Anyone growing Dahlia coccinea 'True Wild Form'?
I bought three last fall to plant between tall grasses like Panicum Heavy Metal, or some tall Restios. It turned out to be Restios, (which I plan to grow in containers next year).. I thought they would be between 3-4' tall, but they are pushing 5' and more and are very robust wide spreading plants. ( I should have read the specs more closely!) They have caused the Restios to visually disappear. I've been growing up some Panicums to take the place of the Restios, but now I don't think that'll work any better than the Restios.
They are very very snowy and have bloomed like crazy from early summer and still show little signs of slowing down. I've deadheaded some but not religiously and it doesn't seem to matter much as the flowers keep coming.
I want to keep them but im worried about how much space they need as my garden is small. Of course they are said to grow bigger every year. My question is: how fast do they expand every year? Should I dig them up this fall and reduce the root mass?
This is one plant, started in a 4" pot late last summer.
Here's a closeup of some flowers. i think they are stunning.
If I keep the Dahlias, I'll have no place to put the Panicums!
Comments (20)
Rachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Has anyone grown wild rice?
Comments (33)I am attempting to grow some wild rice (zizania aquatica) in a small seasonal creek in my backyard. I just got the seed I ordered and have yet to plant it. I have widened and deepened the creek in one area, about 18 feet long. It is deep enough that it should retain water all year long, unless we get a severe drought. Does anyone have suggestions about sowing the seed, or other growing advice? I live in central AL, 7b. Thanks...See MoreGrowing Dahlia from seed
Comments (3)I would think that you absolutely would get them to flower the first year. But, in some ways they are the perfect flower for you because they are very easy to dig up, store and transplant somewhere else! I am not sure what Zone you are in. If you ground freezes they would need to be dug up and stored over winter. If it just gets cold, you may get away with leaving them in the ground, particularly with some extra mulch. If it is really warm, then I would look for some tips on getting them to go dorment, I am in Canada so I don't know much about warm weather places and their Dahlias! I got some seed from Thompson and Morgan. It looks very much like the white ones pictures above. It will be interesting to see how close the seed comes to being true to the picture. I planted them early, perhaps way way to early because I was excited! At the begining of February and they can't go out until mid May. But, they are underlights and doing really really well. They don't seem leggy at all. I really recommend getting a shop light for anyone that is serious about growing from seed. A sunny window just does not really cut it. Oh, and one tip for storing over winter if you only have a few, and don't have a dry cool place to keep them, is your fridge crisper, or get a large ziplock and some sort of storing medium, I really like wood shavings, the kind that they used for small animal bedding and it sold in petstores. A big bag is dirt cheap and works really really well!!...See MoreGrowing dahlias as perennials
Comments (6)FWIW, I cannot speak to your environment. However, now that you've explained it the way you have, I think I understand what's happening. When I was first introduced to Dahlias, a friend had a "bush" that they divided because it was too big. I got not a clump from a single plant, but a clump from a divided bush tuber. I could be wrong, but I think most here grown single tubers (or cuttings as I did this year) and don't run into this (or at least if they do, its not talked about often.) My friend thought to curtail her Dahlia by dividing it, the way I'd divide a hosta. She simply cut the "root ball" in half. For that variety of Dahlia, it worked. When I got it, however, I didn't simply plant the clump. My research said to break it apart into individual tubers and plant each alone. They grew too. So perhaps, and this is just wild speculation, you have varieties that cannot survive this way. I can see how a single plant would produce enough tubers that, if left undivided, could actually collapse in on themselves. Too many plants growing from a clump can, often, produce no plants. My recent research on "pot tubers" tells me you take the pot tuber clump and let one stem grown (ultimately.) To let too many grown would mean that none would grow really well (again, depending on the variety.) Conversely, we know that we only need a single tuber to produce a great new plant. Ergo, its not rocket science to take your experience and say, if you don't divide, you're going to have (or may well have) problems. Now this is my first your growing pot tubers. My plan is to have a clump of tubers in a small pot at the end of the year. When I grow these on, I will let a single stem grow up. Anything outside of the 4" pot I will cut away. So I will neither have excess tubers (which if they rotted could very well spread to all of the tubers) nor too many stems (which if they all grew could mean none are getting enough to propagate new tubers.) My suggestion would be to follow our (colder clime) procedure. When you cut the stalk back, let them stay in the ground for a week or two. The tubers should "eye up", or start to form new sprouts. Take the clump out and find one or two tubers that have the most eyes. Cut away everything else, and put them back into their same spot (discarding the excess, or planting it far enough away from the original so there's no chance of them intertwining.) Dahlias were originally cultivated as a replacement for potatoes. If you don't "cull" them, perhaps you leave them without soil nutrients (because they'll be surrounded in tubers.) So "pare" them down. But given that every tuber can make you 10+ plants, give yourself the most prolific tubers when paring. Of course the other thing to think of is soil composition. Given how they may produce a lot of tubers, they may well be taking way whatever nutrients they need to produce more (which could explain why they only last a couple of seasons.) I lived in Liberia, and there, they used to burn the rainforest to get enough nutrients in the soil to grown rice (hopefully you can see that that would only last a couple of seasons.) Test, and amend. But reduce your growing mass (e.g. take away tubers) so it can be sustained. Anyway, enough speculation...;-] Perhaps something in this will ring true. Again, I've no experience to help you with other than what we do in colder climes, but its what I would imagine will happen...;-] Good luck, and I miss being in such climes...;-] Cheers, Russ...See Moreold DL form vs new form
Comments (16)If the origianl question is the forms of daylilies. I copied this directly from the AHS. Daylily blooms have a wide array of different forms. These include: Circular When viewed from the front of the bloom, the flower appears round. Segments tend to be short, wide, and stubby and generally overlap, giving a full appearance. Triangular When viewed from the front of the bloom, the flower segments form a triangle. The sepals generally recurve. Star When viewed from the front of the bloom, the flower segments tend to be long and pointed. There is space between the segments and the shape looks like a three-pointed or six-pointed star. Informal When viewed from the front of the bloom, the flower segments have no definable shape. Segment placement may be irregular, widely-spaced, or floppy. Ruffled When viewed from the front of the bloom, the flower segments have ruffles along the edges. Ruffles take many forms; they may be tightly crimped, laced, knobby, or wavy. Flat When viewed from the side of the bloom, the flowers are perfectly flat except for the concave throat. Recurved When viewed from the side of the bloom, the flower segments flare, but the ends of the segments roll or tuck under. Trumpet When viewed from the side of the bloom, the flower form resembles a true lily. Segments rise from the throat in an upward pattern with little flare. Spider This form has long defied definition, however the segments are much longer than their width. A 1991 ruling places flowers in the spider class if their segments have a length to width ratio of at least 4 to 1 (i.e., 4:1). Length is measured with the segment fully extended. Width measurement is taken as the flower grows naturally. Double This form has more than six segments. Double daylilies, like single daylilies, come in differing forms. For example: The extra segments may appear as a tuft in the middle of the flower. This if often referred to as a "peony-type" double. They may appear as a second layer of segments on top of the normal six, forming two blooms in one or a hose-in-hose effect (like some azaleas). They may appear as irregular or asymmetrical extra petaloids. Here's a link to the AHS And by the way I love daylilies, short, tall, fat or skinny. Tom Here is a link that might be useful: AHS FAQ...See Moreecholane
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoecholane
6 years agoRestios are unique and interesting! My idea was to provide an evergreen backdrop for the perennial bed and the Dahlias with their unexpected size made that a bad idea. But besides most evergreens tend to die out where they're crowded so I will have to go back to Panicums. They are good for 9-10 months of the year here, so that's not too bad.
Here's a peek at that crowded Restio. You can see it's tight base, how it wants to be very vertical and then a little of the top which tends to spread gracefully with the weight of the seed heads.
As for the purple you ask about, all I can see are dried seed heads of Echinaceas. There is an Agastache in the right foreground but it's definitely all done for the year. The only purple would have to be Penstemon Sour Grapes and I can't seem to pick it out in that photo. This is my favorite Sour Grapes.
Kevin Perry
6 years agoecholane
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKevin - Good idea to put it in a huge pot! I got mine from Annie's Annuals also. What a great place! It's a too long drive for me now, but luckily one of our local nurseries carries their plants and ordered them for. me. They are just now showing the last of their flowers. What a fabulous show!. My initial problem remains - how to manage to keep all three of them. One would be better but the thought of shovel pruning is impossible.
So......, I've moved the Restios out and put the young Panicums in their place, I'll let another year go by and see how it goes,
Here is a good photo of one of the Restios. What a shame that beauty was being hidden most all season! It surely looks better no longer smothered by the exuberant Dahlias.
Here's it's mate, planted in the ground. It looks quite stunning up close; too bad it doesn't have a background that sets it off, a big reason the photo doesn't do it justice.
Rachel - I've heard Florida gardening can be very challenging. I'm very climate lucky and i can grow so many many plants here, but it would be better if I were a better designer. That's my big challenge. My garden is always one big experiment that i never seem to get right. I am always (always!) retrying something because of design ineptitude. Most things in my garden have been moved more than once.Kevin Perry
6 years agoecholane
6 years agoI think it's Pennisetum setaceum that has a reputation for seeding invasiveness. I've grown only Pennisetum alopecuroides or various cultivars for over forty years and I've never seen a seedling.. Both are called fountain grass. Speaking of which, my husband and I had dinner at Chipotle tonight and there was a huge clump of P. setaceum in an otherwise completely barren and neglected commercial space and it looked so pretty I took a photo of it. It must be a real tough plant to survive it's environment. BTW, this is on El Camino in Palo Alto which should ring some familiar bells. The traffic has worsened terribly in this area in the last few years and I hate to drive this way because of it.
What are those natives you are waiting so impatiently for to bloom??
Kevin Perry
6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoecholane
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years agoecholane
6 years agoecholane
6 years agoRachel Cross- Harder
6 years ago
Rachel Cross- Harder