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!

Jan, I wonder if the little darling in the iris bed was the same one who was racing back and forth tearing leaves off the trees in the Japanese Garden at the Hobart Botanic Gardens. Don't you just love those parents who don't do any parenting when it's really needed but suddenly appear out of nowhere to abuse staff or other visitors when those people feel compelled to put an end to the shenanigans. So we limited ourselves to the occasional disapproving glare. A little later I was told off for jumping the queue at the ladies toilets. Honest mistake. I didn't know there was only one cubicle. I don't remember a lock on the outer door which is usually the case with a single cubicle facility, and considering it was in a rather nice-looking new (since our last trip) visitors centre with a cafe, I wouldn't have expected a single cubicle ladies. Lovely gardens but not the relaxing visit I had hoped for on the last day of our holiday. Didn't enjoy being on the Tahune Air Walk with a school group either. We were taking a photo from the cantilevered section when they came bouncing along and we had quite a lengthy wait until they finished bouncing. The teachers were some distance behind and obviously enjoying their own holiday and not the least bit interested in supervising these teenagers. And don't let me get started on the parents who think throwing pebbles at ducks in ponds is a healthy outdoor activity for their children. Shame that places which can be so soothing for the soul can be spoilt by kids who have never been taught to respect, sorry, this is turning into a rant. Dead easy, the Canberra Botanic Gardens are native.

Hi Rosesforme, I think it only went on for 2 days which was last satday and last sunday. (where are you? I'm in Nth Balwyn) Never mind if you missed this one, because there is a Melb International Flower show on as well from 6-10 April. There will be some roses on display there for sure. Thank you Sandie and Thanks for the link, yeah Jean and Lozza were there. She won quite a few award as well. You should have gone. It was my first time and I really enjoyed myself.

I still use faux floral arrangements, but I have more greenery than fowers~don't use the bright green stuff. What I try to find is more olive-y or sort of brownish. I also have a gold chenille sofa(great room)and the weave is a herringbone pattern, not distinguishable until you've 'studied' it awhile. I've used stems of small ivory sprays rather than any large flowers, along with the greenery mentioned above. On the same round table i've used 3 large ivory-ish rustic candle sticks(Tuesday Morning). The candles, also ivory, are from pottery barn, and look like they're burning with it's realistic flame~$50 apiece from PB, but worth it! All ivory lampshades and ivory silk pillows with a bit of gold bring it all together. I found a set of antique books with ivory covers that I display in the French secretary with screen doors along with a collection of small topiaries in whiteish urns, as well as a few small pictures and other books. All this changes for winter when I switch out lampshades/pillows to black, as well as adding 2 large black urns w/topiaries to the mantle. I also tried a cobolt blue which looked very pretty. I had a few pieces of blue/ white pottery that I brought in, and the art in the room also had some of the color. I didn't keep it for long since my thought process was to keep the color scheme uniform on the first floor, and wasn't sure I liked it that much. It can be a little challenging in trying to choose a color, but I found the ivory to be easy. ;)