Gorgeous! Love the zinnias too!

A la mode…but the ice cream has melted..,

tj

How beautiful, everyone! Yes, cab, I think that was me that posted about Fleurel. Love it and hoping I have at least one this season (didn't ID my tubers properly when I first planted them and still trying to ID them all!) Karin, I've also grown Mikayla Miranda and love that one too.

A la Mode is gorgeous! I love that coloring - I always seem to buy too many of that coloring, just like I buy too many variegated hostas, and too many apricot roses. Well, maybe not "too many" - can there be such a thing? Let's just say "a lot" lol.

Cab, I've grown dahlias from seed in the past but not recently. I LOVE Floret and all Erin does! Her website makes me weak in the knees and I live vicariously through her lol.

My dahlias are jusssst starting to bloom. I have a few smaller whites in bloom (again, not sure of ID, but I seem to have a lot of white - which makes sense since I bought several white varieties for the wedding) and I am very happy to see that I have a few Cafe au Laits that made it through winter. No real pics yet, except for this - I found this beauty (and the glad too) face down in the dirt (or, more accurately, dust, lol, my poor garden is so dry!) I think they look pretty good considering!

This is either Thomas Edison, or a purple from a mix I got from Longfield Gardens. Even if it's from Longfield, it may STILL be Thomas Edison, I suppose, although I think it might be a bit too... hmm, not sure how to describe color... it's too berry-ish, too bright, I think, to be TE. TE always strikes me as a darker purple, but I could very easily be wrong!

I'm going out right now to look at my dahlias lol!

:)

Dee

So maz, looking at yours, maybe mine is not Thomas Edison after all. Must be a purple from the mix I got then.

Here are what I first thought was Cafe au Lait - they looked quite "beigey" outside, but in the vase they look more white. So I'm not sure what they are - but they're beautiful! There's a few small white blooms in this bouquet too but I didn't photograph them.

:)

Dee

Those look like Cafe au Lait to me, Dee. Beautiful! I haven't even got a fully formed bud yet. Very late. Everyone's flowers are so great. Such saturated color in the purple Maz posted. A La Mode...tsugajunkie...wow. Love that shading.

Karin, you've got dahlia flowers! And love the lime zinnias. Hope it has cooled off there and the air is clearer.

Cab84 - love the Watermelon one!

Thank you Prairiemoon! After another awful bout of hot smoke, we're enjoying a cold and rainy day today. Hopefully it'll last for a few good days before we get smoked out again.

But the dahlias are super happy, as are the zinnias and sweet peas. Oh and the sweet corn too! The garden is happier than the gardener this year, LOL.

So glad you are getting a break, Karin! I hope it does last for at least a few days. It's amazing to me that your garden has done as well as it has in those conditions. Quite a vaseful of flowers you have there! Hope we'll see more pics from you too.

Mystic ENCHANTMENT

@dee: I’ll take another pic of Thomas Edison. Mine look a lot like the one you posted.

So, I've had a big fat bud on one of my dahlias and was impatiently awaiting bloom. Today it bloomed, and I'm both stumped and a bit disappointed. I'm stumped because I can't figure out which dahlia it is (I originally planted the tubers in 2019 and stupidly did not label any of them. I have pictures of everything I bought, and I'm still trying to ID everything!). The closest I can come is Shiloh Noelle, but I don't know....

And I'm a bit disappointed because I don't really like it lol. Not a huge fan of this form - kind of shaggy. I had bought just a couple of these shaggy ones, to have a variety for the wedding flowers - you need to have some variety in a bouquet, especially if the colors are all similar, imo. One I bought was Tsuki Yori No Shisha which was awesome in photos but in real life I didn't like it so much lol.

But hey, a bloom is a bloom, and it's on my dining room table now with some (possibly, lol) I Do white dahlias. Think I'll go cut some zinnias to add some color!

:)

Dee

edited to add dimensions, since you can't tell from the photo. It's about 5 inches in diameter.

Ugh you guys are re-awakening my case of dalia envy with those gorgeous blooms! I've tried before but they just never look that good for me.

Hi Everyone! Lovely photos! I'm newer to growing Dahlias so I have this question: when you say "seeds" you mean the tubers, right? I got some tubers from Muddy Acres Farm and bought a bag of tubers from Wal Mart. The Wal Mart tubers are doing great, the special ones from Muddy Acres didn't sprout. Not sure what i did wrong? Anyway, I will do some digging and more research so I can properly winter over my tubers. OH! i have a few Japanese beetles eating one kind of bloom, but not the others? interesting... anyone else have that?

Hi Jeanne, I’m no expert on dahlias, but you can grow them from seeds and tubers. I tried both this year, and the plants grown from seeds are almost as large as the ones grown from tubers and are starting to bloom.

Tubers not sprouting: there could be many reasons, but a dahlia will need at least one eye to sprout, and at least one intact neck and tuber. Maybe yours did not have this?

Japananese beetles: I read somewhere that people are having more issues with light colored blooms. Is it the case with yours?

Yes, I have grown dahlias from seed and from tubers - haven't done seed in ages though. No real reason why, lol. I think I just get those dahlia-porn catalogs from growers and so do most of my shopping through them, i.e. tubers.

Not much new to show on my end. My two most bloom-heavy dahlias so far are the Cafe au Lait and the white, which I think are I Do, so any photos would look the same as what I've already posted lol. Of course I'm not expecting much in the way of color, since most of my tubers are from 2019 which, as I've mentioned, is when I grew for my daughter's wedding, so all in shades of white and light pink.

I did order a couple new tubers this year, and think I got a yellow and an apricot-ish one, but honestly can't remember off the top of my head and apparently they aren't blooming yet to remind me haha!. I'll be sure to post photos when they do!

:)

Dee

So, I've been thinking about my new dahlias since I posted above, and dug out my order list from earlier this year, to see what I bought, and I think I identified the purple dahlia above that I thought was possibly Thomas Edison. I had completely forgotten, but apparently I ordered another dark purple dahlia this season, and it's called Diva. So maybe that's what the photo above (purple dahlia with lavender and white gladioli) is.

:)

Dee

New here and new to dahlias! I had pretty much given up on my ”Ferncliff” plant and this week it went wild. ”Blue Boy” has been dutifully producing purple flowers since July ☺️

My dahlias are a bit odd this year. Several never amounted to much - plants are still small and non-productive. But the ones that DID take off and grow are doing pretty well, and have provided some lovely blooms for bouquets. My Cafe Au Lait and I Do in particular are doing well. The I Do is my most prolific, although many of the blooms are on quite short stems. So instead of cutting them I leave them in the garden.

More Cafe Au Lait

That Thomas Edison and/or Diva - still not sure which!

TE or Diva with Cafe, and I think Bridezilla (white on left)

An unidentified pink. Could be a pink from a Longfield Gardens mix, or possibly a very pink Breakout?

That unidentified frilly one from a previous post, looking more pink and still unidentifiable lol!

And my very favorite this year, Great Silence, one of my new ones (same bouquet as above, just the other side lol)

Love, love, love the coloration of this,and wish I could capture it better. What's interesting is that as it fades, the colors kind of separate into distinct rows - it almost looks like a fake bloom made out of different sheets of construction paper lol!

Darn, I almost took a photo of one just before I threw it away yesterday. Literally a row of yellow petals, a row of peach, a row of orange, etc. Next one, I'll get a photo!

:)

Dee

Okay, so I guess I'm the only one still on this thread lol, but I am SOOO enjoying my dahlias right now. They're one of the few things still going strong in my garden, along with my cosmos and zinnias.

:)

Dee

Mine are still doing well also. Here’s one.

tj

Wow, that's stunning. What a wonderful color! Do you have a name for that one?

Your plants look much better than mine lol. I'm getting some nice blooms but I am enjoying them in the house - my plants themselves don't look so hot. They're not awful, obviously if they're pumping out blooms, but not the most photo-worthy specimens either lol.

:)

Dee

A very old Lavender Perfection.

tj

Thanks, tj!

:)

Dee

Hi all, I am new to dahlias. I started a lot from seeds but they never got very big, the foliage looked good but no blooms. I dug them up today and they have nice little tubers on them. Should I treat them like mature plants, store the tubers this winter and try again next spring?

Sue zone 5b MI

Yes.

tj

I have some like that this season too. Haven't dug them up yet but I'm expecting there to be at least another tuber or two and I plan on storing like the others.

My dahlias are winding down. Blooms are smaller and taking longer to open. Cut this beauty yesterday. The stem is only about an inch long (another big bud just below it that I didn't want to sacrifice) and it's was beaten down by the torrential downpours the other day, but still beautiful, imo

I should have put something for reference to size in the photo, but this bloom is about 5-6 inches across.

:)

Dee

Thanks for the comments Dee. I grew some dahlias in containers and others in the ground. The ones in the containers produced lots of beautiful flowers and tubers but the tubers weren’t smooth like all the pictures and videos I’ve watched about digging, dividing and storing. Some have small bumps on them, one particular clump looked like they have worts all over them. I have been searching the internet (that’s how I found this group) root knot nematodes seems to come the closest🤷🏼‍♀️. One clump has a cluster of emerging new growth, most likely leafy gall :(
Is there something about growing dahlias in large containers that I am missing? The sister plants that were in the ground are all normal ?!?
I realize I need to destroy the diseased ones but there again I don’t really find much about how to do that. I had cut the stalks a week or so ago, do I need to go retrieve those stalks and destroy also? Do I burn them? Cut them up and soak in beach or some other chemical? What about the dirt, do I need to discard that in some way??
I am in a whirl….

Sue BV

Sue, start a new thread, posted here on the dahlia forum and on some other, more-active forum, like perennials, (or it looks like you are in MI - is there a MI forum here? Never looked, lol....) Anyway, start a new thread, explain and describe your issues, include photos if at all possible, and see about getting ID(s) on the issues. You say you are new so maybe you shouldn't be trying to diagnose from the internet - I'm not all that new and I still wouldn't trust my judgment after looking online lol!

I just would hate to see you destroy perfectly good tubers (if indeed they are so) so that's why I suggest getting more eyes on them to see what other, more experienced gardeners have to say.

Good luck!

:)

Dee

Here in Sydney, my dahlias are starting to get interesting. I grow only singles, for the sake of the bees. In the attached photo, you can see Burgundy Bambino, as well as a rogue orange one that was also supposed to be Burgundy Bambino. The third pic - a more pinky/salmon flower - is their love child.

What the heck, here's a few photos from the past two years.

'Akita', it grew much taller and with stronger stems this past summer.

Ahhh, 'Karma Choc' !!

'Ferncliff Tropics' a great bloomer!

'Go-Go Orange' hidden among the Sweet William

'Karma Bon Bini', long and heavy flowering!!

I store my dahlias (and Colocasias) in this cold cellar each winter. I have my fingers crossed that this is the lowest temp I will see:

Rouge, I've thought of getting a thermometer, but I have no other place to store my tubers so I figure I'll just put them in the basement and hope for the best. If I were to go down there and see that it's too cold it would just be added stress lol.

HU in Sydney, the "love child" is a wonderful color!

FB, I like your attitude! I'm gonna join in with "what the heck!" and here are some cut dahlias from 2019, when I was growing for my daughter's September wedding. It was one of the worst years I ever had in the garden (of course, lol!) and I had to supplement with bought stems, but my dahlias were gorgeous (if short in the spring, when most of these photos were taken)

Ah, I can't wait for spring!

:)

Dee

WOW, Dee, you sure had some outstanding arrangements there in a dominate array of gorgeous pastels! But, yes, too bad dahlias are finnicky when it comes to storage! Last winter, for the first time ever, I had excellent results and hoping for repeat success! After digging and removing the tops, I let them sit in the warm sun for an afternoon or two then into large cardboard boxes they go in single layer and simply pouring dry garden soil around them just leaving the stem stubs sticking out a bit, then into the cold room they go to be stored at 35 to 40 F. A few are grown as potted specimens with the tops cut back and tossed into storage, these generally keep very well.

Thank you FB! Although I purchased roses and extra hydrangeas (to add to my own) for the table arrangements, I was glad to be able to work my dahlias in them, and was secretly elated when it was the dahlias that everyone seemed wowed by (and not the roses etc.)

I got kind of lazy with my tubers this year. First of all, my digging up of them kept getting put on hold and I dug them up in December - not too bad as we had a prolonged wonderful fall here and the weather was warmer than usual. I decided to try a new method this year, just putting them in paper bags. I couldn't seem to find out, though, if the bags should be closed or open, dry or misted, any kind of medium in there etc. So I put them in without anything else, and left them open, but due to space constraints they are kind of squished together. The last two years I had great success with overwintering, so I probably should have stuck with my method, but I just wasn't up to dividing this fall, or layering with newspaper and peat moss, etc. I guess I was just lazy. I may pay for it in spring but we'll see lol

:)

Dee

Dee, in the past I had stored them in peat moss, I guess it was a just a bit too damp and tubers had rotted fast and furious. Many folks have success with newspaper wrapping, I attempted with three layers of print, then packing tubers loosely in those plastic weave grocery carry bags and somewhat closing the tops on. I checked fairly often and they were shriveling, so decided to better close the bags. I ended with okay results for the larger tubers, but smaller ones or those with long narrow tubers had dried out terribly and I had to work to salvage some, all too much effort for unpredictable results!! Again, I show this photo from last spring of my success of simply setting tubers in dry soil. So far it's been the easiest and most reliable method for me, will see how things fare this winter. Oh, the only drawback is boxes with soil are of course very heavy, so I do everything on the spot that I'm not having to lift and move them around!!

Terry

FB do you mean just potting soil? And you just threw them all together? Your tubers look good. I assume you divide in spring?

You always hear about "don't let them touch whatever you do!" lol. I usually layer newspaper and peat moss in a cardboard box. Put the (divided) tubers in the peat moss (trying to have them not touch, lol) then another layer of newspaper and peat moss, tubers, etc. Like a tuber, newspaper, and peat moss lasagna lol. I misted each layer of newspaper a bit too. I had success with this method for two years in a row. This year like I said just didn't have the motivation to divide, and wasn't sure how the layers would work with clumps of tubers. Plus to be honest, I had no peat moss and no time to go buy any!

I saw this method with paper bags and it looked so much easier so I'll see how it goes. Of course my basement conditions could be completely different from the folks who swear by the paper bags, but I guess it's all just a big experiment! Hopefully this coming fall I'll be better prepared with my peat moss and newspapers (if one can find them any anymore!) and dig and store in a timely manner in stead of in a rush. ....Ha, yeah right....

:)

Dee

I can use the insulated unheated attached garage for storage of some plants ... BUT, when it turns bitter cold it will become well below freezing in there, but I can tuck tender plants against the warm wall shared with the house and pile blankets deep and thick on top to prevent freezing. Also, in the basement I have a large cold storage room I can regulate the temperature and where all root veggies are stored ... yes, dahlias as well.

My problem with paper wrapping and storage is that I hadn't done the misting until it was a bit too late. As for my dirt storage method, I just use dry silty soil direct from the garden patch, easy peasy! It seems to ideally buffer them from dehydrating that I have stopped bothering to check on them during the winter ... would be a hassle to pull them out of the soil as well, so that aspect isn't ideal if one wishes to give them a look over. As for not touching, I tend to stick to that as well to prevent possible rot transfer, but heck have had so little rot that it's not something I'll any longer concern myself with.

Okay, what the heck, I did pull one up and it looks good and plumb, the older mother tubers I guess I should have removed upon digging, these are now mostly drying up and disintegrating. Yes, I'll divide come spring, this tuber is already separating there in the middle on it's own.

Terry

Oh wow, soil from the garden! Interesting! Sorry for all the questions, but do you just keep what soil is clinging to the tubers, or do you actually add soil to the box(es)? And if so, how much? I'm picturing holes in your garden where you've dug soil for your tuber storage lol!

:)

Dee

P.S. Your tubers are looking good!

Yes, I attempt to keep the soil clung to the tubers when digging, this one I had removed most for purpose of better showing the tuber quality. I snug them all together in a single layer and pour the soil in and around them and just leave the stem nubs sticking out. I WISH there were more holes left in my garden after digging the dahlias, I don't have nearly enough varieties as of yet! Attempted to build my collection last spring ... but, had received absolutely terrible DOA stock from two different Canadian suppliers.

I tried last spring to increase my collection too - get something other than all the pinks and whites I have lol. I bought from a very reputable company that I had used in the past, and it was just a bad year, I guess. I bought about a half dozen tubers and only one bloomed. Two others grew extremely weak and puny little plants, and the others did nothing.

I had better success with another company that I like, except they sell their tubers in sets of threes. Honestly I'd rather get three different varieties for the price, but I really liked these - Great Silence and Diva - and I got one Diva to grow out of the three, and two Great Silence. I wasn't nearly as attentive to my garden this past year - and the dahlias in particular - as I was the year I grew for my daughter's wedding, so I'm sure part (or most!) of the blame lies with me.

Maybe next year I'll try your method. I have some raised beds I can easily "borrow" soil from and replace it in spring when I get the tubers out lol.

:)

Dee

Dee, I'll again show this nasty photo of my luck with the Canadian suppliers of last year, sigh! The sender of this parcel has promised to reship this spring, I hope he's honest and that I receive nice healthy plumb tubers. Only one of ten tubers had grown from this order. In all fairness I'll give him the chance and base the results on whether I place another order with him in the future. From another supplier only two of five had grown, one was rotted through the core of the tuber and two others were simply forsaken to even be placed into the box, sheesh, so gotta count those as not having grown, lol.

If you like richly colored blooms, I super had enjoyed 'American Dawn!' I just googled 'Great Silence' and it's up my alley, 'Diva' is already on my wish list!

Omg, FB - American Dawn was on my list last year, and I made myself choose between that and Great Silence! I'm still feeling the pinch of pandemic unemployment, so paring things down and figured those two were too similar to buy both, so I picked one. Still have American Dawn on my list but pushed it off another year since I still (hopefully, lol) have Great Silence.

I remember you had a disappointing order last season! Those tubers were awful and I'd like to think perhaps there was a shipping delay or heat problem during shipping. I'd hate to think a vendor sent out tubers that looked like that. My tubers all arrived in good shape. I don't remember if I checked for eyes on all of them or not, but the company is reputable and the tubers looked good. I don't know why they didn't do well. It's disappointing to spend the money and get nothing for it, but I suppose when you're dealing with plants that's one of the chances you take.

:)

Dee

Dee, with the vast number of dahlias to chose from it sure can be difficult to make a selection and not go way overboard as well ... but, yes, budget often limits such and so does considering of the time and energy dahlias require compared to that of perennials. I agree, 'Great Silence' and 'American Dawn' do look rather very similar, the latter just being somewhat darker coloring.

I'm waiting upon some Canadian vendors to open, everyone seems to have such a varied and differing variety listing, so makes one stop shopping difficult. Some dahlias become popular mainstays, others quickly come and go! Certain growers apparently do not have the knack of proper storage and tubers arrive badly shriveled and even rotting from the inside out, other companies are reliable with good solid quality, problem for me is yet finding the good sources, though Ferncliff has always been a reputable place.

I store my dahlias (and Colocasias) in this cold cellar each winter. I have my fingers crossed that this is the lowest temp I will see:

@FrozeBudd_z3/4 and others, this past 3 weeks has seen the coldest temps we have experienced in years (-20 to -24 Celsius/-4 to -11 F) . I see my cold cellar thermometer shows 3C this morning. Just hoping for some reassurance ;) but is the idea that as long as the temp stays about 0C the tuber should make it through the winter, all else being equal?

Rouge, about 3 C is what I aim to maintain my cold storage at for the winter, all sorts of home grown root veggies I keep over, carrots, beets, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, dahlias, calla lilies and the two potted Japanese maples.

@FrozeBudd_z3/4 don't get the potatoes mixed up with the dahlias....that would be quite a tummy ache!

and the two potted Japanese maples.

No room for my potted JMs in the "Dahlia Den". All of mine go in the garage and for the past couple of weeks the temperature in the garage shows about -12C....burr.

I guess, some dahlias can be quite tasty, I'll have to get some on the stove to find out for myself, lol.

Yes, FB, one-stop shopping seems to be impossible with dahlias lol. Are dahlia tubers even edible? I wouldn't want to find out the hard way lol!

I've got to get thinking about and planning my dahlia spring procedure. This year I thought I might try a little cold frame or greenhouse to start my tubers earlier. I usually pull them out and plant them directly out in the end of May or June, but I think I'd like to pot them up earlier. So I need to either make myself a little cold frame, or buy one of those little greenhouses - the bookcases with vinyl covers lol. They just seem to be kind of pricey and not sturdy. Wouldn't mind paying that price if they didn't have so many reviews about them blowing over!

:)

Dee

Dee, despite my much more northerly location, our plant out dates are similar, though autumn frosts arrive much earlier and giving dahlias a head start is of great benefit. I have a three season solarium to help with that, but the place gets congested and overflowing and I can utilize the south facing veranda and even build a bit of an additional frame if need be, nice when springs are warm though and one can just leave the stuff without concern of covering or hauling indoors due to chilly night temps.

Here are a few of mine - sorry, I don't know the names! Last year was my first time growing them. I garden in zone 5b, NW Illinois.