2025 Seedlings

Bessie · 2025-04-01T16:33:09+00:00

This year, 2025, has been challenging to get healthy Dahlia seedlings! Still trying to figure out the many ways I've gone wrong. I dumped about 30-40 seedlin...

DarcyD

Teddahlia Sounds like a good mission! I think I’ve accidentally saved the wrong one before from stems that were too close.

Teddahlia

"Previous picture with poor center may or may not be same seedling." I took out the dogs early in the morning, and looked for the plant tag of the second flower. The pictures are of different seedlings. I am still hoping that the first one will get better centers but experience says that that will probably not happen.

Justafewdahlias

SteveM

Thanks! I like the excessive cupped WL look, so that’s one thing I am looking for. I
need to take more photos or spend more time by the dahlias in the daytime. I remember actually thinking to myself “I don’t know what half of these look like in the daytime.” I do most of my yard work or gardening in the evening for a couple hours before it gets dark. I have some photos of the daytime blooms, so not nearly as much as the evening.

Bessie

This second year seedling, 24522, had a 4" flower that was hard green for days as it matured. The color is a bit more purple than the photo. Seed parent is Hollyhill Regal(sold to me as that).

SteveM

Bessie Rich, pure purple (high % of lavender and low % of red). Looks like a winner!

Bessie

SteveM thanks for the evaluation, as to me it looks like a really beautiful, full flower. I'm just not sure if the green center when it's immature would make it less desirable. The plant itself does not appear to be self branching, like seedling 24312, however a lot of dahlias must be pinched when young. I need to do a vase test to see how it responds. The summer is blowing past me really fast!

SteveM

Bessie I'm just not sure if the green center when it's immature would make it less desirable.

I don't see any sign of green centers in your seedling. Almost all dahlias have green centers when immature and they are only a problem when the centers remain green when the bloom is at peak maturity. My first KA's Mocha Jo have green centers when mature (bloom on left is immature, bloom on right is past maturity).

calico20hill

[unknown] It is so much fun delighting other people with new flowers! It is one of the things I miss since I moved and no longer sell cut flowers or have a customer base. Here is the one that is delighting me right now...

It is 8" in diameter and this is day 6. It is a seedling from my "blue" dahlia, Salish Blue Mountains...I don't know where it picked up the 8" size but I love the twisting ruffly petals and the center that is still strong after 6 days!

Bessie

calico20hill I love twisting petals in dahlias. That flower is beautiful.

calico20hill

Bessie Thanks for confirming my opinion!

Bessie

Second year seedling 24546 is looking a bit fuller than last year. Snoho Sonia is the seed parent I think(I don't have my records with me).
The foliage is an apple green color, with a plant that's healthy and branching, under 3', at this point.

Teddahlia

You have a real keeper !!!

Bessie

SteveM thanks for the lesson on green centers!

Teddahlia

Green centers are tolerated more by some people. I just cruised through the seedlings and was disappointed to see green centers on some that did not have them last year. Did I miss them or has the hot weather caused them? Probably a bit of both. Open centers can be fickle too. One of our waterlilies that we released had "weak" centers. Initially, we were hesitant to sell it but when a big time cut flower grower saw it he wanted it and said he had no issue with the center. It turned out that he was right and it has good centers most of the time.

Justafewdahlias

Mary Jo & seedling of Mary Jo……Mary Jo is so much better. I think them being similar color highlights this even more! So far the other 2 seedlings from this same cross have been solid yellow and bright neon pink

Teddahlia

Steve Lamb uses Mary Jo for breeding. One of his new intros is a seedling. We grew it many years ago and always had problems with slightly open centers. It used to be one of the most popular basket flowers and won lots of prizes.

mocullen35

Question

I've read/heard seedlings need to be grown 3 seasons. What about seedlings that never had a chance to bloom the first year, made tubers, overwintered in the ground, bloom second year, are keepers- are they technically 2 year seedlings or do they need another two years to sort themselves out? Do the flowers have to bloom for the genes to "settle"? Pictures of 2024 seedlings that finally bloomed in 2025.

Justafewdahlias

[unknown]
I like the look of Mary Jo but also that it is early & “compact” but still long enough stems to use for cutting. However, I haven’t grown dahlias very long so still many more to explore!

Teddahlia

Age of seedlings: Dahlias sometimes but certainly not always need a year or two to grow consistently. A second year seedling in our experience will be consistent as far as the flowers about 90% of the time. Differences between first and second year plants are many times things that were in the first year plant but not observed or ignored. So, as far as flowers, you will know how good it is the second year. However, disease resistance takes another year or two to be evaluated. Some dahlias just plain decline heath wise in the third year(or second year too) . Some conservative breeders wait until the 5th or 6th year to introduce a flower. Note: People are sometimes eager to name a flower after someone. Be sure it is a good one before you do so. If you name flowers not after someone and you have a special name perhaps wait also. One old time breeder named them when they were first year flowers but he was incredibly clever about good names and did not use people names. He said he could not remember numbers and could remember names. We are the opposite and some flowers are still numbers many years later but never got released. One of our is named 11-104.

old seedling

Teddahlia

Picture of a 2024 seedling that is doing well in 2025.

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