Here are some of my blooms from this year.
Summer Nights


Seduction


Parks Princess


Dr. John Kaiser


Kelgai Ann


Kyli Bug


Karen Kuhn


Candle Light


Crazy Legs


Harvest Moonlight

What wonderful variety. I love the first one. So unusual.

hello, just wanted to stop by and visit this forum. I hope to grow a better variety next year. My cousin got me started growing dahlias many years ago. This season all our blooms seem to be Show n Tell

Summer Nights looks like a nice chocolate bloom! I love chocolate plants. I may have to order that one if I can find it

That is so beautiful!

Really good picture. You would love Karma Chocolate. The leaves are very dark almost purple and the blooms are truly almost chocolate brown. Really more a really deep maroon but really close.

I love the dark ones but it takes some light ones to show off the wines, purples, maroons, and almost black ones.

Mine (which are fairly tall plants) are with some light colored phlox around and behind and some yellow shorter dahlias in front with a little path (maybe 14" wide and 7' long)) between. They are in a corner so the path is sort of an arc from one fence (south) the other fence (west). But I will remember that for next year assuming I can save any of the chocolate tubers.

So true about contrasting colors Pirl.

Sounds pretty Mary, and you're right, I love the Karma Choc! I've never really grown the shorter dahlias. Karma Choc is supposed to have a hint of fragrance too. Has anyone grown it? Is it true about it being fragrant?

I wish I could smell all the plants shown as fragrant. It escapes me except for some roses and lilies.

It's nice when a dark dahlia, like this Arabian Night, has lighter edges. It makes it more noticeable in the garden to me.

I have grown Karma Choc but I can't attest to a fragrance as my sense of smell was temporarily derailed. So no idea if it had fragrance.

I thought I would post a few more pics of blooms as the season winds down. All of these are new to me this year and are from tubers I received in trades in the spring. I am pretty happy with them all.

We were supposed to get some snow last night, but it didn't happen, and the plants look good, but It will be time for digging soon.

Skipley Bonanza


Cafe Au LAit


Imelda Ransel


Ferncliff Copper


Avignon


Cornell


Penhill Watermelon - This flower was to hidden by foliage to get a picture outdoors, Its not my favorite, but at 11" it was my biggest bloom this year.


AC Rosebud


Fringed Star


Vassio Megos


Patricia Annes Sunset


Robann Royal

Great photos, Geof! They're all lovely but the size of Penhill Watermelon is very impressive!

@Oberon46, do you remember where you got your Cafe au Lait? It was sold out on line when I started looking for it. It's a beauty!

Thanks Arlene. I have to admit I was surprised at the size of the P.H. Watermelon. My flowers are usually a bit undersized due to not really having full sun.(closer to 6 hours) But I had some tree trimming done this spring and all of my blooms were bigger this year.

ssgardener - if its me you are asking about the Cafe Au Lait - I received it in a tuber trade. I heard that Swan Island is selling it this year for the ridiculous price of 29.00.

I actually haven't purchased any tubers in 5 years - I just trade with other dahlias growers. I'll be posting a trade list in the early spring, and expect to have extra Cafe Au Lait.

It's a beauty. Looks like the tree trimming was well worth it.

We do have people around here who trade tubers but they don't believe in keeping names, hence no trading with them.

What is your process for holding them over the winter, Geof?

Oops, yes, that question was for you, @mandolls.

$29.00?!

I think Mary also had that one, ssgardener.

Pirl - my tuber trades have been all through the mail with folks like you that I "meet" on garden chat sites. I don't know any other Dahlia growers in my small town, other than the friends I have given my extras to. Shipping makes the actual cost about a dollar a tuber.

I have been using the saran wrap method for my tubers for 4 years now. After dividing, I dust the tubers with sulfur (shake & bake style) Then wrap them individually in saran wrap, and layer them into plastic tubs with newspaper in-between the layers. I keep them on the floor of my studio/workroom, which is a concrete slab (converted garage) room that is kept about 50 - 55 degrees in the winter, the floor is closer to 40 degrees. Last year I lost about 6-8 tubers to rot, out of over 250. Not bad I think. It takes a while to get them all labeled and wrapped, but it is much more successful for me that any other method I have tried.

I read recently that cinnamon will do as well as sulfur as an anti fungal treatment, it will be so so much nicer to work with than sulphur!

Apparently, Cafe Au Lait was featured by Martha Stewart in the last year or so, and the popularity went through the roof, which is why S.I will be able to sell them at such a high price. Its a nice flower, and a healthy plant, but like most of my lighter colored blooms it was hard to keep the bugs off of it, and it has not been a prolific bloomer in my garden.

mandolls said:
Apparently, Cafe Au Lait was featured by Martha Stewart in the last year or so, and the popularity went through the roof, which is why S.I will be able to sell them at such a high price. Its a nice flower, and a healthy plant, but like most of my lighter colored blooms it was hard to keep the bugs off of it, and it has not been a prolific bloomer in my garden.

Great information!

I'm very new to dahlias and didn't realize that light colored blooms were bothered by bugs.

I have to think where we can display more dahlias so I can order a few. Soil is always a concern. Most of our yard is heavy clay soil. Our dahlias do best around the border in our veggie garden.

And, I like the idea of group tuber trades. Most of our gardens variety have come from seed trades. I would love to try dahlia tuber swaps down the road.