Bonehead said:Thank you - that could well be my mystery dahlia. Another possibility is Star Elite. I'll have to take some more pics next year so I have more than one bloom to compare.

Hi Bonehead, though I am not very comfortable addressing you this way,

I think you may well be right on the D. Star Elite, on line pictures are very close , and one is nearly identical, to the one you have attached. Good call.

I am sending you a bee, I hope it brings you luck.

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter, you can address people by their name if you wish. It is in the upper right hand corner like yours. If there is no name then just use the screen name.
I love the pretty flower and also the happy bee.

Thanks for the bee! No worries about my screen name, we all have some boneheadedness in us at times. Or call me Deb. Or boneheadeb. It's all good.

I once worked with a woman who would call you bonehead in an affectionate way - like if you made a mistake but she liked you......

Lots of dahlias here! Crittergarden - you can leave the dahlias outside until blackened by frost. If anyone has them in the earth, as I do with all of mine, they have to be lifted in zone 7 and under, soil removed, turned upside down (to drain the water) for three days, then stored for the winter. A friend in Arkansas doesn't have to lift hers but got poor performance this year. I told her they've been growing and need division. I think she found it hard to believe but dug and found many plants so she now has them separated and replanted.

Those are beautiful pirl, thanks for posting your advice and pictures!

Have any of you had your dahlias morph into lots of different plants? Duet first year.


2nd year One of the tubers from that did this.


3rd year from the half and half tubers came these.




There were several other Sports? from that original morph too.

Yes, I've had it in the past with one and currently have it with Vancouver but love the variations.

Yours are all so lovely.

I'd love to see pictures of your Vancouver morphs Pirl.

Here it is. The original is the darkest one on a previous post I made yesterday and the one below it (lighter) is a morph also.

It is so pretty too! Won't it be fun to see what it does next year

Awesome Pirl.

It is great fun to watch as many turn more yellow at this time of year. It's also fun to watch them drop all of their petals at once - maybe the true meaning of "fall". They'll look fine in a vase one minute and the next you spot all the fallen petals on the table or countertop.

All the digging, cleaning, separating, drying, labeling and storing for winter is definitely not fun and normally it's the worst weather day (or two) when it gets done but that's when we have to remember we had three to four months of glorious blooms from them. They're well worth the work and buying them from any big box store, at 4 for $10.00, makes it so easy.

In early May I bought a few of the tiny border dahlias (along with annual geraniums and alyssum) and they were perfect from May onwards.

They are certainly worth the work. It's so true that it usually comes at bad weather times. We had a hard frost and the next day was raining and misting most of the day but the weather forecast was for 22 to 24 degrees nights and verily above freezing for the next week so they didn't get their 2 weeks in the ground after the first hard frost. They got dug the raining misting day as I was afraid they would get damaged in the ground. They looked fine and the eyes were visible so I hope they're o.k. I'll find out next spring.

As long as you spotted the eyes you should do very well. The day of lifting didn't sound pleasant at all for you so I commend you for going forward and not chancing possible rotting. Do you go dahlia hunting online while you wait for spring?

Pirl, Mostly I buy from Swan Island Dahlias and Arrowhead Dahlias on line. I think I'm about done with looking for awhile as I have about as many as I can take care of or have room for. If I quit looking at daylilies and finding ones that I can't live without I would have more room for dahlias! How about you, do you have someplace you like?

Did I mention I'm keeping mine in pots to avoid all the digging?

crittergarden said:Did I mention I'm keeping mine in pots to avoid all the digging?

Has that been successful for you? Do you wait until they freeze or do you have to take them in before it freezes hard so the tubers don't get damaged by the frost?

Susie - Dan's Dahlias and Lynch Creek are the two I used most recently but actually haven't had any bad companies online. I loved Corralitos when I was buying a lot of dahlias. In 2014 I'll definitely order from Accent for a few for my son-in-law...and maybe a few for me. Like you, there's a limit to how many we can care for and how much room we can devote to them. When I collected and hybridized my own daylilies I didn't have the room that's available now.

Critter - they still will need division even if they're in pots so just unpot, divide, repot and you'll be set for 2014.