Dahlia Seedling Pictures - 2023
calico20hill Noni. It wasn't so much the height when grown under the shade cloth as it was the long, skinny stems produced on the 2nd flush. The stems were too long/thin when grown here under 30-40% shade cloth. The flower and plant growth was excellent and I hope to try it in full sun some year when I figure out how to foil the gophers. The stock was excellent and I didn't see any variation in the 19 plants I grew last year, all from cuttings taken from the original tuber you sent. The color should make it desirable to florists.
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SteveM I'm still unsure. As I see Peaches N Cream and Blizzard come into bloom, I get more reference for what constitutes "good" in a Dahlia. For sure I'll save seven or eight at this point for growing next year. Below is the very first seedling that came into bloom, and indeed it did turn into a completely closed center bloom. It is very floriferous, but could use more substance. I'm looking forward to crossing Blizzard with 23060 to get a Dahlia with more petal substance.
Steve, I am hearing a lot of other people with gopher trouble too. So far they have not invaded past my critter fence and raised beds with wire bottoms but that would be hard to duplicate in the size of output you need. Maybe you need some attack ducks....or geese? They can be vicious!
I am loving the stems here in fulll sunshine but not sure the flower color will be the best in full sun. I have planted a number of plants and we will see what I figure out this summer here. I did sent this one on to Triple Wren to trial last winter. I am very curious how they will like it. And with any luck we will have 4 months of growing it through NW Oregon conditions...
Bessie As I see Peaches and Cream and Blizzard come into bloom, I get more reference for what constitutes "good" in a Dahlia.
You mean a "good" cut flower, right? Blizzard is not a show dahlia and I doubt it would ever score in competition. It is also not a 'perfect' cut dahlia, it can be soft and can occasionally shatter. Her strong points are: easy to grow, pure white, very productive with usable stems even after 6 flushes. She has produced a a few fairly nice seedlings and her genetics can add a nice plant habit and productivity to a cut flower cross.
Congratulations on your seedlings this year. If you save 10% to grow for a second year you have done very good. Now you will have to start looking for space for additional planting.
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Peaches-N-Cream is a near perfect show flower that has a huge following for the cut flower market. It was originated by the Blue Dahlia Gardens in 1993 according to the Classification book ? However Virginia Walbot wrote on the Stanford website the following: This cultivar is formal decorative type, light blend in color, and of size M. It was hybridized and grown in 1994 by R.J. Muntjewerff, Middenbeemster, The Netherlands, named in 2000 by E. van Dongen, Zwaanshoek, The Netherlands, and introduced and registered in 2006 by P.J.K. van Schie, Lisse, The Netherlands. Its parentage is unknown.
When we first started to breed in the late 1990s I obtained it for breeding but the very few seedlings were not good and we lost it in storage(as do most people). I have been following some of the breeding results that has been posted the last few years. Has it produced any really nice seedlings?
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Second year waterlily seedling out of a 2020 red seedling. Petals a bit too pointed but it is nice to get an OK flower early in the season. Difficult to get the color right. It is purple but not super pure purple like Seabeck's Hilda.
Same flower a few hours later. It cups well and does not have too many rows of florets.
This plant was grown from a tuber and it's mother had easy storing tubers. Time will tell. I wrote an article some years ago called the curse of the purple dahlias concerning storage issues and purple dahlias. We can list very many purple dahlias that we have lost to storage issues. Cinnamon really helps; use it like shake and bake.
Teddahlia Hopefully, your purple-tuber-curse has been lifted. HH Berry Purple stores very well for me and I think that is the only Hollyhill purple I have grown. Chimacum Troy is one of the most difficult for me tp store and also not super easy to take cuttings from. I still grow it because it produces tons of perfect blooms.
Hollyhill Regal has Chimacum Troy and Barbarry Red Dwarf in it's genes. HH Berry Purple is a seedling of HH Lilliput which is a seedling of Lismore Peggy, a pom which was crossed with HH Fireball. I have revealed all the breeding secrets concerning these flowers knowing that no one could ever re-create the crosses that created them.
Teddahlia As luck would have it I'm growing both HH Berry Purple and Lismore Peggy this season. I've never tried hand crossing before and that seems like a good cross to try!
At what point in the season do you start marking off blooms/seed heads to let dry then save? Do you wait until late season so your plants keep producing or do you begin early since (I assume) your primary goal in growing is breeding?
Hollyhill Regal is one of my favorite purples, but I have to take cuttings to keep it going.
A friend gave me a Hollyhill Berry Purple tuber, so I’m trying that this year. It’s a very vigorous
grower, so I’m hoping it’ll be generous with the tubers, as well. Looks like it’ll also be one of the
early bloomers.
Teddahlia How do the purples compare? From an online search, HH Regal seems to be the truer purple. Perhaps that’s where the “berry” comes from… HH Berry Purple leans a little magenta?
MissyWeitzel I'm a novice at hybridizing dahlias. Since I don't sell cut flowers, last year and this year I started working on crosses as soon as I had pollen and stigmas on desired matches. Actually, I'm just trying to get any results, because there is not very much information available regarding Dahlia hybridization*. I start "playing bee" right away since I still don't know 1) which varieties will produce seed, 2) if crosses will be compatible and produce any seed, and 3) if any of the seed will sprout. So far I've only found three varieties (of about 15 I grew last year) that had viable seed, Alloway Candy, Hollyhill Creamy (unreleased), and Hollyhill Donnatella.
*There is a book Katherine Albrecht wrote on hybridizing dahlias that I've read. Unfortunately, it's full of extremely basic information and it barely touches the surface of the topic of hybridizing dahlias.
New dahlia breeders seem to be fascinated by the hardest method of all: hand crossing dahlias. Breeding is the art of controlling pollination and hand crossing is but one of the methods. Many of the most successful breeders do not hand cross but do control what pollen is available by using several other methods. One of the most direct and obvious is what I first heard from Gordie Leroux of Kenora dahlias. He selected his flowers that were to be mother plants. Then he removed all the flowers that he did not want to pollinate his flowers from that area of the garden. Only worthy pollen parents were allowed in the vicinity of the mother plants. And to ensure success he picked extra flowers of the good pollinators and placed bouquets near the mother plants. He was very successful . I will continue with other methods of controlling pollination later.
Teddahlia Peaches and Cream is not the same as Peaches-n-Cream