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...

SteveM

Teddahlia Looks like Bert Pitt, one of my favorite bicolor dahlias.

Teddahlia

Who was Bert Pitt? When they named a flower Doris Day we all knew. Lots of flowers are named after famous people. When you name a flower after someone and then that person got really famous : Verrone's Taylor Swift. How did he know she would be a mega star? I miss Roland as a dahlia breeder. I visited his garden back when and thoroughly enjoyed it.

calico20hill

Teddahlia Yes, I miss Rolands' presence also. He was the first breeder to take me around his whole operation and explain to me how he did things and why. I felt that I had won a great honor and he saw me as a person with potential. I saw him when the National show was in Portland a few years ago and had a nice chat with him. Skin cancer keeps him out of the sun but he still enjoys the world of dahlias.

MissyWeitzel

Something that most aspiring dahlia hybridizers (and seed collectors! 😉) think about seriously is choosing their prefix. I've been thinking about mine since before I even grew any seedlings. I couldn't come up with anything cool. I kinda wanted it to be location related, but not our street and not our town because we will probably move in a couple years. More of a general location specific prefix would be preferable but I could never really come up with anything meaningful that I liked. The last few years I just figured it would end up being 'Missy's' as a default. Well it finally came to me!! I'm gonna use 'Mitten'. It has double meaning. Michigan is the mitten state and it has 2 letters from my name, 2 from my husband's name, and 2 from my son's name. Plus it's short, easily spelled, and it's a noun so that just makes it easier for naming dahlias after anything. Now I just need seedlings worth naming! They're all just numbered for now. It gives me something to look forward to. 😊

Teddahlia

A very short prefix gives you more options for names. 22 letters including spaces is max. Ken Greenway chose AC for that reason. You could use MW and have more name choices.

MissyWeitzel

Teddahlia I thought about that one too! Have you and Margaret ever thought about having another prefix/line of dahlias like some other hybridizers do with garden vs. show or based on form? Or is it just more simple to always use Hollyhill?

Teddahlia

We introduced one flower that had the prefix HH and it was HH Spike. Never again but we have no good reason why we did not. HH Spike was before digital cameras and no picture exists. It lasted in commerce for about 10 years. I do not miss it as we had only been breeding for a couple of years,. In the beginning of breeding we did not know what was good and had to depend on old timers to help. Myrtle Bloomfield and her husband would veto most of our "selections". Yes, that was the Myrtle that originated Myrtle's Folly.

Bessie

Second year seedling's first bloom. Plant growth and bloom exceeds my expectations.
24312

Bessie

Second year seedling that I didn't dig up in the fall. I'm still not sure if it's a keeper. Alloway Candy is it's seed "grandparent". 23029 is the seed parent.

calico20hill

I've been working with my "Blue" dahlia for 6 years now...I know because it first showed up just about the time my one and only grandson was born and he turns 6 next month. It seems to change a bit each year but I am liking the first bloom this year. It has gotten bigger..I think it started at around 4" and I would say it is 5" now. I have 15 plants of it growing to send tubers on to Triple Wren this fall. It makes a big bushy plant with nice foliage...probably some Hollyhill genes somewhere in it :-).. The petal shave a silvery cast to their topsides but more of a deep violet on the backsides. It looks gorgeous with delphiniums or well, most anything I have tried it with. It will be interesting to see if the other 14 plants are the same or if there are differences. They probalby came from multiple tubers from multiple plants of it...

calico20hill

Juliarugula

calico20hill it’s so beautiful! One of the plants from the tubers you sent me should be blooming any day now - I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival!

calico20hill

I look forward to seeing how yours does as well. Will it look the same or be different? For that matter, what about the other 14 plants I am growing of it? Don't ya'll just love summer!

Bessie

Second year seedling 24232: the first bloom is looking better than expected! HH Daydream is it's seed parent, and the blooms look very similar.

Teddahlia

I have seen lots of HH Daydream seedling pictures being posted and yours is one of the best.

Bessie

Teddahlia Last year I posted a picture of the 24232 tuber clump:
https://forum.dahliaaddict.com/assets/files/2025-01-18/1737238171-563449-pxl-20250118-220822985.jpg
The 24232 seedling had the advantage of being in the vegetable garden soil in a plastic basket, not in a 1 gallon pot. It's look alike seedling, 24225, your favorite of the two, has not bloomed yet. I've likely planted it in an unfavorable growing condition.

Teddahlia

I have seen lots of HH Daydream seedling pictures being posted and yours is one of the best.

Bessie

I would really appreciate knowing your experience attempting to hybridize( even to tell me I'm wasting my time):
1) use the pollen of of a ball dahlia to pollinate a formal decorative dahlia such that it will make seed that will germinate.
2) use the pollen of an anemone dahlia( such as the mislabeled, "surprise" Totally Tangerine dahlia) to pollinate an open center dahlia? I have an "almost waterlily" that is usually open center that I have thoughts it could possibly accept the pollen of an anemone dahlia.

SteveM

Bessie 1) use the pollen of of a ball dahlia to pollinate a formal decorative dahlia such that it will make seed that will germinate.

I have crossed FD varieties to 20th Ave & Baker Rd. and gotten a few seeds that produced a couple of potentially nice cut varieties. It isn't a cross I would do if I were trying for a show dahlia.

Bessie

SteveM thanks, for that idea. I have two almost fully open 20th Ave. Baker Rd. blooms that I can work with.
Today I ordered some tags for labeling hand crosses! I hope they are useful, since this is a new product I'm trying. I'm gonna try to be disciplined, at least part of the time.

SteveM

Bessie I have two almost fully open 20th Ave. Baker Rd. blooms that I can work with.

This is one of the FD/ID BB X 20th Ave & Baker Rd. seedlings blooming now. The plant has the good height/stems of 20th Ave & Baker Road and the 4" blooms are trying to be ID. If this was a different color it would probably have good potential as a cut variety. At our latitude it is easy to get pollen centers from most Ball dahlias almost any time of the summer.

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