Pretty pretty!

Fall is definitely in the air here. We had some f the hottest most humid weather of the whole summer two weeks ago, and then the temps really dropped. Right now we have highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's. The dahlias are like a forrest, but the flowers are definitely getting smaller and the stems are weaker, as the days get shorter. Still, lots of flowers, I think we have 5 vases of them around the house right now.

I still have a few that are just starting to bloom, but I haven't been as active with my camera. Once school starts up my life gets a lot busier, and gardening takes a back seat to the rest of my life.

We went out this evening to pick some flowers - it has turned into a dahlia jungle out there.

If you look closely you can see my partner's bald spot shining through (he is 5'10")



Tonight's pickings

Beautiful blooms and bountiful, too!

In the first photo, is the pink on the left Chilson's Pride? Mine is not pink at all.

beautiful

Wow, your dahlias are really tall and beautiful. I have yet a dedicated spot to grow dahlias only. I just stick them here and there where I can find space. Some of my dahlias are so out of place, short with tall, short with medium, and medium with tall. I need to make a list of dahlia heights and plant them accordingly next year.

Thanks.

Arlene - the pink ones you are referring to are marked Maniac - they are the right size and form, but my Maniacs have always been much more orange with some darker orange variegation - so either this year's weather is effecting them weirdly, or I mis-labeled them I haven't decided which yet. They definitely are not Chilson's pride, they are pretty big with a messy semi-cactus form.

Karen - I only have 6-7 hours of sun in my sunniest areas, so my dahlias are always ridiculously tall. And I have enough growing that I have to have some dedicated spaces. I am trying to mix more into perennial beds. I have two beds that have peonies in the back, then groups of asiatic & oriental lilies, then dahlias fronting that. It worked perfectly this year, as far as constant blooms from early June onward.The dahlias were still shorter than the lilies when they were blooming, and then as the lilies started looking ratty, the dahlias grew up and covered them.

Do you fertilize your dahlias? How frequently do you fertilize yours? Also, do you find that some dahlias bloom more than other? For example, your Candlelight dahlia blooms its head off. There is not a single day that there isn't a bloom since it started blooming. Then some others repeat their blooms so slowly. I wonder if I fertilize them, will I get more blooms?

Dahlias have so many variables. Yes, some types simply bloom much more than others. In general, the smaller blooming ones are the most prolific and the giant dahlias make the least flowers, but there are still some at any size that are more or less vigorous than the others.

I am growing both Spartacus and Vassio Meggos this year. I believe one is a seed parent of the other. The flowers are very similar is size and form, but my Spartacus has twice as many laterals and has been blooming constantly since mid-July, dozens of blooms, while the Vassio Meggos has maybe put out 8 blooms all summer.

I have had some dahlias that have only put out 3-4 blooms in a season, but that is usually because they are badly placed, (really shaded out by the others) or some other environmental fluke. I have had some that have never bloomed very well for me, but know that in other peoples gardens they do really well. I don't know whether I had bad stock, or if some dahlias just are not able to thrive in my slightly shady yard. I have had some that really vary in productivity from year to year too.

Yes I do fertilize, but not a huge amount compared to what some people feed their dahlias. They get some composted manure and bonemeal when planted, and this year I put in a tablespoon of some fert specifically for bulbs, because I had a bunch left over from planting new lilies. twice this season I gave them all some Dramatik K fish/seaweed fertilizer. and mid July I mulched the beds with more composted manure. That is my usual routine.

This year for the first time I also foliar sprayed them with Jacks "bloom buster" fertilizer twice (late June & late July) I prefer to stick with organics, but read that light foliar spraying doesn't leave the salt build-ups that in ground chemical fertilizing does, so thought I would try some. I have no idea if it made the difference. I did have more blooms this year, but we also had the most rain we have ever had in a sumer, and that may have been the difference.

I have read that late fertilizing, especially high nitrogen fertilizer, can badly effect the tubers, making them more likely to rot in storage, so I don't fertilize at all once August rolls around.

At this time of the year, my dahlias look rather ragged. Yours look so healthy, Geof. I don't fertilize my dahlias because I am afraid that the fertilizer will make them too big and produce too many tubers. But I maybe wrong. that using the compost and bulb fertilizer is the right way to go. for your tips on growing them well and explanation of why some dahlias produce more blooms than others. Can't be helped! There are especially some dahlias too beautiful not to grow even just to get a few of their blooms.

To many tubers? no such thing. You just have to start trading them away for others. I don't know how long you have been growing dahlias, but some of them make lots of tubers, and some make very few, it is just part of their genetic make up. Also some make tubers that store easily, some make tubers that are prone to rotting. One of the things you can count on when buying from Swan Island is that you will have good tuber makers that store easily - they stay away from the more difficult ones.

Dahlias do need more fertilizer than perennials. After all they do a lot of growing in a single season. I just basically treat them like I treat my vegetable garden.

And yes - some of them are just so gorgeous that I can be happy even if I don't get many blooms. Might be different if I had only 5 or 6, but with so many in my beds, if a few are stingier with their blooms I can live with it.

My Maniac looks so different from yours but I love it anyway.


Penhill Yellow Queen, from Lynch Creek Dahlias, has been wonderful this year. It hasn't flopped though the blooms are large (not giant sized).

I have started growing dahlias for about 3 years. It happens every year. When I start digging up the tubers, I sometimes wonder how I get so many dahlias in my garden. I would swear that there would be no more additions. And then the catalogs with lovely pics arrive like right in the middle of Jan and Feb when I am most vulnerable and then all the memories of digging and storing and all the work that went into it just has no effect over my desire to add more to the garden.

Arlene - That Penhill Yellow Queen is really nice! For some reason, most of my biggest dahlias are yellow. I am just starting to get blooms from Emory Paul this year, and its the biggest flower I have grown and an intense pink. its a wow.

Your maniac doesn't look that different from mine, I think the lighting in my picture makes the center look much lighter than it is.


Karen - I know exactly what you mean. Dividing and storing my tubers has become a major job. I am really not looking forward to it this year, with 50 more than I had last year. I have to admit that I do very little other fall gardening. There have been a few years when I didn't even get my leaves raked until spring. In the fall its usually cold and wet by the time I get around to it all, and I have a lot less free time (and energy) than in the spring.

Selling some of my extra tubers last year was fun though because it gave me some guilt free money to spend on new plants. I am hoping I can get it together to do that again this year.

Digging day here is usually cold, raw and nasty. The last few years I've been fortunate that we had good weather but I still dread the thought of it.

I already have some choices made for next year but haven't actually ordered anything yet.

Well, dahlia season is over here. It 32 yesterday evening and 27 last night. Things are looking pretty sad. So in two weeks the digging of tubers will commence. Oh I am so not up for that.

Mary and Arlene, I am right there with you. I think I am going to do a ruthless thing this year, that is leaving some dahlias that I no longer like in the ground. It they make it great. If they don't, I won't miss them. Though there are a few special ones that I must carefully dig because I really like them and would like to grow more of them next year. I wouldn't mind having 10 plants of Tartan, Zoey Rey, Thomas Edison, and Snoho Storm next year.

Mary - I'm always stunned by the end of your dahlia season being "early" to me. I still have some that haven't given me the first bloom yet!

Karen - I felt the same way a few years ago and left many in the ground...and they returned though I didn't even want them! I like your idea about having multiples of favorites.

It seems like the frost was earlier this year than before. Rain rain then clear skies and the temp plummets. I checked and the weather station says it got down to 35 not 29. I have ordered a new outdoor hi-lo thermometer. I also checked the last four years and we are definitely colder that in past years at this time.

I dug potatoes, and will get beans, peas and kale next.

Wow Mary - sad to have such an early frost. I have heard that it can happen here, but in the 15 years I have been gardening in WI we have never had a hard frost before October, usually mid to late October. This coming week we have days in the mid 70's and nights in the high 50's, which for me is perfect weather.

In the sun my therometer reads in the 60's. If I had covered the raised beds I might have kept them going a few days but no hope for the outdoor beds. That's okay. Gives me an earlier start on the fall cleanup before it is cold in the day also. I need to prepare the garage for the incoming dahlia clumps in two weeks. Also need to bring in some pots with gladiolas and dig the crocosmia. Not sure if I want to bother with the geraniums. May just dump the plants and put annuals in them next year rather than having them in the garage all winter. Same with the iris pots. They always bring in aphids. Might just find a place and plant them in the ground especially now that they have really good roots. They grow nicely but don't bloom. I guess having them in the garage all winter really throws them off.