These two Dahlias are from two different Dahlia gardens I have been growing this year. Both have been providing copious amounts of flowers and have not had a lot of fungus or insects. This year was the first in about 20 that we used prestarted and unnamed tubers. In a way that was easier than looking through the catalogs and selecting them. It was also easier not to have to pot them up.
This Orange Cactus Dahlia has been especially prolific and always has several flowers ready for cutting. These pictures were taken in July and I found them yesterday while going through the files on my hard drive.
August isn't August, without Dahlias, and Dhucks. A rainbow of Dahlias - the first picking of a carefully selected color palette that I ordered on-line hoping to get the perfect spectrum of tints in the maroon, red-purple shades. I love them, and the orange tones balance it out well. . . .
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Posted by Matt Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2008-08-18, 06:24:42
In the rain yesterday the Dahlia Night queen stands out like an olympic torch. It is a gorgeous double flower around the yellow centre. Another Dahlia is in the foreground to the right, and the Rose Margaret Merrill to the left. One photo with three flowers vying for the cameras attention. . ..
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Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2008-08-14, 07:55:14
For about the 5th time, I am ordering dahlias via mail order: the Elise and Night Queen varieties. Both seem to be in the decorative group—Brent and Beckys does not list them by division, for some reason—2-4 feet tall, with Elise the shorter of the 2 and NQ leaning more toward the shaggy side. Last year I bought a few tubers at the garden store with zilch results. A couple depressing, half-eaten blooms appeared toward the end of the season. Were they too crowded by other plants? Did they get enough sun (they were in the sunniest bed I have)? Did they just suck?. . .
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Posted by EAL Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2008-02-27, 06:10:30
A Dahlia from Harlow Carr.I am hopefully now on final stretch to get the house and the keys so I can take some before photos of the new garden. This is so bright the colour. It was sat in a pot waiting to be planted somewhere. . . .
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Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-11-23, 01:28:56
My tree dahlias (Dahlia imperialis) have grown taller and taller each year. Yikes! Of my three main canes, one snapped but two remain. Threats against this November bloomer include wind and frost. Both fingers way crossed.
I'd like to train them to bloom a little lower to the ground, but I'm not sure of the best time to head them back.
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on Nov 2, 2007, 1:55PM
Posted by Angela Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-11-04, 00:26:02
The Camera has run out of battery so I am posting what my one Dahlia flower looked like in its prime. The waxy white petals with splashes of egg yolk yellow, and light pink. The yellow centre has spiral patterns. . . .
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Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-10-31, 06:01:50
I took a drive up Route 7 yesterday and ended up in Litchfield. I was looking for some foliage but nothing really caught my eye. When I was driving by White Flower Farm I decided to stop in and take a look at the gardens and the plants they had for sale. I don’t usually buy much from them but occasionally I like to get some of the more trendy items they grow. I have used their bulbs before with good success. They cost more but produce more flowers. . . .
This is my favorite dahlia. A big soft orange one that my Dad started many years ago. The flowers are about 6 inches in diameter. Its a large vigorous plant that overwinters well. I have a clump taller than me next to my vegetable garden. The flower here is one of my Dad's.
Last year was the first blooming of the dahlias I had planted. This year, however, for lack of rain, they did not put out the majority of flowers as. . .
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on Sep 6, 2007, 12:06PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-09-07, 06:31:35
The Dahlia looking more like a proper flower.The white petals were quite tubular, but slowly unfurl.I love the white petals with pink lines on the outer petals.
The pollen in the centre is a delicious yellow colour like honeycomb... ..
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Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-09-01, 06:36:38
So I was all hyped when I saw how big dahlias could get so I went to the Dahlia Society's sale in the Spring. I bought a bunch of tubers and it is an understatement for me to say that mine have grown to look nothing like what theirs looked like. This makes me think that I am not so good at growing flowers that need TLC like these flowers do. I don't know if it is the plot of land I put them in, or what I know that it is my skills that need to improve before I can get anything from them so I will move them to another spot when I plant them next year. . . .
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Posted by louisj80 Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-08-30, 06:10:12
This is another Dahlia portrait. It is actually a white Dahlia but it has a little yellow in it, which seems amplified in these pictures. I took it at the farm where the roses are growing. I spent all day yesterday removing the spent flowers and getting rid of the diseased foliage and stems. Karen had to help me for half a day to get it finished. I am cleaning up all the weeds and dead leaves, which is a job in itself. . . .
Today is ABC Wednesday, once again. Seems hard to believe that we are already on ‘D’. Today was a bit of a conflict for me as I enjoyed the couple of Wordless Wednesdays I did and it is also Garden Bloggers Bloom Day over at Carol’s Place, everything seems to be happening on Wednesday. Wordless Wednesday is pretty self-explanatory and Bloom Day is where a bunch of Bloggers take pictures of what’s blooming in their garden and write a post about them. The garden I am working in right now doesn’t have too many flowers during this season and it is the same at the Estate. Everybody is at their beach houses so it doesn’t make sense to do a lot for summer. . . .
Last October I dutifully dug up our dahlia tubers with the intention of wintering them over in our basement. I wasn't sure this would work. For one thing, I had started these particular dahlias from seed. My knowledge of botany is scant at best, so I was having a hard time imagining how a plant I generated from a seed ultimately develops a tuber. But when the time came, I dug them up and was happy to see that in the end, I had tubers. . . .
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Posted by seedling Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2007-07-15, 04:32:41
Though my tree dahlia is 13' tall, it has nary a bud. It really does not get enough sun and yes, it probably could use a dose of fertilizer. So far, it has not been nipped by Jack Frost. . .
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on Nov 28, 2006, 11:54AM
Posted by Weeder Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2006-11-29, 17:07:44
A few years ago, a friend in San Francisco mentioned he had pruned a "10 foot tall tree dahlia." I shot back in a know-it-all tone, "There's no such thing as a tree dahlia. That's insane. It must be some other genus that has dahlia-like flowers." One tends to become a skeptic after learning the hard way that there's no such thing as an "air fern" or a "tree tomato". A quick flip of the Western Garden Book and I was eating tree dahlia crow. A tree dahlia really is a dahlia. Dahlia imperialis. It can grow to a whopping 12 feet. Who knew? Not even this someone who aced several plant i.d. classes in college.
Apparently, if you are are desperate for rain all you have to do is whine about it on your blog.  It’s been raining for the past week and I couldn’t be happier. My garden has puddles. Frozen puddles, but puddles no less. I’m so happy because if it keeps it up I’ll be retiring the hose for the winter.Â
With the cold temps everything has pretty much turned to mush, except for these few dahlias I picked. I think it’s great to see such bright colors considering we’ve had frost.
All my dahlia tubers are dug, washed & drying now. I haven’t decided how I am going to go about storing them but I think I am going to try something different this year. Last year I only lost one tuber but the rest were so shriveled. I think there has got to be a better way. So I’ll try a couple different methods to see what works best. If anyone would like to share their secrets with me, I’m all ears.
Well, the first thing is that they aren't really bulbs but in fact, they are tubers. Dig them, dry them in the sun for a day or two so the dirt can be brushed off. Don't wash them. Just put them into a cool, dry area. Keep them that way until you want to plant them next spring in pots or into the garden after frost.
It really is that simple. I note that heated basements aren't very good if
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on Oct 13, 2006, 11:54AM
Posted by Doug Green Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2006-10-14, 00:24:46
I am a blue highway kind of girl. If I can avoid an interstate or other high speed road in favor of a back road, I will do it every time. The road I take to work runs almost parallel to a 4 lane highway, but you never get to see things like this on that route.
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on Oct 11, 2006, 1:34PM
Posted by meresy_g Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2006-10-13, 15:53:09
Wandering around the allotments, I was impressed by the range of Dahlias.
I have not had much luck with Dahlias in the past - snails and slugs consume them with the same enthusiasm that I eat pepperoni pizza. And I love pepperoni pizza . . .
But, I am tempted to try again. Just look at these . . .
Dark Beauty
Red and White - these knocked me out
Orange Cactus type with pollinator
Red
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on Aug 15, 2006, 9:21PM
Posted by Myrtle Luma Reblogged by Old Roses to dahlias on 2006-08-16, 15:58:26