Rarities - ISO and Sources

AKWindWatcher · 2023-03-03T01:54:25+00:00

I thought I'd start a discussion dedicated to the hunt for, and the finding of, rare ones. I know there are some that have been part of other discussions (H...

Teddahlia

GalenaB Yes,, Bracken is a big name in Australia and there are
nearly 80 Bracken varieties.

GalenaB

Teddahlia Yes! I don't have that many, but I have both Glenda and Sarah and was surprised at how similar they really are. Of course, the one I really have my eye on is Bracken Moonglow, but I don't think that's in the USA.

SteveM

GalenaB Which would you consider the most useful variety for commercial cut purposes: Bracken Sarah, Bracken Glenda, or Bracken Palomino?

GalenaB

SteveM Bracken Sarah or Bracken Palomino. I like Bracken Sarah better but it's also bigger, Bracken Palomino is a better size for bouquet work. Bracken Glenda is just way too big IMO to use, except maybe the rare event work.

BackyardBouquets_17

GalenaB
That’s great to know. I thought on pics they look very similar but it’s hard to tell if you don’t see it in real life. I do have Bracken Sarah IF my tiny tuber it gave me last yr survives. With a tiny baby in the house I didn’t have time to go through them this winter yet like I normally do. I have no idea where I came across the info I just have wrote down that Bracken Glenda is a reliable seed producer for fully double decoratives is what started me on the bunny trail looking for that one.

GalenaB

BackyardBouquets_17 I haven't tried taking seeds from it, but I'll make a note of that and see what I can get this year!

joepa60

bfrye the last record I have found of it in the US is a picture in 2022 posted by someone from Warren County, Kentucky who had the user name FPF on the National Gardening Association plant data base. Unfortunately they haven’t been active since 2023. The last retailer to sell it was Mowhawk Dahlias in 2019 before disappearing and Parks Dahlias had it around that time too but I cannot find a way to contact them. They only other two places I know for sure there is potential for it to be are in Poland and the UK. But I haven’t found anyone with any knowledge on that recently.

Teddahlia

Fidalgo Splash: I thought I heard that Mohawk Dahlias was still around but did not sell all that much anymore. The comment was: "They have great prices for really good tubers." Perhaps I am confusing them with some other grower in the Eugene, Oregon area.

bloomhjelm

Just popping in a few threads. Have been absent all fall and winter since my windstorm in September ended a lot of my growing early.

If GFF Buttersctoch becomes available to anyone (a few Facebook dahlia group people have shared t between themselves) I recommend it, and hope it becomes a staple waterlily. It had beautiful color.

MIDahlias

Teddahlia Maybe? I love the coloring. It reminds me of Darcy, in the way I feel Darcy should glow in the dark, I think this bloom should too.

Teddahlia

I like deep saturated colors in waterlilies and the one in the picture is getting there.
Here is artsy picture of HH Golden Glow.

MIDahlias

Teddahlia I love this picture and I keep searching for the "right" orange. I thinking I need to plant orange dahlias next to Thomas A. Edison.

Teddahlia

Thomas A Edison is the most purple, purple dahlia of all. It is not modern dahlia but good in it's time (stems?) but makes good tubers. When they talk about heirloom dahlias it is a good one. Swan Island introduced a purple seedling of it that was not quite as purple(Einstein?).

Juliarugula

Teddahlia I have not seen Thomas Edison in person. How is the purple compared to Seabeck’s Hilda? (I think of Seabeck’s Hilda as the purplest purple dahlia…) does it lean slightly bluer?

MIDahlias

Juliarugula Seabeck's Hilda and Thomas A. Edison I feel are the same shade of purple. Royal Purple. I love them both.

Teddahlia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyhilldahlias/51811083168/in/photolist-2mWnkXo
Thomas A. Edison has more blue pigment in it. Hilda is easier to grow but tubers not easy to keep for many people.

Bessie

Teddahlia that's a beautiful photo of Hilda. I found that this winter Molly Raven tubers were wanting to mold. It seems they hold a bit more moisture than other dahlia varieties. I'd like to speculate on why purple Dahlia tubers can be hard to overwinter, besides holding more moisture.
I've not tested it, but believe the tubers have a much higher sugar content, which means they are juicier and have more food for mold to grow on. My first year growing dahlia seedlings the gopher(s) made a special effort to get at and eat most of the tuber clump from a burgundy colored dahlia which was a seedling of Hollyhill Black Magic or Hollyhill Black Beauty. I didn't think it was a coincidence the gopher picked that tuber clump.
Here's second year seedling ( not quite purple, Hollyhill Regal seedling) that has not had it's color manipulated. I did however put yellow and blue and another colored dahlia in the photo in an effort to capture the deep magenta purple hue.

Teddahlia

Nice purple color. Why the curse of the purple dahlia? Guesses: (1) in order to get purple pigment the pH in the cell has to be alkaline. Perhaps fungus diseases like the higher pH. (2) Just no resistance to fungus that other dahlias have. Some purple dahlias make good tubers that keep.

Juliarugula

Teddahlia I am probably jinxing myself by saying this, but I have never experienced the curse of the purple dahlia myself. Having no experience to draw from, I have always wondered, does the curse apply to only deep purple dahlias, or does it also apply to lavender or lilac leaning dahlias also?

I mean, obviously, the most deeply beautifully purple ones would be most cursed. And double the curse if they’re also expensive. But do the lighter purple colors have similar problems?

Teddahlia

There is no such thing as light purple as they call that color lavender. Our lavender flowers do better but that is only a guess. Formby Kaitlyn has the curse. The Wyn's dahlia people made disparaging remarks about Formby Kaitlyn when the tubers did not keep. Some people do not have problems with purple ones. HH Purely Purple is one of the worst here as I have not kept over a tuber of it in many years(pot tubers only). A person in the midwest had no problem keeping the tubers.

Juliarugula

Teddahlia A person in the midwest had no problem keeping the tubers.

That’s interesting. Like I said (knock on wood), I’ve never noticed problems with purple dahlia tubers either, and I’m in the Midwest too. I wonder if the type of fungus that causes rot isn’t as common here?

« Previous Page Next Page »