I like all dahlia colors. Never used to want red (mostly to keep down the numbers of flowers in my beds) now I have all kinds of reds and just ordered more LOL. Way back when I started out with Chimacum Topaz and a very miniature orange dahlia, then realizing there were thousands more shapes colors and sizes to choose from, I stuck with oranges, bronzes, yellows to "match" what I had growing. Then came the purples, lavenders, whites, pinks, later the reds LOL..... you know how it goes! I'm sure Susan Ambrose has forgiven you. A college friend had me over to their newly bought home. We toured from room to room while she lamented about the former owner's hideous color schemes in various rooms and the work involved in redecorating. The kitchen was behind a swinging door so when it opened, we were assualted by the most hideous smothering blue. Of course, I empathized with just how hideous the kitchen was..... only to have her tell me "I know. This didn't turn out like we had hoped!" LOL My bad.

Please note that this is my first year taking cuttings so I canÂt speak to the success of my methods as far as flowing plants are concerned. I have used two different methods this springÂnext year it will be only one. YouÂll need a box cutter, pencil, pen, box of good toothpicks, and a roll of painterÂs tape (the wide green stuff.) Potting soil, 4" square pots, and a tray to put them on and lights to put them under. First, wait until the 3rd set of leaves are open on a sprout. Next, using the box cutter, cut the sprout just above where it meets the tuber, 1/16" they say. I donÂt worry too much about it, just cut it close but donÂt cut the tuber. You need to leave a little bit of the original eye in order to get new sprouts from the same eye (up to 4 new sprouts will form.) Even though the box cutter is a sharp blade, gently saw the sprout off, this avoids any tearing of the cutting. Pull off any leaves near the cut, and up to and including the first set of leaves unless there is more than 1" between the bottom of the cutting and the first leaves. You want one "node", that is the place where a pair of leaves meets the stem, to be stripped. Fill the 4" pot with soil and compress well (but donÂt make it rock hard.) Soak with waterÂmake sure you donÂt have peat dust on top that will rise above the water when theyÂre watered. Better for the soil to be too wet than too dry. Make a hole in the soil with the pencil; stick it in only as far as youÂll be able to put the cutting in. Put the cutting in the hole and squeeze the hole on both sides of the cutting, being sure not to crush or break the cutting. Use the box cutter to cut a piece of tape ~2-3" long and put a toothpick in the middle and fold the tape back on itself (cut end to cut end.) Write the name of the variety, the year of the tuber, and the date you took the cutting. Stick the toothpick in the pot, and put the pot on the tray under the lights. 12" between the bottom of the light and the top of the soil. Spritz daily, water lightly only when it appears dry (e.g. the soil starts to come away from the sides or cracks form.) As long as theyÂre being spritzed they wonÂt/shouldnÂt die. IÂm not sure how this will work with leggy cuttings. I donÂt see why it wouldnÂt work; perhaps just cut more off the bottom of the cutting after you have taken it from the tuber. Cheers, Russ

Annabeth- yes, a seedling is a new variety that we have hybridized. We grew it from seed. The first year I plant the seeds in flats & when they've got 2 sets of leaves I transplant them into deep 3" pots. They grow in our greenhouse until the end of May when Walt plants them out in the seedling garden. We usually have around 750 - we will keep about 150 of them to evaluate the second year. After that we keep evaluating them until they're either 5 years old or we get rid of them if they don't make the grade. In order to get a seedling into the trail gardens it has to be 3 years old-- & some gardens require the seedling to have won at least 1 first on the hort. bench in a show or have scored on the 1-10 in a show. Then it goes to the trials for a summer & then is either introduced or not the 5th year. It's taken a lot of years to figure out what seed parents to use in what combination to get good seedlings. We specialize in the biggies - AA & A sized - but if we get a nice B or BB we're not about to toss it out. We haven't decided if we're going to introduce 0386 (yes, I goofed up on the number- it's 03 not 02) next year or not. We might send it to the trial gardens to see how it does all around the country. It won Best AA in Show at the Fraser Valley Dahlia Show in Canada last weekend- we think it's going to be an AA rather than an A since it seems to want to grow BIG! You're right- there's no AA or A sized FD purple or dark burgandy dahlias- & only a couple of ID ones-- that's why I was so excited when we got some this year. I just tagged some more today-- going to use that combination of parents more for sure! Meanwhile, we have a really nice 8" dark purple seedling that looks like a dark purple Edna C. Walt calls her Primadonna! I was going to post a picture of her for you but Photobucket seems to be having a maintenance problem right now & I can't get in to get the picture. We would ALL like to have a giant with Hillcrest Kismet form-- wouldn't that be wonderful!

Annabeth-- we entered a few. We won the Bob Simon Trophy for the best Bob Simon introduction in the show. He was our mentor & we learned a lot about hybridizing from him so we sponsored a trophy in his memory when he passed into that big dahlia garden in the sky. We've won it a lot - we still grow lots of his introductions because they're all AA or A sizes & we use them to create new dahlias. We also won lots of firsts & some Best of Types & Sections. We didn't enter many because I'm chair of Judges & Clerks for that show & it gets CRAZY the morning of the show & it's hard to enter & help people & answer questions, too. The very best part for us was seeing our daughter get her first ribbons in a show- she was soooo happy! You can see us with our award & our daughter under the other posting I did a few days ago titled WCDS Show. Pictures.