2023 - Dahlia Blooms

edewitt · 2023-06-17T14:24:58+00:00

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...

Teddahlia

Larry Smith did cruise through the gardens and could well have taken lots of seedling pictures. By the way, during the ADS sponsored tour of our gardens, most people spent their time viewing the dahlias in the seedling gardens. They want to see what is coming out in the future and enjoy selecting the seedlings they like. One person used some marking tape to mark her favorite. Oops, I wonder if Margaret left it on the clump? The most popular seedling with women was a light blend waterlily seedling and I will eventually find a picture and post it here. Men seldom give up their views although Dick Parshall did the "full seedling garden tour" and selected his favorite. Another experienced breeder likes miniature cactus and semi cactus dahlias and took the time to point out about three that he liked. They were all ones that grew over 5 feet tall, by the way.

Another one in the pipeline and it was planted in the main garden.

NCDahlia

Very nice looks like your focus is on WL. I like that one too. Do you have any of the IC in the works? Say along the likes of Hollyhill Dungeness?

Teddahlia

I will post picture of an incurved cactus I call HH Birdnest in the near future. I have lots of stock of it and have to decide trial garden or sell it. Leaning towards selling it.
HH Spreckles in 2015

Bessie

Teddahlia , I guess there's a delema for trial garden versus just selling a given variety. I'd say the Hollyhill reputation is solid. You can promote new releases on social media. Depending on supply and variety, you can charge an appropriate (high) price. My unsolicited opinion is it's time to quickly start cashing in on those years of breeding!

Cosey

Bessie My unsolicited opinion is it's time to quickly start cashing in on those years of breeding!

@Teddahlia

I agree with Bessie. Make sure you are not underselling yourself in the market. You are growing a commodity. Make hay while the sun is shining.

Teddahlia

Thank you for pushing us to charge more. The late Mike Iler was starting to raise his prices a year or two before he died. Swan Island sold My Hero for $39.95 and it was worth it and I believe he said he had 2,000- tubers of it for sale in the first year and sold out. Margaret and I will consult on prices when we know how many tubers we have for sale.

blown_dry

Teddahlia I agree that you should charge more as well. There's no way small growers get any kind of fair wage for the time invested even with today's prices.

MissyWeitzel

Teddahlia one of Swan Island's new releases this year is $44.95 per tuber. I agree you could definitely charge a high price for a new release and people would be lined up to purchase (myself included).

NCDahlia

I've been a big fan of all your introductions over the years and I try to get as many as I can when I see them offered from the usual sellers. The inverted cactus are my favorites. Till the voles decimated my crop this year I had +55 varieties of hollyhill.

All of us know how much work you and Margret put into your seedlings especially hand pollination. $40 - $50 is fair for a new intro and I personally have no problem with paying that. I also have collected a lot of the Parshalls intros. Seeing now which ones I need to replace

calico20hill

you have a wonderful reputation for providing tubers that are exciting to grow. Now make it so we can get them! There will always be room for a row of Hollyhills as long as I can grow dahlias.

SteveM

Paul Comstock was a breeder who was never shy about the value of his creations. In an old 1947 catalog https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/300267#page/3/mode/1up
Paul lists his new introduction "Miss Liberty" at $15/ tuber. Accounting for inflation, this is equivalent to $202 in today's dollars.

It seems the small mom-and-pop grower of today does not charge a price that fairly compensates them for their labor. The large growers have to pay workers for every stage of dahlia production so they know what they have to charge to make a living. I think if the smaller growers kept track of the hours they spend planting, weeding, staking, digging, dividing, shipping,etc. they would likely be charging much more for their finished product.

blown_dry

SteveM It seems the small mom-and-pop grower of today does not charge a price that fairly compensates them for their labor.

This is very true. I think enthusiasts sometimes figure that they would be doing the work anyway and might as well get some cash for some of it. I follow an ag scholar and that is very interesting. One of their points is that it is very difficult for small farms to make enough to properly compensate for the labor required. For any tiny farm, someone or someones is probably working for very little.

@Teddahlia knows I once offered him $80 a tuber long before it was fashionable. 😂 He had to inform me that he had just plowed them all under and it was no more.

Teddahlia

Jersey Beauty was the all time highest priced dahlia priced at $450- in today's money($25 in 1923). It supposedly sold out. Paul Comstock was the breeder of Edna C. and it was sold for a kings ransom too.

Teddahlia

Blast from the past. Hollyhill Cafe Rose in 2015 winning best arrangement. I hope to be able to sell some tubers of it but have promised it to several people already.

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