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  • Hybridizing Dahlias

Dikara Superb seedlings: I forgot about a really nice seedling of it that has excellent form but is smaller. Dikara S. does have some nice seedlings(and as usual you have to make sure it is crossed with a good one and it was in a row with other British stuff and our older FDs). Sheval Megan does not make seeds for us and Blyton Stella has very few if any seeds. 20th Ave Major was really nice but did not make seeds and it's breeder says he gets a single seed at times. One would think breeding small FDs and MBs was a walk in the park. 🌺

In the 2023 seedlings we labeled 60 seedlings as waterlilies Not quite 50% of the seedlings we kept were waterlies. This was expected as the seeds we planted were from waterlies in about the same ratio. People are interested in color and the chart shows how many of what color. If you add dark red to the red, it was the most common color followed by orange. White had 6 and that is a nice number. Note that despite our good intentions there was only one purple seedling(a very nice one).

Sorry, I am not posting pictures but as usual will dribble out some pictures to spice up the site.

Teddahlia Very nice, I was hoping you would post a picotee. It is one of my favorite traits and a breeding goal for me next year. I have only one picotee in my waterlily bed planned for next year, as there are not many picotee waterlies around. I hope that it readily shares that trait. In your experience, is picotee is an elusive trait, or is it just certain colors combining to create that look?

    Some traits you breed for and you intensely hand cross and then back cross and and intensify the gene pool. After about 3 -4 years you will have some winners.
    However, most all breeders are opportunists who find a nice dahlia in the seedlings and just keep it. This is the same blind luck that anybody can do and when you plant lots of seeds there will be some nice ones. Yes, we have no idea how picotees are created genetically. I bet it is caused by a gene or two that can easily be passed on to another generation.
    So were these picotee waterlilies the result of intense line breeding? Were they the result of blind luck? Blind luck is the best answer.
    Lastly, it could be said dahlia breeding is 60% the evaluation process when you evaluate the seedlings and recognize something unintentional is a good thing. And conversely, when we keep some real losers by mistake.

    By the way, this seedling has dark pigment on the reverse of the petals and you see just a smidgeon of the dark pigment on the edge of the petals and that creates the picotee look. So, the trait of having a different color pigment on the reverse of the petals may be related to breeding picotee flowers. Noni loves to breed this type and I bet she will have (or does have) some picotee flowers.


    I do have a favorite from this year. I call it Salish Peach Plum (We had a variety of plum named Peach Plum when I was growing up and it was a favorite...) It had coloring like this with a the rosy interior and a blush of pink on the golden fruit.

    This is one of the ones that Triple Wren has to evaluate and I Have not gotten feed back on this years ones yet. I know I like it very well for myself. The flowers are miniature (3"?)on long stems.

      I love the large well shaped florets and since it is a Noni flower it must have darker pigment on the reverse. Very nicely posed picture too.

      Julia, I am so pleased! I think this was its second year and it seems to be doing just fine.

      Erika Akire send me a clip this morning of an ad for Salish Twilight Girl in Sweden! It was a beautiful silvery picture...How I love thinking of this lovely lady growing there. I predict that she will love the long light summers... WIsh I could follow up on it and see how she does!

      I have started writing an article about an aspect of dahlia color
      . I need to round up some old and new pictures for it.

        5 days later

        Random thoughts:
        Getting tired of dividing tubers and would rather be done with that and the shipping and be taking cuttings of the best ones from the last several years and sprouting seeds. One 2022 WL seedling in dark red that was labeled "best" had hair roots on about 10 of the plants. Then I had three clumps that must have been grown from tubers and it made lots of nice tubers. I have noticed over the years that some varieties don't make good roots from cuttings.
        Dick Parshall(Clearview) made the comment on Dahlia Talk(if you do not participate in Dahlia Talk you are missing out on lots of interesting things) that he no longer collects seeds or grows varieties that are just seed makers since his wife died. He said he had a "lifetime" of seeds in his freezer. He probably collected 1000 plants worth of seeds each year and only planted about 300 seedlings or so. That would give one lots of extra seed. I know he said he successfully planted some 20 year old seeds this last year .


        Posting the group picture of ugly seedlings (one exception) and that is what a seedling garden looks like in real life. Lots of losers and something that makes it all worth it.

          Love your photo example! Yes, so many seedlings that are beautiful colors or plants but don't quite make it into the ones worth keeping...and the excitement when we find the one!

          Teddahlia if you do not participate in Dahlia Talk you are missing out on lots of interesting things

          Dahlia Talk is interesting to listen to even without participating. I forgot to tune in to this month's session, I am going to have leave myself reminders.

            Next years seedlings will start with 24-01 and of course no seedling awarded the opening number has made it into distribution. We breeders get overly excited when the first nice flower appears and invariably it actually is not a real good example. Having said that in the 2004, number 4-01 hung on for second and third year.

            The one sentence instruction to be a successful dahlia breeder: Breed like to like to get like.
            It is all there. You grow, pollinate , collect seeds. sprout seeds, plant seedlings take care of seedlings and all that stuff that gardeners do and that is a given for any kind of gardening. No secrets there and you will be a more successful breeder if you are good gardener. In that one sentence is contained the key to your success. It implies you have goals as you must select the "like" flowers to breed the "like" flowers. You are in charge of the selection and another sentence that may convey the path to successful breeding and it is the old saw "If you don't succeed, try and try again." Breeding dahlias requires lots of attempts because they are octoploid. That actually is irrelevant information as we breeders do not manipulate genes in our laboratories and we just pollinate flowers and hope for good results, Knowing they are octoploid only tells you that you have to attempt more crosses to be successful. So there it is. There is no excuse for a lack of success.

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