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Deleting a thread, and am saving the share-worthy posts here...
teddahlia wrote:If dahlias bloomed at Christmas time, red and white would be very popular. Margaret loves red and white and won best arrangement at the Portland ADS National show with red and white flowers.
Flowers were:
AC Fancy
Rejman's Polish Kid
Hollyhill Court Jester(no longer being sold by us as it has too much of an open center now and does not make a lot of tubers)
Islander wrote:That just looks amazingly yummy to me tonight. I miss playing with my flower colors and shapes. Packaging tubers just isn't quite the same experience That is a wonderful combination.. I don't care much for the big ones that have big white tips on a B or larger flower but these smaller sizes look great! I looked at BirchBays "Bernardo" but it doesn't inspire me. I tried to like AC Fancy but it failed to attract or inspire me. I will probably eliminate it. Though this picture does give me ideas in how to use it. It came on rather late and did not produce a lot of flowers this year.
drewtheflorist wrote:After tomorrow, our customers will be asking for red / white / green almost exclusively. The fall colors will be done and by Christmas, we will hate red and white. January calls for whites and blues with some pastels, then Valentine's Day is all red again ! Only after that can we get back to colors .... That's why red and white combos are not in my garden. Up with ORANGE !
I had loads of blooms from my 3 plants...really crazy fun flowers, but none have been red. It's a dark pink, yellow and white flower for me...certainly does NOT look Christmassy at all!. More like Carnivale!
Cool cloudy weather and the flowers must be darker. I had not looked at my plants except when I saw this nice bloom. It is an inconsistent bloomer and the best of the flowers look like the picture. I should take a picture or two of all the variations.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
I took cuttings of Irish Blackheart. Need more of them for next year. Also took cuttings from Medusoid, which will be coming indoors for the winter. It had a rough start this year.
I don't know. This is my first year growing it. I will know when I dig in the fall. If they look iffy or small, they will go right into pots and start up again.
Anyone ever get any decent bloom from Camano Rascal? That one never did well for me. I don't think I ever had a bloom turn out like all the pictures I'd seen of it.
Camano Rascal is a no show here too. Grew it two years with no good flowers and tossed it. I have seen it growing in gardens doing well but not mine. I generally cannot put up with such finicky flowers. I know it cannot take much heat too.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
Sandia Apache was just not much in our garden either; just like Rascal. The other one that did nothing was Hilltop Stella. All of these varieties could be categorized as beautiful dahlias that should be grown by experienced growers in the best of conditions with the caveat that they still may not produce good flowers. Most of us are willing to try them and may even grow them multiple years to get that one good flower. In some excellent growing years, these varieties may do very well. If you move to the Oregon coast, you can grow them all and people will be amazed how good they look. So those of you looking for "dahlia heaven" where the dahlias grow like weeds with bright colors and where you do not have to dig them until January or even later, move to the Oregon Coast. There are several areas and if you want more details let me know. After this hellish summer, even I would be tempted to move there.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
Irish Blackheart made only a few tubers for us and if I remember right only one survived and I gave it to someone in a trade , I liked the color and it is an attractive plant , It made almost no pollen and zero seed for us togeather with the fact we grew only a couple of Stellar this year as they are not part of any program here , however I would grow it again if I had extra room .
When moving to the Oregon coast due to weather changes don't forget that predicted 100-200 foot rise in sea level from melting glaciers... I figure it will give me a MUCH better view of Puget Sound from here!
Noni: What is your elevation? Our dahlia garden is 392 feet above sea level. The increase in sea level will be an inch or two per year at most, so we will have no problem in our lifetime. I would never re-locate anywhere within a few miles of the ocean. Our dahlias need some shelter from the wind and salt near the ocean. And ocean front property is very expensive.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
I think we are at somewhere between 200 and 300 feet, just up a steep winding road and less then a mile from the edge of the island. I figure if anything rising sea levels would improve my view, I'd rather be back from the edge anyhow because the edges have a tendency to slide into the Sound during the wet winters. I was a bit tongue in cheek about that see level rise..saw that somewhere on the 'puter last week and it stuck in my head...I dream of a house overlooking the Pacific ocean on hot summer days, but know that the rest of the year the reality is a bit much for gardeners. I think living on the INLAND sea is far more practical. I don't really want to move anywhere else and I have thought about it a lot. Would love being closer to some of my kids but this will do...especially while I have the Zach-Man at home.
HH Jester looked good here this year too. Whether it has the white or not, it is a good cut flower and most people need a nice red one. It makes lots of tubers too. It never gets sick either. I take a few seeds from it each year but nothing has resulted. I like having the gene for the white spots floating around in the pollen through out the garden. Many seedlings of nearly all types can get it. We have a small purple pom seedling that has the trait. I will grow it for a 4th year and see if it is worth releasing. Some of these unusual flowers are a bit fussy in growth habits and I have to decide whether to keep them or not. I usually keep them for several years and listen to Margaret before tossing them.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.