed up to get one in a trade! What don't you like about it Ernie? Yuck? Yuck? I never used to like orange, or red, and now 'Anything Goes' is my motto.

Love that pink spiker Ernie, it's bright and beautiful.

Alma, I have a whole file/document on growing dahlias in hot weather if that would apply to you. If you're in the warm climate of many Texan gardeners you might find it useful. I'll try to send it tomorrow in Dmail. Normally you plant dahlias in Spring, enjoy all summer and Fall.
Annie

Yes, its very hot here in the summer... I'm close to Houston.... Thanks Annie!

Almcfarla you have Dmail. It was more like several paragraphs rather than a huge document. But it may give you some ideas on how to proceed in your hot climate.'
Good Luck to you.

I love how this thread is meandering all over the place! I think it's great fun.

Ernie, all your dahlia pictures are so pretty. I wish people could see your yard when everything is in bloom. Heck, I wish I could see everyone's yard when their dahlias are in bloom. LOL