Hybridizing Dahlias

Bessie · 2023-09-14T03:43:02+00:00

Krista to discover if seeds are growing in the seed pod, after there are no remaining anthers on the pod, gently squeeze the pods between your thumb and fing...

Bessie

Juliarugula I've also noticed the apparent discrepancies in the column designations for seed parent and seedlings.

Here's what I do: if a section has multiple listings of the same name, that has to be a seed parent section( e.g. Eillene C., Kenora Majestic, Pkg John S, Fancy Pants, Hallmark). Another strategy is to use the time period the Dahlia was released... Seed parent is likely the Dahlia released years earlier, e g. Hollyhill Black Beauty is the seed parent of Sandia Nocturne.

Even with the discrepancies, I find the information highly valuable! This morning I was finishing off planting my waterlily section and planted a Hollyhill Black Beauty in the waterlily section. That was based on the Boley's information, and @Teddahlia mentioning HH Black Beauty makes seeds.

Teddahlia

Black Beauty makes "almost" waterlilies when crossed with waterlily. The Boleys have an unreleased seedling they use for breeding and it would make a waterlily out of a bowling ball. Sort of a "secret weapon". Normally it would take two generations to get a halfway decent waterlily.

Teddahlia

I planted three rows of second year tubers and the first row has 100 tubers or so. 97 of them have sprouted above the ground. That is about as good as it gets for second year tubers. The second row is missing 10 and that is more normal. The third row was planted a bit later. Some of the 10 may sprout but overall this is one of the best years for tubers sprouting.

Teddahlia

Planted three nice Alfred C. rooted cuttings with the hope Margaret will hand cross them, It is the seed parent of lots of the AC giant dahlias.

Bessie

Teddahlia I was really surprised to see this big Dahlia amongst my seedlings. The slightly pink colored photo( bloom is 6" diameter ) was when it was first cut with a 26" stem, the other two white bloom photos are the same bloom from now (bloom 8" wide x 4" deep, now it's 3.5 days old). The seed parent is your cursed, hated Dahlia☺, pollen parent is unknown, but I'd guess Mikayla Miranda. Playing in my head is your words of wisdom... First bloom of a first year seedling... Only time will tell.

Strong straight stem, no bobble head.

bloomhjelm

I got my ADS color cards. This is my favorite page. I would like to see a WH-9 greige dahlia.

Bessie

bloomhjelm you inspired me to photo two of my recently blooming seedlings with the ADS WHITE color reference.

24312 - 4" flower, records show Bahama Mama is the seed parent
24501 - 3" flower, records show Hollyhill Pinkie us the seed parent
3.5" flower is Blizzard

Teddahlia

The larger the dahlia , the less important the form. Having said that, there is a huge difference in size between a small "A" (Large)sized flower and really large "Giant" that really needs to be about 12" in diameter to do much show winning.
Giant flowers are hard to breed and the most successful recent giant breeder is Ken Greenway of AC Dahlias. We are trying a couple of his giants this year. We have no giants in our seedlings but do have some OK Large flowers.

Planted 55% of our first year seedlings today. They rest will go in in a few days.

Bessie

24106 - 4" flower, Cafe au Lait seed parent. My guess as to pollen parent is Hollyhill Buttermilk. The color of this flower is very soft and subtle.

Teddahlia

It sort of looks like HH Wedding Day. The form of our Wedding Day is a bit wonky but the plants grow like giant trees with flowers that have long stiff stems in a pleasing color of white.

Teddahlia

Bessie commented that she obtained a new dahlia bred by Wayne Holland of Canada. Wayne in a previous life was a professional plant breeder and for many years bred dahlias in semi-retirement. He moved from the area near Ferncliff, near Vancouver BC. to "Okanogan" country to the East. He was rumored to be breeding grapes.

Wayne hand crosses his dahlias and was one of the first to explain how to do it on his "website" (never a fully functional site but a collection of articles and pictures). We followed his instructions carefully and still do pollinating the same way. Wayne was also interested in the genetics of color in dahlias and explained how it works in his articles. His explanations were "old school" meaning they were not based on the chemical basis of color but rather on how to breed for color.

If you use one of his flowers for breeding, you know it has some good genes.

BackyardBouquets_17

Teddahlia are his articles still available to read? If so where would I find them?

I’ll admit once you start talking chemical ect I’m in above my head and find it hard to grasp what’s being said. I think I would find his articles particularly interesting.

Bessie

BackyardBouquets_17 I found an online article written in 2022 about Wayne Holland. https://www.legacy.nwdahlia.org/person/holland-wayne/

blown_dry

BackyardBouquets_17 I was able to find a page with a link to Wayne's site. The site itself was gone, but having the link allowed me to find it on the Wayback Machine. It was up as late as 2017, but was last updated in 2006.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090220182028/http://www.members.shaw.ca/hydahlia/
This is great info, Ted. Thank you!

Teddahlia

I last saw them over 10 years ago.

BackyardBouquets_17

blown_dry
Thank you for this. I had looked a little but hadn’t been able to find it so this will be interesting to read!

Teddahlia

And for Bessie there is the link to his color notes for a speech. I had not read this for many years and I do not think it needs to be as complicated as it is written. https://web.archive.org/web/20090121070029/http://members.shaw.ca/hydahlia/FEDworkshop.html
Thank you Blown Dry for doing exceptional computer sleuthing to find this stuff. It is the basis for our methods of dahlia breeding.

Bessie

Teddahlia I love the article! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction with the link, since I've been really busy lately.

Teddahlia

Planted nearly all of the first year seedlings yesterday. Cool, somewhat wet weather weather will give them a running start. We used to plant the first year seedlings before most of the other dahlias but in recent years, we have been planting second year seedlings first as we know they are generally good ones. The first year seedlings will bloom soon enough as our growing season is longer these days. I also culled more of the poor growing plants as over the years, I have noticed they seldom produce anything good. Planting season now is filling in gaps and we do have quite a few cuttings that were taken late in the season that will need to be planted or made into pot tubers. Margaret is still stealing my dahlia plants for her pots that she is working on. We used to never grow dahlias in pots, but Margaret has become an expert in container growing and we now know how to do it well and she is mixing them into her displays. One issue is staking them and one has to do it very well as the 6 foot tall plants want to fall over in any kind of wind.

Krista

Teddahlia Margaret has become an expert in container growing and we now know how to do it well

I hope some of her secrets get leaked here! 🤞🏽

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