The Boleys have a "waterlily" that looks like one that went to sleep in the evening but it is that way all the time. The judges at the national show could not figure out how to classify it. To me, it is obviously a novelty dahlia. I will attempt to find a picture of ours that we have kept as a private flower so far. It grows too tall and vigorously even for hollyhill fans.
General Dahlia Chat 2024
Lack of plant vigor is a terrible trait. Lack of good tubers is nearly as bad. We all have been guilty of keeping some flowers with one of these traits because the flowers were so beautiful. We face these decisions every year. I just mentioned a flower that has too much vigor and and with all things"too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." The same can be said about overly large tubers.
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Portland Dahlia Society meeting last night(7-9PM). I saw our Noni peeking in on Zoom, looking very relaxed. One of the "short" presentations was on the the new USDA climate zones. Portland obviously has moved to the sub tropics and we are now 8b with sheltered areas supposedly in 9a. The zones are mostly based on low temps in the winter and supposedly the 9a area does not get below 25 F in the winter. Someone pointed out it got down to 19F there this year. They always say: "these are just averages and it was also said they are 30 year averages." I raised my stubby hand and said the charts were busllshit. That was only after I had said it quietly at our table and my fellow table mates encouraged me to say it for every one's ears. Somehow people like opposing views.
I pointed out that farmers use soil temps to determine planting dates. I said that in my area they have an agricultural station where they track soil temps and have charts and averages going back many years. Dahlias need warm soil temps to grow and my theory is that you plant about a week before the date it normally hits that temp(My feeble memory remembers 60F as the temp but it has been awhile since I researched this information. )
If I were true farmer I would be using my trusty soil thermometer but I set my planting date by average soil temp and the date of the last frost.
The Portland Dahlia Society now has 559 members. I believe we are the largest society in the USA.
I delivered some tubers at the meeting and as usual I screwed up one of the orders as the person said " where is my second order?" As a seller, multiple orders screw things up. I sheepishly gave her one of the two additional tubers that I happened to have with me and found she had ordered two of the other one and we agreed upon a refund and I prefer orders of one tuber per customer. Later I refunded her money and now have one more of a scarce variety to sell to sell and it is one that sold out early.
Lot more items and here are bullet points:
Refreshment table was packed with homemade goodies. I tried 5 or 6 of them.
Club has so many members I had lengthy conversations with several people who look familiar but I do not know their names.
Dahlia Talk was mentioned positively and everyone was invited to participate on Feb 27 at 7PM on Zoom. I made two comments: (1) please ask those stupid questions on Dahlia Talk as the "less informed" questions are the ones we enjoy answering and you can get several opinions and there is no such thing as a stupid question in this format. (2) I said "you want to participate in Dahlia Talk because it is like being on Hollywood Squares." Of course I was referring to the computer screen on Zoom that has squares like the old TV show. but for some reason they all thought that was funny.
Lots of people are growing dahlia seeds for the first time.
Waterlily flowers are getting very popular.
Maybe more later as I am sure I left out 90% of what went on.
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I am in the "generation" of growers that started during COVID. Every stage I am going through as a grower seems to be shared by this boom of social media growers. Starting in year 1 with latching on to those most popular social media hybridizers/prefixes and the most English-cottage-colored blooms. So Bloomquist Tory P and KA's and PNC and so on.
Then when we had one or two years with tubers under our belt we began with cuttings and now everyone I follow has a large indoor grow. More growers are finding ways to import from AU/NZ and the UK.
Then 3-4 years on we are all cuttings experts buying our tubers in early winter and venturing into hybridizing and therefore the boom in waterlily collectors making our own Kelgais, although I feel I have also seen pompons and stellars go very quickly so long as they are not red. And a large trend toward very dark varieties for those breeding their own Czarny Charakter. Not to mention dahlia seeds from known parents selling out immediately.
What is next, I don't know, maybe more people attempting tissue culture cuttings at home. If you look at the similar stages of growth in tropical houseplant collectors I think you can see where it's going. They are definitely doing tissue culture and live streaming auctions and have their own collector apps.
Tissue culture is comparable to brain surgery in difficulty and almost as expensive.
Anybody else get a kick out of playing “ID that tuber” as they go through boxes?
“Yup, this one is for sure Bloomquist Jean. Oh, here’s a Seabeck’s Hilda I bet! What this big boy? Ah! I bet it’s Baron Chad!”
I have a pretty good success rate, if I do say so myself…
Teddahlia I did not know I was visible, LOL. I tend to eat my dinner while watching and thought I had the camera off me. It surely is nice to be able to attend the meetings with out asking my fragile (temprarily) guy to drive me in! 5 Weeks until he gets his new heart valve, and we are keeping things low keyed until he recovers from that...then will get on to his knee replacement once the docs decide it is OK. I sure would like to be there with tuber sales and auctions though...not that I need more but its always fun to pick up something special to try out.
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Teddahlia Some dahlia growers seem very scientific and I bet they'd enjoy tissue culture as a hobby. I do enough science in my day job to not be scientific in the garden. My favorite video about DIY tissue culture is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVjYbvsIaA&t=278s (I admit I don't know as much on this topic as Ted and so am not sure what works for monstera, works for dahlias)
I watched some samples of the tissue culture video. They have simplified many things and as time marches on it get easier to do things that in the past were beyond the skills of 99% of humanity. I still remember a very self confident dahlia geek stating he was going to do tissue culture and when someone does not succeed you do not hear from them again.
bloomhjelm I enjoyed listening to her, but its all above my head. I wish I was knew or maybe I wish I was more interested in science when it was introduced in high school.
bloomhjelm the tissue culture video is great, thanks. The only thing I'm lacking is motivation. I don't have a dahlia(or any other plant) that I want 100 plants of. And if I had 100, I'd wanted to sell them. Then I'd need to get a nursery license. 
And, I haven't even mentioned what my husband would think about my lack of sanity.
But I absolutely love experimenting.
Hello, I'm new to this (or any other) forum and would like some of your thoughts. I grew dahlias & vegetables for 35 yrs in Bellingham & on Lummi Isl, then moved back to my birthplace, ABQ, 2 yrs ago. There are all the expected adjustments - almost 0 organic matter in the soil, enormous challenge to get it to incorporate, alkaline vs acidic, soil is a mix of clayey or very sandy so no water retention or a heavy dense sponge. But I'm beginning to suspect that the combination of aridity (little moisture in the air) and months of intense sunlight all at 5,200 feet are the real challenges. Last yr. I started about 200 tubers outdoors in pots and within a week most had no juice. The year before I planted directly into the garden - about 50% sprouted and grew and about 1/3 just fried. 2 yrs ago I experimented with straw bale gardening, planted about 20 tomato varieties and they grew better than the tomatoes in the garden. Because it's so dry here, I was able to reuse the bales last season. I'm wondering about growing dahlias in the bales - whether there's a micro-climate tweak created by the bales. Any thoughts?
Thanks
I will let someone from your area respond . Shade cloth is my only suggestion due to both sun and UV. T-tape irrigation helps too.
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This is from a Texas grower in a Warm Climate Dahlia Growers FB group that I'm in and I thought it might be helpful for you, with the probable exception of the "spring rains" part.
"I am in Houston and there a few of us crazy enough to grow dahlias. Much of the common dahlia growing advice is not applicable, or even counterproductive for us. I commonly recommend these tips for our area:
1) Plant a little deeper to better insulate from heat
2) Shade cloth (50% or so)
3) Mist the plants during the heat of the day with overhead sprinklers/hose.
4) Plant in locations for morning sun and afternoon shade
5) for our Houston specifically, watch out for those spring rains, they WILL drown and rot your tubers.
In southeast Texas we have a window from Feb-Jun, then Sep-Nov/Dec. Don’t be suprised if some larger dinner plates don’t have time to bloom before the July heat cooks them.
You can grow them straight through but you should probably plan on cutting them way way back for the heat wave Jun-Sep or so."
Clover with the probable exception of the "spring rains" part.
The problem in Houston is the combo of monsoon level spring rains and very very dense clay soil that has trouble draining.
It’s a problem that is, like many things, pretty unique to Houston.
Juliarugula I am not. I am only a few hours from Elkhart and met Rhonda at the Midwest meeting last June. A couple enthusiastic dahlia friends are in the Elkhart club though. Do you know Melinda or Karen?
janell I know Melinda and Karen! (And Julia too 
) I'm up in West Michigan but our society is pretty tight knit with Elkhart. Hopefully I'll run into you at the midwest plant auction/annual meeting or show.