Oh that brings back memory. My DGM grow the larges dahlias.
Most popular forum on DG is....
Park Princess is one of my favs and a MUST HAVE IMHO.
oops forgot the pic
Oh my goodness gracious - I want all three of them!!! Will they do well in Iowa? Will you guys help me and tell me what to do to make them grow? How tall are they? Oh, I'm in lust!
Oh no dahliasities has taken another victim.
Planted my first Dahlias this year and LOVED them!
I've hesitated in the past to grow them because
you have to dig them up in the fall but I want to try a few more next year.
Just got these at a big box store and thought they were SOOO pretty!
About 4' tall and loaded with blossoms but didn't start blooming til mid-late summer.
I believe that my DGM started hers in pots them put them out in the yard. I wonder if they would do good in large pots(???)
OOOOhhhhhh, very very pretty. I must look into this.
I planted so many bulbs in the past 3 days I could just die. I had nearly 1300 to plant and I have only about 300 left now. For the full list you can see my blog at chooksiniowa.blogspot.com. However, I had forgotten that I had also ordered 12 peonies, which arrived on Saturday, so I planted them today also. Bunker Hill, Bowl of Beauty, and Moon-something-or-other. Moonshine? Moonlight? Blue Moon? I forget.
I wish we could grown peonies down here, darn, too hot. It is almost to hot for me and I was born here.
It would be way too hot for me. I'm Canadian. I've lived in Iowa for 6 years but sometimes it's too hot in the middle of summer. Funny thing is, it gets colder here in the middle of winter than in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I grew up. And sometimes, more snow! Go figure...
OH my booosum buddies come on over to the Dahlia Forum. You're naturals ^_^ CMoxon our good dahlia buddy Jam from near Cedar Rapids grew kick butt dahlias despite the devastation so IA is definitely a yupper. Wren they do TOTALLY FABBY in containers. This is soooooooo exciting I can't stand it.
Ok you will see me over there soon. Every time I see the new Dahlias I think on my DGM she would have wonted one of each. She had Plantites big time.
Dahlias are so addictive. Whatever you have to do to get them to grow you must do.
They start out in summer and then just get more and more fantstic all through the fall. Then just before frost they are out there shimmering and then they get zapped.
but the few days before frost they are the absolute best -- like a grand finale before they are frosted and turn black and fall over. Ohhhhh.
Park Princess is a rather short one - maybe 3 ft. Of course the giant dahlias will grow to 7 ft or so - right up there with the field sunflowers.
gloria125,
I am of the opinion that digging up bulbs in the fall ... will never happen. We're constructing a raised bed with enriched soil and well tilled with significantly more biodegradable mulch. In the last fall I'll be covering 2 inch sheets of 4ft X 8ft polystyrene with a black tarp using stakes and grommets. the insulation will move the bed from a zone low ZONE 4 to a mid ZONE 7. With the resultant hardyness zone jumps ... I'll be able to have Gladeolas and Dahlias. I use the polystyrene boards for padding inside crates for shipping large items. So its a winning situation.
Kelly in Moxee
Photographer: Sounds like a great idea. Im in Zone 8, N. Alabama and Tennessee are Zone 7. Glads and Dahlias don't take up much room but they sure are spectacular!
u mean to tell me they will be comeing here now to join us??? awesome, the more the merrier!! rotfl, some of us here r gardeners also we just never bring it up much cuz we spend to much time talking about all our new babies.
Kelly,
I'd be interested in seeing pictures of this set up. We don't get quite as cold as you do, but it sounds like a nice little hot house you have going there.
Kristin
My Grampa grew Dahlias in MI.. He dug his in the fall early in the AM, rinsed off all the soil, and sat them on newspaper to dry in the sun for a few hrs, and then packed them in bushel baskets in straw, and put them in the fruit cellar...I couldn't tell you what varieties he had, but many were bigger than a dinner plate, and he always won at the county fair whenever he took them...I plan on having them when I get moved back to MI...
morning general dusty
Mornin' Kathy...How you is??
just fine dear. looky
aaaawww! what a cutie!
got 3 of them!
Cutie-patootie! Love 'em Kathy! What are they? They have a partridge look to them but mom doesn't have partridge feathering....
the mom is my cochin bantam. but they weren't her eggs. the babies are new hampshire reds. he wanted to brood so i gave her 4 eggs. she is a good mama
Wow, is that what NH reds look like as chicks? I didn't know that....I thought they would be more brown.
the RIR are darker brown
Lazy_Ladies,
Just to be factual ... Zone 6-7 regions ... this raised insulated bed effort there would be needless. Dahlias and Gladeolas grow fine in the Portland region with no fall removals needed.
I'll send a diagram by D-Mail but the idea is VERY simple.
sheet of 2" polystyrene board that are 4ft X 8ft size ... cost $20. Build a raised flower bed 4 ft X 8 ft. Place the board on the ground. Cover the board with a tarp. Use a tarp with grommets in the corners and the sides to hold the polystyrene board in place as well as keep the tarp from blowing away. Not rocket science ... just very little design skill needed.
Kelly in Moxee
I like the idea of polystyrene board. Do you have any idea how long it lasts?
thanks Kelly. I've had a lot of rot in the two short years I've been growing dahlias. So I plan to dig them up, once they are done blooming. I'm wondering if its the depth they are planted at or the amount of moisture. Either way, I inherited these from my mother and she and a number of other local friends always dug theirs up as well.
Lazy-Ladies my mom in White Rock BC amended her soil with more sand so she got better drainage and her dahlias stopped rotting.
Lazy_Ladies,
Rot is the last thing I have to be concerned about here. We're in the middle of a desert ... just 9 inches of rainfall annually. You on the other hand are in a very moist region ... more rain than Seattle if I recall. I used to live in Vancouver, WA as a kid. The last thing you'd ever want to do is cover up your bulbs with a tarp on top of a polystyrene board. You'd have nothing but slime by spring.
You might be able to get away with a board but I'd have to say that excellent drainage is far more critical to your success than keeping out the cold in the winter.
Kelly in Moxee
Thanks Kelly! I'll definitely try the sand amendment next spring. For now, I've got too many other projects on my hands. ha!
gloria125,
Polystyrene ... aka styrofoam lasts forever ... unless you have poultry around (they think its food). I would not recommend the polystyrene board experiment unless you live in almost desert conditions. If your soil retains much moisture during the winter ... your bulbs probably would rot. Our soil is terrible and does not hold water. I'll be adding mulch to the soil but in the fall ... no watering as I would end up with rotted rots and bulbs just like everyone else with good soil.
Kelly in Moxee
Would sand help red clay?
Yes sand well help (beware of sandbox sand cuz it will create hardpan). You want a grit sand. Poop and compost as a regular amendment is the way to go long term (says dahlia who has a clay seam running through her entire garden sigh)
I use rabbit manure and will add a little sand next spring "Thanks
ok so does that mean I have an open ticket to come to GA? (says mitten-clad dahlianut whose freezing her cute butt off at the moment) Crappola though I just heard on the the poll thread that GA and FL are dipping below tonight. Save the chicks!!! Seriously hope all your plantaceous babies are ok my friends.
Harmonyplace,
Rabbit manure would be perfect for my soil. The darned little critters come into our yard at night and leave fresh little piles all over but they take a lot more grass with them when they leave after munching on my grass all night long.
Kelly in Moxee
Goat manure is great too!