2024 Orders and Openings Chat

Juliarugula

I thought today might be a good day to start the 2024 thread, since I was browsing through the newly rolled over DahliaAddict site.

Has anybody heard if Clearview is planning on selling this year, rather than selling only through Lobaugh’s?

Juliarugula

Also, is Ferncliff open? It looks like they only have a small amount of inventory, but I can add to cart…

Krista

Juliarugula It looks like they opened this month. Agreed on the inventory - is it possible they’ve sold out of so many varieties already? Egads.

Juliarugula

Krista I kind of doubt that they’re already sold out, unless they were super conservative in their early listings. I ordered the day they opened last year, but kind of kept an eye out and they had lots of inventory for at least a good month. Since you have to pay (quite a lot!) for phyto and international shipping I think it cuts down on a lot of the U.S. ordering madness.

I’m sort of going on the assumption that they haven’t loaded all their inventory yet this year. Or maybe they aren’t offering as much this year, but I would expect in that case at least the Ferncliff varieties would be more available.

calico20hill

I'm wondering if these "sold out" businesses are more about the age of the proprietors? Are they all downsizing because their families are not following them into the business ? Or is this a delayed result of downsizing during Covid? How are we going to carry on unless farmers can buy land, hire help, afford the fertilizers and machines to produce large numbers of tubers, and then face the madhouse of selling on line? Doing it for love is one thing but farmers have to eat and provide housing and transportation etc and monitor now for crown gall and tuber gall and what ever gall comes along next?

Teddahlia

In the 1990s we visited Ferncliff at the peak of the season. I remember Creve Cour, a giant, looked great. We were impressed and wrote down a lot of varieties to buy. In those days they had a USA address used just for shipping and you paid very little for shipping and such. We grew Ferncliff Copper and Ferncliff Illusion and both were vigorous plants.

NCDahlia

I feel most probably under estimate the tubers they will have available? I know I would until I dug and knew what I had for offer. I ordered from Ferncliff this year *2023 and had good success with all their tubers till the voles got them...

The order came from Sumas Washington and I believe that is right on the us/ canada border? 9/28/22 is when i placed the order just checked my email. Anyway I will prob be ordering lots of tubers this year.

Juliarugula

NCDahlia My order from them for 2023 was fantastic as well. Everything is doing great (no voles- knock on wood). I felt like they were very generous with the tubers they sent for my order, with lots of multi-eyed clumps and two bonuses.

I tried to order everything I might possibly want from them last year in the hopes that I wouldn’t feel the need to order again this year and thus avoid the associated shipping/phyto costs. But maybe next year…

KitCMC

Juliarugula I was also blown away by what Ferncliff sent. It’s a lot of $$ to get tubers here, but what comes is high quality.

Juliarugula

Juliarugula I tried to order everything I might possibly want from them last year in the hopes that I wouldn’t feel the need to order again this year and thus avoid the associated shipping/phyto costs.

It kind of looks like from the updated Ferncliff shipping info website there’s now only a $25 add on to standard shipping rates to the US.

Ruh-Roh.

blown_dry

I am not sure if they are open or not. Their home page still says 'closed for 2023'. I should email and ask.

Krista

Is Miss Madeline’s Dahlias open? I can put ~~itams~~ items in my cart but lots appear to be sold out, much like Ferncliff.

blown_dry

Miss Madaline's opens in Feb, typically. I think they just don't close out their catalog. Some folk don't and it tweaks my wish for closure, but the reality is that there's probably more urgent stuff for farmers to do.

Juliarugula

KitCMC I was also blown away by what Ferncliff sent. It’s a lot of $$ to get tubers here, but what comes is high quality.

For sure!

MIDahlias

KitCMC I agree, show quality tubers. I wonder what their regimen is.

AKWindWatcher

Ferncliff will open late August/early September for the initial 2024 offerings. New releases will come out later.

calico20hill

Here is some very interesting news from Triple Wren!
For over two years we’ve been working hard to create this really special offering, and it is so exciting to finally be able to announce it. The tissue-culture process has allowed us to successfully create dahlia clones from tiny pieces of healthy, virus-tested plants in a sterile environment. We’ve rooted these micropropagated dahlias into sterile, soilless medium in a controlled greenhouse situation, and planted them in our fields this summer where we could observe them growing side-by-side with both tuber-planted dahlias and traditional “rooted cutting” dahlias, with fantastic results.

Juliarugula

calico20hill I’m very interested to see how this plays out! I wonder if there will be even more tight competition during this than the regular sale….

Also I’m curious what 30 varieties they’ve chosen as their “most in demand”… Anyone want to speculate?

I’m guessing a large number of the KA’s. BQ York, BQ Blush, BQ Mojo, BQ Tory P, Skipley Spot of Gold, STG, maybe Sandia Bliss (I see it popping up in my Facebook feed a lot these days…).

calico20hill

Teddahlia

Micropropagated dahlias at Triple Wren: Trivia: The initial plants used to develop meristem cuttings many years ago were dahlias. The announcement does not say they actually did the micropropagation or it was contracted out to another company. Either way, it is nice to know you can get clean stock that has been tested to be free of virus. Trivia: when they were developing the process, they could grow the leaves but they had no roots. They obviously have figured out how get roots too.

BarryO

The Triple Wren email announcement ushers in a potentially new era in cutting/tuber sales. They are no longer being offered on a first come basis but instead, you can cut to the head of the line by paying a membership fee to join Triple Wren's club, "The Garden". The fees are $199 /year ($499 lifetime). Membership includes courses that most dedicated growers do not need nor want. This may cut down on the online dahlia-purchasing frenzy, but at what cost? No way to sugar coat it, this is a bad marketing scheme.

Bessie

BarryO I agree completely that the resources Triple Wren offers for the "Garden Club" do not fit my needs, except for "cutting to the front of the line" for dahlia sales. However, how do they pay for tissue culture and the dedicated commitment, infrastructure, and super hard work needed to grow virus free stock? If I had the choice between dahlias that are virus free or dahlias that are virus resistant, I'd pick resistant dahlias every time to grow in my unsterile outdoor garden.

Teddahlia

"Fee to join Triple Wren's club, "The Garden". The fees are $199 /year ($499 lifetime)." I have thought their treatment of hybridizers was a good program. When you charge money like this for almost no benefit, I doubt it will go over well. I will not be joining the "The Garden".