General Dahlia Chat - 2025

Juliarugula · 2025-01-01T13:30:33+00:00

Justafewdahlias whew! Much better thanks! 😅

Teddahlia

The new Dahlias of Today arrived in the mail today. Margaret yanked it out of my hands and and went though the entire publication reading quotes out loud. She liked especially the quotes from the British writer who apparently really likes Hollyhill Letitia.

I must say that Dahlias of Today is a high quality publication and anyone who grows dahlias would enjoy reading it. And you can order prior issues if you really like it.
https://puget-sound-dahlia-association.myshopify.com/
I was paid $300.00 to write this ad for Dahlias of Today. Oops, that should have said I should charge them $300.00 but of course I am just joking but you will really enjoy this publication. Disclaimer: I wrote the article about the Portland trial garden.

MissyWeitzel

Teddahlia My copy is on order! I agree that it's an excellent publication. Loads of great and interesting information. Last winter I ordered every year that was still available. Do you know what year was the first edition?

bloomhjelm

MissyWeitzel I have heard it was 1981.

I loved going to the PSDA tuber packing party and being too shy to talk to ADS celebrities. Martin Kral, Dick Parshall, Linda DeRooy Holmes Cook, Christine Tareen among many others. Mr. Parshall cheered on a winning photo contest entry of a Clearview. I was sitting at the table packing tubers "A" through "C" and saw all of the ACs come in. I was delighted that I got to tell my table-mates what AC FBG stands for.

blown_dry

bloomhjelm I'll bite. What does FBG stand for?

Teddahlia

Do you know what year was the first edition? We have lots of old ones but they are put away somewhere in a box that is located in " that place where you think you will never forget, but you forgot." I bet it was about 1985 but that is just a guess. It was a publication of the "Federation" and they were emulating a similar publication done by the PNDC before them. The PNDC publications are the real collectors items. The Federation is/was a splinter group of the PNDC, sort of like an acrimonious divorce. The Puget Sound club does publishes it these days.

bloomhjelm

blown_dry AC Fat Bottom Girls.

blown_dry

bloomhjelm Hah! I'll plant it next to AC Big Johnson.

KitCMC

bloomhjelm this song is going to be in my head ALL day 🎶

bloomhjelm

I don't think they believed me but then they looked over and AC Freebird was right there also.

calico20hill

Justafewdahlias As a retired flower seller, I think that generally I stripped the foliage from the flowers and added foliage that lasted better. I felt that foliage on the dahlia drew on the nutrients stored in the bloom/stem. etc, and that the flower would last longer without having to support them. Besides, other longer lasting foliage gave me more scope to play with colors and textures and shapes in the arrangement.

silvarerum

calico20hill Yes this is definitely true re foliage. Which makes sense bc you'd never leave foliage on a sometimes tricky to hydrate flower like hydrangea. I think it's also nice to include sturdy stuff that will look pretty once the wilted dahlias are plucked out, or that people can swap out with their own flowers. (Maybe I just imagine them doing this because I am a compulsive flower arranger and swapper outer.)

silvarerum

Justafewdahlias Apologies for commenting on a month old topic (giving growers opportunity to evaluate dahlias as cut flowers) but this is similar to what the ASCFG (association of specialty cut flower growers) does with their trials. They have a bunch of growers grow the plants and report back and publish the results.

https://www.ascfg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021-ASCFG-Perennial-Trial-Report.pdf

It seems many of the newer dahlias seem are bred for social media and the "unicorn" tuber biz. Once the bloom is off the rose, pun intended, and the tubers can no longer fetch $35 we can see that the flower itself isn't that spectacular unless photographed in a particular light during one particular week of the year.

It's all psychological.

I don't want to harsh on specific dahlias but there are a few I just *had to have but couldn't get, $$$ tubers failed, weakly rooted cuttings rotted en route. Now that they are more widely available I see they aren't that amazing after all, the form looks sloppy, people say they are blah growers, they are inconsistent. Now I no longer want them. It was just the rarity and cost that made them attractive to my stupid animal brain. AKA the Veblen Effect.

Justafewdahlias

silvarerum Couldn’t agree more! The only $$ new intro dahlias I considered buying were ones I saw in person several times over the season at the trial garden. I’m not wanting to waste my space, time & effort on something that is just so-so or less than average.

silvarerum

SteveM

So interesting to me. I have Allen's Starfire in yet another Cowlitz cart. The pic is red, but when you google it the flowers are a super beautiful faded salmon color.

Teddahlia

Dahlia Talk is at 7PM today. I am doing a presentation on fertilizer.
Teaser:
Fertilizer Myths
Dahlia Talk 02-25-25

Presenter: Ted Kennedy Hollyhill Dahlias

Dahlias require a low-nitrogen fertilizer. We recommend using a fertilizer with a higher percentage of potassium and phosphorus.

Manure is good for your garden

Bonemeal is excellent for dahlias

Lawn fertilizer is bad for your dahlias

There is no cheap time release dahlia fertilizer

Fish fertilizer has too much nitrogen for dahlias.

You cannot add too much organic material to your garden

Epsom Salts is one of the best fertilizers.

Dolomite lime is always good for your garden

bloomhjelm

Teddahlia I'll be there with bells on. I recently learned the processing difference between fish emulsion and fish hydrolysate. There's always more to learn.

SteveM

Teddahlia

Ammonium Sulfate is the best form of nitrogen to use in all PNW gardens

calico20hill

So far our soil tests have showed about the same profile from year to year. I think this year we are just going to look at them and see on average what is recommended and add it. We know our soil is a little on the basic side, not acid, it will need some additional nitrogen and I think it usually calls for sulfer but I could be wrong on that. I know we added chicken feather meal last year. I also add a bit of osmocote when planting. Husband will know what else plus we have the copies...hopefully this will work out this year.

Teddahlia

Ammonium Sulfate is one of the most acidic nitrogen fertilizers. To quote the most reliable source of information, Wikipedia: " Ammonium Sulfate: The primary use of ammonium sulfate is as a fertilizer for alkaline soils." One of the best uses for it is adding sulfur to alkaline soils deficient in sulfur. Here in the PNW most soils are acidic and ammonium sulfate makes the soil even more acidic. Urea is also a bit acidic. Calcium Nitrate is neutral but expensive.

SteveM

Teddahlia One of the best uses for it is adding sulfur to alkaline soils deficient in sulfur. Here in the PNW most soils are acidic and ammonium sulfate makes the soil even more acidic.

That's why I included it in your Ferti;izer Myths. I don't have a mic or camera on my PC so I can't contribute but I look forward to your presentation.

Teddahlia

Gypsum, the drywall stuff that is calcium sulfate, is sold here in Oregon to supply your garden with sulfur. It is a neutral chemical neither acid or alkaline. People with clay soil can also use it to break up the clay as it drills minute holes into the clay soil .They use it in our trial garden at Swan Island.

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