I had Kelvin Floodlight from 2 different sources and the one I had purchased from a local nursery really looked nothing like the tuber I had received in a trade. The flower never looked as full and the petals would often turn brown. I tossed that one. My Candlelight from Swan Island rarely looks as pretty as it does in the catalog. Mostly it looks like dirty yellow but once it awile it throws a nice orange/yellow blend. I don't really love it but I keep planting it every year, probably because it is the first one to bloom every summer and it seems to store very well since I have had that one for years. As for the late bloomers, I plan on starting the biggest AA's in the house in late March. I did that with Show N Tell last year and it was blooming profusely by July. I made a list of the ones I'm going to start early. I don't have room to start them all or I would. As for your Citron Du Cap, I would love to trade you something for that one. I have been eyeing that one for a few years and would like to try it. I have quite a few dahlias in storage and hopefully will have a lot of varities to trade in the spring. If you're interested, you can email me on my member page. Linda

Some seeds stay viable longer than other seeds. If you have enough seeds, you can test them by soaking them in water for a few hours then wrapping then in a damp paper towel. Count the number that germinate after the usual germination time divided by the number of seeds and you will have a current germination rate. You tell germination by seeing a small root develop. And by the way, you can plant those. I routinely do that with direct-seeded plants like corn and beans.

I am in z5 in central CT. The ones that return year after year were discovered by accident. I forgot to dig them up once about 10 years ago. When they returned the following summer, I stopped digging them up all together. Half of them are located immediately next to a concrete foundation porch with a south-east exposure and the second half are located about 3' away. They may have an unfair advantage because of location, location, location. I think they are tiring out though, I do not see as many this year. They could also have been buried deeper than usual. They could have been a special breed. I have no idea. I set in another batch in the fall in a far distant section of the property and I see a few poking their first leaves. We did have an extra ordinary mild winter this year so that doesn't prove that they will survive the winter and come up next fall. I take pics of everything. I am surprised I don't see one of these.

I have a golden delicious which is a good pollinator but the warm up last year and this year caused the buds to swell and then it was followed by an artic blast with the addition of high winds which killed the flower buds. There were now flowers on the fuji last year and I think the same thing has happened this year. I just read that the cherry blossoms in Washington DC where damaged from the cold too. Local peach tree growers were trying to save some of the peaches by burning barrels of wood in the orchards like they sometimes do in Florida with the orange trees.