Dahlias in the South - should I insist?

2 years ago

I've had one dahlia, Enchantress, in a raised bed where I sprinkle zinnia seeds annually.

It's been there for the past two years and HAS given me a few blooms at the end of the summer, but I haven't done anything special for it. I just water it along with the zinnias and fertilize them more seriously when I remember, once or twice a season at the most.

The rest was just a bit of whatever water soluble fertilizer I have left when I am done with the roses or what not.

When I harvested a few blooms recently, I could not help noticing how big and convincing they look in the vase compared to all other blooms. They have such big impact and know how to fill up a vase, which for me is important because I don't have many flowers in the yard and don't know how to produce a lot of blooms per plant (roses or zinnias or anything else). So harvest is usually small.

Zinnias have been rather small and insignificant this year.

So I'd love to have a few more of these dahlia beauties and decided to try a few more. I ordered Thomas Edison, Kelvin Floodlight, Care au Lait and Bloodstone for next April (2022).

What is the most important things I can do with these dahlias to make them work in the South (Atlanta area)?

Three of them are supposed to be heat-tolerant, except Cafe au Lait, but I could not resists that beauty.

Any advice for these four would be welcome. Thank you so much!

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Comment (1)

sturgeonguy
2 years ago
Get more "bloomful" varieties. Thomas Edison, I know, is hard to bloom and a late bloomer (for me up here in Ontario). I've not grown any of the others. What you want is to get some 4" blooms, say that grow between 3' - 4' in height. These qualities have tended, for me, to represent the varieties with the most blooms. They are also among the longest bloomers. While they are not the largest flowers, or potentially even the most interesting flower shapes (although I really like them), they will give you lots of practice in all other aspects of dahlia growing.

Just remember, shorter, bushier plants with smaller diameter flowers are likely going to bloom earliest, longest, and heaviest. Plant plenty of them if your goal is cut flowers. If you want bigger flowers, then plant many of them and pinch to get clusters of flowers. For example, most longer stem dahlias grow flowers in clusters of three. In your first year, pinch the two outside flowers (either side of center), and in your 2nd year pinch the center flower. Pinch every cluster that is in any way damaged (and I consider drooping stems to be damage). In your 3rd year you can pick and choose between clusters, leaving some full while pruning others to 1 stem, and still others prune to 2 stems, as you deem they'll survive. Just remember, you will always error on the side of too many saved flowers...they are just too beautiful to prune appropriately unless you are getting paid by the flower.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Russ
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Dahlias in the South - should I insist?

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sturgeonguy

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