GRITDIG 2007 The Competition begins!

I think it'll probably hurt my feelings to have to cut this tree but if I want to save enough cuttings to be able to share with others in the spring, it'll have to be done

It might take 32F, frost doesn't always settle in all places, I would chance it. 32 shouldn't harm the stems anyway.

Nice to see flowers!

I actually found out since that last posting that the temp is supposed to be 39F with a wind chill of 32 so it should be fine.

Three cheers for 39! It's so amazing to see all those buds against the sky, and to see one blooming is great! Well done, dm.

I wish I could get a better ,up close pic. I take all of my pics with a RAZR v3 GSM cell phone since i've had a Kodak easy share for well over a year now and still don't know how to use it!!!!

I haven't been outside yet this morning and don't know exactly how cold last night ended up being so I don't have a report on the plant yet!!! I do know that tonight is supposed to be colder than last night so I may need to at least try and cover it tonight with something.

I can now see a bud at the tip end of two of the stems.

One is a shorter stem so from the extra height of the bank and with the tip tilting sideways I could get an end on shot.

The taller one, you can see the striped side of a tip bud.

There is promise there Janet. It would be something to have two blooming this year for GRITDIG- truly an international event! I'll be rooting for you.

Dmichael, they should name the camera "Kodak Not So Easy Share" LOL.

Has anyone here had experience with growing the white variety of DI???? A friend of mine in N.C. sent me a small plant last year which I kept in the gh all winter. It went into the ground this past spring just as my lavender one did but it hasn't grown much at all in fact it almost died once but has made a great comeback and is now about 4ft tall.

Thanks Pooch, no frost forecast YET, next Sunday and Monday are supposed to be 1C which is close, fingers crossed!

dm, I have just been looking at a white one from the south of France, it looks to be more tender and later to flower.

http://www.bulbargence.com/m_catalogue/article.php?id_categorie=45&id_article=591&val=

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Images/sld27769.jpg

This is where I found one and i'm sure my friend who sent me the white one got it from this place so it should be a double bloom.

This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 1:29 PM

That says mid November, and to 8 ft tall,

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/Detail/05935.html

There is a National Dahlia collection seller here who is now online, this year they are offering the double but they sell cutting grown plants so it would be some time to mature, and I would have to be VERY lucky to get flowers here!.

DMichael, did you find your answer on D.I. roots? I went searching for a photo from when I moved mine last year, but it was covered in a dirt ball.

As I recall- tighter knot of larger rounder tubers from which emerged last years trunk ~3inches diameter, a collar similar to smaller dahlia clumps and from there sprang the eyes/shoots.
The photo if you're interested...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=2297700

That helps a bit. I was just curious as to how large a tuber would be to produce such a huge plant!!!!

It was a knot of tubers less than a foot in diameter and less than that deep, as I recall .....then I mercilessly killed them all :( But I am interested in trying the double white one next year.

A Birthday present for Lenjo! My buds are still growing! How are yours?

The lower stem.

The taller stem.

Carol, is yours in flower yet? Or frozen!

The other tall stem, I can see small buds pushing in the side shoots so there HAS to be more in the middle!

It's possible guys and gals!! Remember I posted earlier in this thread that I cut off the top and put it in water......Well tough big plant that DI , it has bloomed inside. The smaller buds dropped off but the three largest ones have opened, HURRAY!! Not the same as outside but at least I got a chance to see the flowers. In fact, the stem is starting to get roots so I guess I will throw it in some soil and see how it fairs as a house plant.

Take a look...

Congratulations, Willow!!


Ok, finally got out and took some pics of my Di. It has two trunks on it and one is about 6½ feet tall and the other is about 4 feet tall. Both trunks have buds at the top, but none of them are open yet. Hopefully we will stay warm at night and the buds will have a chance to open.

Here are the buds on the short trunk.

And here are the buds on the tall trunk.

Those were the size of the buds on mine when I cut them and brought them inside, so if the frost comes you can still enjoy the flowers! It took 9 days inside to bloom so I hope you get that much time outside, Good Luck!

Well since my last posting we have had 2 nights of frost,the first one being the heaviest which required some serious deicing of the truck windows that morning before I could go to work. Much to my surprise though when I got home form work the DI had not frozen nor did it freeze the second night and it now has a lot of blooms open!

Great stuff willow!

mg, your buds look just a little more stretched out than mine, but otherwise close on the same size. Fingers crossed, we might all get flowers! I bet lenjo has some!

It was worth the risk wan't it dmichael! A protected pocket next to your greenhouse may have done it.

Sorry Pooch, we are all getting so excited with our buds and flowers, perhaps you can try again next year?

Mine looks to have grown another 2 bricks, that would be around 11.5 feet.

My buds are still just sitting there.
Will try to take a pic tomorrow.
We haven't had any more freezing weather and none is the forecast this week so...................Maybe??????????

Wow, Willow. That is so cool to see the flower inside!
I had to chop down another stem to put up a crappy fence for my puppy dog. That stem didn't have any blooms on it tho.
I will have to try your method on bringing in a branch if it gets close to freezing again tho.

Mendy, your tree looks great! Wow! You had blooms. Cool! (Have you put the house up for sale yet? Any bites?)

Hi Carol, no blooms here yet....only buds. I sure hope the weather will hold out though. House is still not on the market. Not sure if we'll ever get out of here! lol

Wow, all kinds of DI action this year. Congratulations to Willow and dmichael on taking the chance and getting blooming results indoors and out!

Wallaby I do want to try the DI another year. The whiskey barrel on the corner of our house just wasn't nearly as dramatic to watch as last year.

Mendy and Carol, a moderate weather week might help you bloom down there. This has been a very mild November up here except for the wind/rain coming in today. Temps have been nice.

MGH good luck on the sale of your house. Are you looking to move out of town? Check the soil quality before you buy LOL!

Carol, you're little Button deserves a play area even if it means sacrificing part of a plant. He has a whole jungle to explore in your yard, I imagine.

It's been darned cold here for the time of year, only 5C by 1.30pm (41F) today but sunny, my thermometer in part shade outside said 8C but the sun may have pushed it up. We had frost last night! It was -1C (30F) in the greenhouse, so it would have been less outside. FORTUNATELY my Di escaped untouched!

Tonight feels so close to frost, there's supposed to be no frost tonight as rain should come over but it's only reached Ireland so far! It will take forever to get here, holding my breath, what's the betting frost wil get it first?

My buds have pushed out even a little further today, get through tonight and it should be milder for a while.

It's extremely windy today......I haven't gone out yet to check on the Di......I think I'm afraid of what I might find. :o(

Thanks, Annie. No, we aren't looking to move out of town. DH needs to be near his work......somebody has to make the money around here. LOL Will definitely check the soil before we buy! ;o)

edited because I can't spell.

This message was edited Nov 12, 2007 12:17 PM

My di has managed to make it through 3 nights of frost so far unharmed. We aren't supposed to have any more cold weather for a week or so now so it should be able to finish it's blooming cycle with no problems!!

Here's mine. It's about 16 feet tall now as it's about the same height above the fence as the fence is tall. It's got it's first bloom now but is loaded with buds. Just one stalk this year.

Does anyone know whether dahlias will slow down blooming if they aren't divided?

It sure is loaded doss! And I was excited because I counted 6 buds showing on one of my tips!

I couldn't say if flowering would slow down, I had wondered myself as I have 4 taller stems and a short one, two others blew over and two got eaten by slugs. Just imagine how it would have looked if I had 9 stems there!

I took this today, got through last night with a light frost perhaps as it was close to freezing in the greenhouse.

That one is so lush who cares about the flowers???? It may do better in a frost because it's so close to the house.

I care!! Very much! I love lush but I so want flowers too!! Good place for it even if it gets crowded, and I have to duck to get around it, lol!

Well then I hope that the weather is mild until it blooms. It is lovely sitting next to the really beautiful fuchsia and the warm red of the brick wall.

I hope too, but the cold weather may not help. The Fuchsias are doing really well there, they struggle elsewhere, you forgot to mention the hot orange gas bottle!

See there - I didn't even notice the hot orange gas bottle. The plants are so beautiful it doesn't matter - at least from this angle. We get fuchsia mites so I"m jealous.

Here is a pic from Sunday.
You can see purple kind of on that one bud.
I have lots of buds on several stalks but.............we shall see.
This week isn't to freeze so.................

Mendy, well, get that darn house on the market, lol So you can have more land to garden, hehe