Greetings Mary Stella, I'm amazed with how much actually grows in your place in Alaska! In those stereotypes one builds in the back of one's mind I always imagined Alaska a very beautiful, evergreen forest on the coast, solid ice the rest almost the 12 months in a row. Then you come with your dahlias that actually have originated in the tropics and I go into shock. What a brave gardener! ...and yet there are so many more of you so far north, planting, growing and enjoying a garden almost as if it were quite further south! Yes, I do think that hybridizing dahlias may be very stimulating. Because of its intrinsic variability and numerous sports( natural mutants) , even on an amateur basis one can "find" new cultivars that may be very appealing! Although named varieties each provide so much joy, one can cross with Noid's and collect seeds and find out what comes next! I did this with my red and white dahlia last fall and now I have a box full of seedlings 5 inches tall. This summer we'll see!. I'll keep posted as they develop. Warmly, Arturo
