They do look like nice ones Nikki. I especially like the stripey one. I think Brecks imports from Holland, so perhaps if the original name is Schneffenfreuch or something they can rename it to soemthing we can remember like Blue Star.

That is just a guess, I don't know for sure.

Marcia.....If you are going to start them indoors....each tuber should be started in its own pot. I wouldn't use less that a 1 gallon pot for each. But I'm just going to plant my Kelvins out doors when I plant the others.

Sierra

I'd like to try them outdoors, but i'm not entirely sure of where to put them. Maybe i'll start three inside and save the other three for outside.

I got my Dahlia order today!!! Wow...heavy box! lol

They thru in 7 free tubers also! I knew I was getting a Miss Teagan (this one is their intro flower this season) also they thru in Desert Glow (brilliant orange) Pink Daybreak, and 3 Preston Park (a bright scarlet red with black foliage)

I was so excited to get them I yipped and hollared at the post office! lol

Nikki~

I started planting out the dahlia tubers this evening.

I tried something a bit different this year with dividing the large clumps up to smaller single tubers. Been reading quite a bit on the dahlia forum and saw where you will get more flowers if you do this.

Also to back up this theory.....my above mentioned dahlia order arrived and they were all single tubers with an eye. I assume that they know what they are doing....so I had to try it.

I am hoping to get the rest of them planted out this weekend....time and weather permitting.

Will see how all goes and report back in the fall.....how this method works.

Sierra

After searching the dahlia forums and web sites I am experimenting too. I separated alot of tubers to give away but also kept some small clumps..last year some of my clumps of dahlias where absolutely breath taking with hundreds of flowers so I'm seeing for myself what they will do this year..lol..I potted up all my tubers starting with some the end of march ..some are over 4 feet tall already and one "Momemtum" has 3 buds on it...savona

Hey there savona, I also have given tons of dahlias away. I divided one clump.......one huge clump!......took 9 out and planted them and gave the rest away. I still have a few clumps to divide. LOL! (Yes Syreeta yours are here waiting to be picked up!)I just don't have the time to start them indoors or in my greenhouse, I have way to many. Besides its just so easy to just plant them out in the garden!

I have friends that are also members of dahlia societies....I also find their advice helpful. Its nice to have friends in such high places. hee hee.

I managed to get the front dahlia bed planted so far. Hoping to get the back one done soon. I am also planting some dahlias on the side. I need more hours in a day. LOL! Fence building starts Monday.

Sierra

I need some more hours in a day too..where do we go to get them?...lol..I am more then pleased with the first collarette dahlia to bloom..just took it's picture this morning...It has been 85 days from the time I sowed them to the first open bloom..most of the dahlia seedlings are setting buds now..I can't hardly wait to see what they will be..I want to open them all right now..hahaha..savona
{{gwi:783705}}

I dunno savona, but if you fine those extra hours....let me know where!!!

Thats a pretty one!

A planting we will go....a planting we will go...hee hee

Sierra the pooped gardener. LOL!

Well, it's now June 20th and they're popping up everywhere! I have officially got 44 dahlias sprouting out of the dirt, and have some of my dwarfs starting to bud! I'm sooo excited I can't help but go check on them every day lol.

I'll be sure to post pics when they start blooming. The dwarfs of course will be the first and we'll have to wait until later to see the rest.

Once my beds fill in.....wow....I'm going to be in heaven!

Nikki~

Hmmmm well I still have one or maybe two of the new ones that didn't pop up yet. I am hoping they are just slow. As to how many I have.....well.........I would be afraid to count them. LOL! The ones in the back are much taller than the ones in the front. Hmmmmm.... I did a little grow d*mn*t dance this morning around the ones in the front. I was out there early....so don't think the neighbours seesawd. LOL!

Sierra

My one and only is about 8 inches high ;)

Do you know all the names of what you have Sierra? (prolly a silly question but I just HAD to ask lol)

You do realize that there just might be some tradsies come fall or spring? ;)

Nikki~

Sharon, Only one? :O Are you doing the Dahlia dance?

Nikki, of course I know all the names....thats the yellow one, and thats the red one......over here is uhhh the white one.....ya thats it.

Do you have room for more? I won't be splitting in the fall....I think the tubers will survive better if I wait till spring and they have growth on them........that way I am not guessing if they have eyes or not, and risk losing them.

Hey, where's Syreeta these days? Syreeta, did you get the bag full planted? How they doing?

Sierra

The Dahlia Dance
You twirl to the left,
You twirl to the right,
Your neighbours might think,
Your twirlly,
but that's alright. haha

Well Sierra at least the Dahlia Dance is more tame than the Phlox Dance! That one I will only do for sprouts in the basement! LOL

Looking forward to seeing pics, gals, I don't do dahlias.

Sierra that is so cute, I can just see you doing a curtsy in a frilly skirt.

Yes, only one Dahlia, if this one does good I will most likely buy another one or two or three next year. ;)

I tried your basic Walmart ones a few years ago and all I got was leaves and maybe one or two flowers... then one day, bang it was killed from a early fall frost. Will see how this one does, its supposed to be an early type. I've been feeding it a handful of wood ash from the firepit when I think of it.

Sharon

Haha...me in a frilly skirt......DON'T think so. Old sneakers, track pants or jeans and a t-shirt is more my style. Tripping and falling on my face is more apt to be what you'd see instead of a curtsy as well. LOL!!!

Speaking of phlox....ohhhhh ohhhh

Sierra

What what!! What's oh oh about the phlox? Mine rules, I just haven't posted any more pics of it because I didn't want Shauna to cry. LOL just kidding Shauna.

Hmmm my message keeps getting rejected...says I already posted to this thread.

:-( I CAN'T grow phlox.........not even the annual ones. boo hooooooooooo. I had several pop up finally......then I kept them in the greenhouse a little longer than most the other plants, because they were so small. Then I finally planted them in the bed by the walk...they don't seem to be growing much and some have...boooooo hooooooo keeled over...sniff sniff. What? Why? How?

Waaaaaaaaaaaa

We pot up about 10 plants and have great success.

A note, however. Even before our dahlias begin to bloom our local box store clears out their Dahlias for almost give away prices. Walmart today had all their dahlias (racks of them) on sale for 50cents each from small to 2 gallon pots. All healthy and most in bloom.

I'd rather concentrate on growing the ones we want for the challenge or the fun of it rather than the ones we can pick up for next to nothing on sale. The Dahlias do well if we don't hurry them along. We kept our pots at a side garden and just a couple hours of sun. This sems to give them better shape until we bring them to full south exposure on the patio.

You all seem to store your dahlias dry. I tried that years ago and lost almost all the dahlias one winter. Now, when I dig out the dahlias in the fall, I do it when the garden soil is dry. I grab a stack of black nursery pots, dig out each dahlia, plunk into a pot, throw extra dirt around the dahlia tubers to cover, haul it back to the house (the dahlias are all planted in my garden at the end of the lane that has an eight foot fence around it to keep deer out...deer love dahlias!), and put the pot into the cold storage area under the basement floor. The dahlia tubers remain firm and not dried out because of the garden dirt around them. In the spring, I bring out the pot, place it into the greenhouse, and depending on the size of the tuber, I may divide the dahlia or may not...either way, I just add water and let them grow in the greenhouse until it is warm enough outside to place in the garden once more.
I love the flowers on the dahlias, they last for so long. I plant the dahlias in a long row in the garden at the end of the lane and as you drive into our yard and drive past the garden, the dahlias make such a nice show!!

Brenda, I think I'm going to use your storing method for my one and only Dahlia that did so well this year. We still haven't had a hard f**** yet, but once we do, I let the plant stay in the ground for about a week, right? Dig it up dirt and all and plunk it in a nursery container, then store in a cool dark place in the basement. Right? I sure don't want to lose this tuber.

How do the rest of you gardeners store your Dahlias?

Sharon

Hey - Great thread! I love hearing/reading about your trials with Dahlias- and I love the comeraderie you all share!
I wanted to butt in as I was reading- but - well- that was months ago! LOL-
As far as the ashes from the wood stove go- my husband spreads them on the beds as he needs to clean out the stove- right over the snow! Works lke a charm!- No need to store them- and they leach the caustic bits slowly that way.
I have started many dahlias from seed- they are a great addition to the garden that way- both indoors and WS, and usually I get blooms on them the first year- The exception being really LARGE tall of bushy types. I only wish they lived long enough for me to gather seed- as most of them succumb to frost before the seed heads ripen... : (
A while ago- I gave up on Dahlias all together- they broke my heart (and pocket book!)- all those dry, wrinkly lil t*rds in the early spring- till I read in the dahlia forum that a sulpher dip- and a wrap in plastic is one way to try to overwinter them- and well- it works really well for me! Lift- trim stalk to 1-3"-knock off most of the dirt- let dry in sun a while- rinse/wash well- dip in a sulpher bath- roll in saran wrap- or use ziplock baggies- roll "tight-ish" and secure with tape- lable on tape or plastic- you choose- then I put them in a box on the cold basement floor. Last year- I only lost part of one bag! A rot started near a damaged eye- where the stalk meets the tuber- near as I can figure. I will take extra care this year not to bang the tubers too hard about the stalks when knock em around to loosen the dirt.
Come spring- I unwrapped them- divided where I thought I could- and shared sooo many dahlias with my friends and neighbors! It was great to have some come back- and makes me think about ordering those old (and new) favorites to try- now that I think I can overwinter sucessfully!
I didn't have any room left indoors to start these tubers- so I set them out in pots in early spring to fend for them selves- and it works!! Even in pots!! I did protect them with plastic (only) when we had a hard frost- but the little troopers kept building great roots and just a little top growth- much like winter sown seedlings- till they got a whiff of warmer weather- and they burst right up!
I am happy to hear of your successes- and share mine!
Julie

Julie, on here you're never butting in, you're joining in. Welcome!
Connie

I checked my one and only Dahlia and she's in a deep sleep but still alive. I also went over to Art's Nursery and I'm in Lala land on how many kinds they have to choose from! Yikes, I think I'm in trouble ;)

Sharon

Ahhh, heck, I just put in a order with Art's Nursery!

African Queen - Dark Foliage
Wheels - Collarette
Zorro - Giant AA
Santa Claus - Small BB
Camano Rascal - Straight Cactus C
Free Dahlia of their choice since I ordered over $30.

I think I will also order a couple from Botanus too, but I'll wait to see their catalogue first.

Dang, it's all you're fault Sierra! ;)

Sharon

Sharon, dare I open this link???!!!!???

Shauna

Shauna, don't give me that! I know you looked ;)

You know me too well! LOL It even warrants a second look to digest and decide. Hmmm . . .

Thanks for the link ; )

Shauna

You gotta check out this Dahlia! Wow!

Are you sure that's not some new model of Swiffer or something?? :>

LOL! Nice dahlia!

Oh shoot, I wished I had checked Garden Watchdog before I placed my order last night with Art's Nursery, dang, they have 3 negatives and 1 neutral!

Sierra and whoever ordered in the past, did you have any problems last year with them?

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

The order came without a problem. The tubers were small and single. They looked okay when they arrived. But by the time I planted them, one had rotted. I emailed them and never got a response. There was a couple mislabled, but I didn't bother to report, because I didn't get a response from the first email, through their website. There were a couple of bags with two tubers in...I assume because they were small....In both those cases both tubers did grow. Of the tubers that were planted all grew, but two grew a lot slower than the rest...for some unknown reason. One of the two had flower buds and the other never did.

This seems to be average performance when I buy live plants or roots from mail order. Sharon if you have a problem, you could always call them and not rely on their website email working.

Also Nikki, ordered from Ferncliff I think it was...maybe she will come along and comment on her experiences with them.

If I lose any tubers this winter, I will just replace them with the ones that come out in the bags at Costco. I would like to add ball dahlias this year, so if Costco doesn't have any......I will be looking elsewhere locally.

Sierra

Thanks Sierra, I guess I shall wait and hope for the best ;)

What does this Art's Nursery disclaimer mean to you?
Does it mean that they don't have to contact you for a substitute or they do? ;)

> DISCLAIMER:
> -----------------
> Please be aware that many of our products are subject to availability. In
the event of a shortage, out of stock, crop failure, or any other unforeseen
circumstance we reserve the right to contact you to adjust the order,
request a substitute or arrange another solution to the shortage.
> For more information, please read our terms of business at the following
location: http://www.artsnursery.com/shopping/terms.asp

I havent ordered from Art's myself but a friend of mine has..They sent a mislabed tuber which they did replace with their choice (she kept the original one they sent also)..but on wanting to find out what her mislabled one was they said they would try to match it but ignored her e-mails after that when she had any more questions..hope I am explaining this clearly..lol..I was going to place an order last year but had to down load a differnt flash player to proceed with our credit card so took that as a sign too hold off...laff..I have gotten frustrated with the box stores and their mislabeled tubers but did notice Art Knapps had a large choice of tubers last year to pick from..savona

Yes Nikki did order from Ferncliff last year. All of her tubers arrived individually labelled and packed loose (no bags) in sawdust. As far as I know she was happy with them. I don't think she had any substitutes, all the tubers were a nice size and everything grew and flowered for her.

I'll let her know that you guys are asking questions about Dahlia suppliers.

Syreeta

Thanks for letting me know about this Syreeta.

Yes, I went thru Ferncliff last year and they were wonderful to deal with. I had a pretty heafty order and they thru in 5 bonus tubers (then again my order was over $200 Can.) I was quite thrilled with everything I got. Nothing in plastic bag, all nice size tubers and everything grew. I think with a small part of our summer, a couple didn't bloom for me.

They were all packed in sawdust (good clean stuff) and dusted as well. Some of the tubers were just enormous in size! I was VERY pleased)

If theres anymore questions, don't hesitate to email me!

Nikki~

Well, will see how Art's Dahlias fairs this spring.....otherwise I'll take my business to Ferncliffs next year. Thanks everybody for your reviews.

I ordered 3 more from McFaydens this evening....my Akita that I ordered from MF did so good last year, I figure Ill try some more from them.

Dahlia Striped Ambition
Dahlia Cactus Bora Bora
Dahlia Chic en rouge

That's 10 Dahlias so far ;)

Sharon

I got some dodgy pom-pom dahlias from McFaydens a few years ago... hope yours are better Sharon. Wow, 10, soon you will need to enter treatment for dahlias too ;0) JK

Hahahahaha...watch it Gil, its contageous!!!!

Way to go Sharon! :-)

Sierra

Have any of you tried the Karma Dahlias?

I hope I'm not too early. I brought out my one and only Dahlia from the cold room the other day and its already sprouting.

I followed Brenda's method of storage and it did very well, no King Tut!

Should I wait to divide when I'm ready to transplant in the garden or do it now in individual pots?

Sharon

Sharon, you can do it either way. Last year, I divided as I was planting, and all worked out just fine. Check out the dahlia forum, there are a few good threads that have been brought back to the top lately. Hope this helps.

I added 11 mignon dahlias to my collection this week. :-)

Sierra

Thanks Sierra, Once they grow a little bit bigger, I'm going to try to take some cuttings, wish me luck!

Well, I received my Art's Dahlia order finally!

Santa Claus and Camano Rascal were not available! Dang!

I asked for no sub's but they did still send me a free Dahlia which was Avalon.

Two from McFaydens were dryer than a _________. I've got them potted and if they don't sprout in a month, I'll be contacting them.

My seedlings are doing great, haven't looked at the roots yet to see if they are developing tubers yet.

Sharon

Sierra, have you planted yours into the ground yet? I didn't get any of mine started early this year, so I'm going to totally use your method and see how they do. Is it too early yet?

Shauna

Sharon...a good way to test tuber you suspect are not going to grow is to take a freezer bag and put a handful or two of damp promix in and stick the tuber in there...leave the bag open....so it gets lots of air. The tuber will form noticable eyes and sprouts...usually in a week or two...some will take a little longer. Make sure not to make the promix to wet or the tuber will rot instead of sprouting.

Shauna.....I should be planting them out in about a week....I haven't yet. Spending all my gardening time, cleaning up and repairing the yard and gardens.

Sierra

Well lo and behold the two Dahlias from McFaydens that looked dried have sprouted first, the ones that looked plump and healthy havent sprouted yet. LOL.

Sierra, I will try the baggie method next year if I have any doubt ones. Its too late now, I have them all in pots.

This year for sure I will be staking them when I plant them.

This is crazy, but I have plans on which ones I want to order for next year!

Sharon

I got a few Dahlias planted out on the weekend. Still a lot more to plant.

Some of the smallers ones that were starting to grow already have flower buds on them. Hmmm I told them to slow down, but they don't seem to be listening.

"This is crazy, but I have plans on which ones I want to order for next year!"

Sharon, toooo funny!
And yes I put the stakes in as I plant so there is no danger of damaging the tubers with the stakes.

Sierra

I finished planting the back dahlia bed last night. Now just the front bed to plant. The problem is...the front dahlia bed is full of tulips....some are blooming and some haven't started blooming yet.....so its going to be a couple weeks at least.

Sierra