It's a bit early but at some point everyone's going to need a place to share their glorious dahlia photos.

I've got a bloom from one of the cuttings I took from Hillcrest Kismet back in February. The plant's only a foot and a half tall and normally I'd disbud it but I have a few other plants that were also cuttings from Hillcrest Kismet and figured I'd have something to tide me over until the bee balm, echinacea, and other plants start blooming. The bloom is about 4-4.5" in diameter.

Teddahlia That's one I always have been meaning to get ever since I saw it on Accent Dahlias' website years ago. That's a great shade of red. Hillcrest Candy is another on my list of "need to get" dahlias.

    As dahlia breeders, one does try varieties bred by others. British show varieties can yield extraordinary flowers for a show if you have the skills to grow them. Hillcrest Candy and Hillcrest Duncan Edwards can result in excellent flowers with the proper growing skills. I have grown both of them and they are definitely varieties that need extra care. Hillcrest Candy has sported more than once and for example Val's Candy and White Val's Candy are shown in the UK. .

    I think I need to improve my growing skills. Is there a method to get the globe like AA and A's? I always thought my giants were amazing. It wasn't until I went through the judging modules did I learn why those at shows look spectacular.

    I want to grow spectacular giants.

    Top exhibitors often do not reveal their cultural secrets. Steve Santos did a presentation several years ago on how he grows his dahlias and we really enjoyed it. To be honest, he only partially revealed how he grows them so big. People who are successful will reveal many of their methods but generally hold back.much of what they do. Having said that there are several methods that result in huge flowers. Limiting the number of stalks to two and making sure that only two flowers are allowed to bloom is one of the standard methods to grow giants. One method that Steve uses is that he grows many extra plants. In fact, he grew two hundred plants of one variety in order to be sure he would have enough perfect flowers. He told me that he grew 30 plants of Inland Dynasty that year in order to have flowers for two shows and he shows 9 flowers of it in each show.

    First dahlia of the year for me is Born Sty (from a cutting). HH Spiderwoman looks like she will take second place any day now.

      Juliarugula Lucky you!
      I did a lot of pinching today, so it’ll be awhile before I see blooms. Although I do have blooming border dahlias to tide me over. Born Sty will be new to me this year. Your picture makes me happy I ordered it!

          AndreaB I really enjoyed it last year! It’s a really nice cut flower - very consistent, nice size, pretty soft yellow/cream, very floriferous.

            Nathan Honken quote:
            Born Sty might be one of the worst names for a dahlia. Sty? Gross. Ok, I'm mostly kidding. "Born" dahlias are a product of the work Kelly Dean - a southern U.S. hybridizer. "STY" is the abbreviation for "Stellar Yellow." (ST-Y)

            Stellar is the name of a dahlia form category of the American Dahlia Society. It isn't just "stellar" because it's great. Instead, it is because the form encorporates a star shape.

            "Petals long and narrow along the length with pointed tips preferred, like a star, they exhibit space between the ray florets...with partially involute form in an approximate 'U' shape in cross section for the majority of their length and will recurve toward the stem..." Essentially it is similar to formal decorative but longer Petals. The pointed, involute petals and space between petals are seen as "flaws" in formal decorative but are ideal for Stellars.

            Other examples of popular "Stellar" dahlias are Alloway Candy, Gitts Crazy, Irish Pinwheel and Camano Pet. 2023 will see some great new Stellar introductions that will be in my garden next year including Clearview Pataha, Clearview Nieve, River's Lucile and Skipley Reboot.

            Born Sty hasn't proven to be a huge winner at the shows. It's a little shallow and it hasn't been marketed particularly well (its hard to find). It is a fabulous cut flower. Stick straight long stems on a sturdy plant.

              Here are my first blooms: Peaches n Cream and Rose Toscano, both from cuttings.


              We’ve had several inches of rain after a very dry couple of months. Looking forward to seeing what’s new in the garden when it’s sunny tomorrow! I’ve seen buds on Blyton Softer Gleam, Arabian Night, and a few others that are new to me this season. Nice to start it off with these reliable ones from last year. Curious that PnC has that green center—I’ve never ever seen that, and it hasn’t been hot. Maybe just too early for it to be mature?
              Happy summer, everyone 🤗

              I am pretty sure the red and the lavender/white are STG seedlings. The yellow one may be also. I am so excited tht the blooms are starting and I will have something to check on every day. So far, nne of these 3 show an open center so that is good news. I think these wil all be in the 3-4" bloom size.

              Can an entire plant sport? Or is it based on one stem blooming different?

              Asking because it seems some have a lot of plants they are calling sports and hoping to get classified.

              Is it fair to question (to myself) one that has 50 sports?

                MIDahlias Is it fair to question (to myself) one that has 50 sports?

                Apologies if you already know this, but some types are very prone to sporting. Any variagated or bi-color flower is almost guaranteed to have a solid sport. If the variety is variegated AND bicolor then it can have a few different versions. Some are so prone to it that I have to try to pay attention because a sport is likely to be listed in a catalog as the original.

                  Answer: Sports can occur on any portion of the plant or the entire plant. The entire plant sport is found when you grow the tuber the next year. Sports that affect one branch can be “captured” by taking a cutting from the sported branch. How often to dahlia plants sport? I would say if you grow 200 plants of something, you may get s full plant sport every few years. I am leaving out variegation sports that are totally different and need a separate explanation. So how is it a grower has 50 sports? Radiation or chemicals are the answer. Sports are a loss of genetic material caused by damage to the DNA. When you induce sports you probably wipe out many of the good genes required for good growth. Sports are quite often not very vigorous.

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