Dahlia fireworks, what a beauty, worth the cost of seeds

15 years ago

I got some seeds for dahlia fireworks in a trade last year from a member I have been trading with for years on GW. Thanks ilovefarac/melinda.

This is one of the plants from the mixed seeds. The seeds are worth every penny that you pay and worth sowing every seed as there are so many different color blooms that you can get with each seed and they are different colors for different plants.

Fran

These where taken on Sat. 8/10

These are close-ups of individual variations of the flower on the one plant.

{{gwi:353185}}

{{gwi:426881}}

{{gwi:353183}}

{{gwi:353184}}

{{gwi:426882}}

{{gwi:353186}}

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

lblack61
15 years ago
Very nice, Fran :-)
I am a Dahlia fiend, I must admit. Your "fireworks" have such nice coloring...with the shape of the petals and the center, they look almost like Clematis.
Are you going to save the tuber? I also wonder what colors the bees might make, if you collect seed from them and WS them next year.

Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Linda
drippy
15 years ago
I love the Fireworks dahlia - mine were more orange & yellow than pink. I lifted a few of the tubers, and at least one, maybe two of them made it (I have a lower success rate wintering over the small dahlia tubers than the large ones) - it should bloom within the week.

Your pictures are lovely!
Related Discussions
Heirloom versus other seeds: worth the price?
Q
Comments (35)
To jump in way at the end here, I think the comparison that would be more valid concerned which is "more work" would be the complete cycle from "seed to seed". As far as heirloom goes, it is a pretty basic plan for "seed to seed" - plant seeds, grow plants, pick quality fruit, save seeds. (While each step has some more complexity than I enumerated, it really is that "simple"). There is very little cross-pollination between tomatoes (although it CAN happen). If you are worried about it, a simple net can be placed over your fruit branch that you want to save the seeds for, and not worry about cross-pollination, as most tomatoes self-pollinate. Compared to hybrids, you cannot go from "seed to seed" in most cases. So there is no cycle. You MUST purchase new seeds every year (that have been crossed from their parents, year after year to produce new hybrid seeds). If you want to talk about economics - there is NO comparison! Even if heirlooms were twice as expensive as hybrids (which is not the case for the spectrum of varieties available), it would still be more economical in the long run to go with heirlooms and save the seeds. Tomato seeds are viable (if properly stored for up to 4 or 5 years - many times longer), so you could save yourself the hassle of saving seeds every year and just save MORE seeds than you need and save them every second year or every third year. In short, heirlooms can be a one time investment, if you so choose - hybrids are a yearly expense. (And yes, I did mean to use the different terms - investment vs. expense.)
...See More
Dahlias from seed??? Do tell!
Q
Comments (18)
mmqchdygg and Carol, A few years ago, I used the Saran wrap method, but a lot of my tubers got mushy because I didn't have a cold enough area to store them. It's also too much trouble to wrap each individual tuber, because I have a couple hundred tubers to store. And you end up with a lot of wasted Saran wrap in spring. Since then I just wash then separate the tubers in the fall, place them in plastic buckets filled with moist saw dust or peat moss, making sure they don't touch each other, replace the lid and store the buckets in my insulated but unheated attic. The temperature in the attic is between 40 and 55F in winter months. Last year, I lost only a couple tubers with this type of storage. I have 15 5-gallon buckets of Dahlia tubers sitting in my attic right now. :-) I don't think I'll lose many tubers this winter.
...See More
Winter Sown Dahlias
Q
Comments (17)
Hmm, now I wonder if I either labeled the seeds wrong that I sent you or some of the pods crossed with the another one. OR, if the plant is really, really stressed, then the blooms and colors may be off. The lace hole pattern on the leaves of that pink one looks a lot like japanese beetle work. They do like the dahlias. That's why they have some 4 o'clocks in pots near them. The beetles are leaving my dahlias alone, having a nice time on some of the 4 o'clock leaves and dying cause those leaves are poison to them. No, I'm not crying about it either. If the insect is stupid enough to eat the leaves that are poison to them, well, tis not my fault they are that dumb. The fireworks only grow about 12 inches, so the height is correct and the leaves look the same and so does the color of the leaves. See how some of the other buds look when they open, might look better than that one, which honestly, isn't that bad a color combo, but the petals need to open more. Start talking to the plant and tell it to behave and open blooms properly. Between your side of the country and mine, along with everywhere else, everything is growing poorly or strange. My garden beds look so sad this year, I could cry. Even the zinnias are pathetic this year. Thanks karen, I think they are really beautiful too. Fran
...See More
worth saving dahlia and aster seeds from hybrid plants?
Q
Comments (4)
Hi All, Thanks for your responses. What I meant by "worth saving" was that I am a bit concerned whether I will have "any" flowers/bloom at all from the offsprings, since the parent was a hybrid in the first place. I absolutely dont mind different colors or mixes, but I do wish for flowers if I go through the effort of saving the seed and then replanting etc. It would be disappointing to say the least, if the offsprings don't bloom at all.
...See More
littleonefb
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks drippy, I've never saved the tubers before so it will be a first for me.
How did you save them? Any good suggestions?

I have 3 fireworks plants. One just is getting buds on it. 3 plants are with one friend and she's had one bloom that is mostly pink with bits of yellow streaks on it, the other 2 haven't bloomed yet and another friend has 3 and hers just have buds still.

My other one blooming, only blooms one or 2 flowers at a time and they have all been the exact same flower. and my friend has it in total reverse.

Hope to be able to get seeds from them as well.

Here's a pic of the other one that is blooming, my friends is the total reverse of this one.

{{gwi:353177}}
lblack61
15 years ago
Usually around October or November, when it starts getting cold, I dig them up (or pull if the tuber seems small enough), cut the stems so there's maybe 6inches or so left, dunk them in some 10 % bleach solution, then I lay them on newspaper to dry for a day or so. Then I just pack them up in shoeboxes. I've also used paper lunch bags for Uwins dwarf Dahlia tubers, and it's worked out well.
They have to be able to breath and not collect moisture. So just store them away somewhere that is dry and coolish (I put them in a back room of our house that doesn't get the most heat).
I'm not a very experienced gardener, but I've done that for the past three years that I've grown Dahilas, and I only lost some when I stored them in plastic bins (which I will never do again!)

Linda
drippy
15 years ago
I wait until after the first hard frost, then dig/pull them - like Linda, I leave a little bit of stem, but unlike Linda, I've never tried dipping them in bleach solution, although maybe I will this year, as I have a certain attrition rate. I brush dirt off, store in paper bags (labeled, if you grow more than one type of dahlia!) - then (and this is probably overkill) I put the bags in a styrofoam cooler with some alfalfa shavings (rabbit cage material) and store them in my basement. In the spring, the alfalfa & paper bags go into the compost bin. It works ok for me, but I like the sound of Linda's system.

Dahlia fireworks, what a beauty, worth the cost of seeds

Comments (5)

lblack61

drippy

Related Discussions

littleonefb
Original Author

lblack61

drippy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Dahlia fireworks, what a beauty, worth the cost of seeds

Comments (5)

lblack61

drippy

Related Discussions

littleonefbOriginal Author

lblack61

drippy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

littleonefb
Original Author