General Dahlia Chat 2023

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:41:17+00:00

Continuing from https://cubits.org/Dahlias/thread/view/91587/?offset=560#end_of_thread

calico20hill

Oh Mercy! They are probably worried about shipping by dog sled! Shoot! That is kind of funny but sad funny.

AndreaB

PegMc Hapet Champagne & Nadia Ruth seem quite similar to one another.

Here’s a pic of Nadia Ruth.

edewitt

I just got 8 cubic ft. of coarse vermiculite from Greenhouse Megastore and an 11 lbs. brick of compressed coconut coir as I slowly prepare for spring. Not gonna get as antsy about getting the tubers into my 8" pulp pots and lose $500 worth like last year.

Hapet Champagne seems pretty similar to Maggie C just a slight bit more pink than Maggie C's orange. I had a hard time finding my photos of it from last year so here's one from 2015.

PegMc

<< Not gonna get as antsy about getting the tubers into my 8" pulp pots and lose $500 worth like last year.>> What happened?!

edewitt

PegMc Potted up my Tall-Grass & Swan Island orders and kept them in our workshop. The night it dropped down to 17 degrees also happened to be the night the giant overhead workshop door was left open. They all ended up being mush when I finally mustered up the nerve to check the tubers. The tubers had recently been put in there for nighttime storage and the door was left open so the sheep had access to a warmer area.

Crazy_Ivan

The Greenhouse Megastore is right up the road from me. They used to be privately owned, but sold last year to another concern. Being a strong believer in buying locally, they've been the happy recipient of my gardening dollars, while I, for my part, have always been very happy with their products and customer service. Very highly recommended.

AndreaB

I like Maggie C, but haven’t grown it. Reminds me of Bloomquist John F, which I thought I was growing last year, but believe it was a mislabel. How do you like Maggie? What size and how tall is it?

edewitt

AndreaB I was so close to buying Bloomquist John F this year but abstained since I dropped quite a bit on Mak's Volcano. It looks really nice though.

Maggie C is usually had 5" blooms and was about 4' tall.

edewitt

I found some old lists of tubers I'd purchased in the past and I guess some just didn't ever make it to the point of blooming or ended up rotting. I'm really sad I never got to see Mrs. G. Le Boutillier which I had to look up and is a lovely shade of red. Looks like I also managed to get Jackie Evangelista from Corralitos and it never bloomed. These lists have some real winners on there that I haven't seen in ages which bums me out a bit. Looks like I got Sellwood Glory from Ginger Clack for $5 back at the end of 2009 (those were the days). She was nice enough to sell me one despite it being labeled as sold out. I even remember talking to her on the phone about my order. She was very pleasant.

Speaking of pleasant anyone know what became of Red Hawk Dahlias?

blown_dry

edewitt I last heard from Red Hawk in Spring 2020. I hope I am not mistaken in the person, but I think prior to that there had been a death of a child in the family that was a real blow, and in 2020 she said she was not putting out a catalog due to extensive stock losses that winter, and covid shipping issues. Nevertheless, she seemed in kind and generous spirits. I hope she is presiding over a thriving personal garden.

edewitt

There's some real beauts in these purchase lists that no one's selling these days: Sarah Mae, Levonne Splinter, Tahoma Giraffe, Kenora Fantastic, Kenora Superb, Carmen Lotus, Jewel Huston, Clearview Arlene, etc...

I managed to get a blue ribbon with Clearview Arlene at a local flower show back in 2012. It was the one and only time I've entered anything into a show. I think I'll do that this year if the New Mexico Dahlia Society goes through with their plans of having a show.

AKWindWatcher

edewitt - I try to collect as many rare varieties as I can to help preserve them. It hurts my heart to hear of any varieties being lost or otherwise AWOL. (And I'm not just talking about dahlias. I could write novels about my search for unique varieties of rhubarb - oldest I've found so far is at least 120 years old.)

LoriDee

edewitt Sarah Mae is one I've been looking for because it's my daughters name, I haven't been able to find it anywhere 😢

edewitt

AndreaB the more photos I see of Hapet Champagne the more I'd like to grow it. I can't really put my finger on what it is but the petals have this unique look to them.

AndreaB

edewitt the more photos I see of Hapet Champagne the more I'd like to grow it.

I traded with a friend for it last year. It’s a beauty… at every stage!

Teddahlia

Red Hawk Dahlias: No word but they seem to have fallen off the radar. They lived in Eastern Oregon in one of those small towns that has about 20 people in it. Before I knew about them I drove down that highway that is on the way to civilization. but you would not notice it was a named town as you zoomed down the highway. Blink and you miss it place.

edewitt

blown_dry Oh man, that's terrible. I certainly hope things are turning around.

CollaretteQueen

blown_dry I stumbled upon one of their old catalogs online. Interesting selection. Too bad Corralitos Garden stopped selling dahlias.

KitCMC

AndreaB drool

Teddahlia

Hapet Champagne is one of the prettiest dahlias and we will not grow it as we cannot have laciniated pollen around.

SteveM

AKWindWatcher Good for you, Erika!🙂 Do you know of the person who is rescuing all of (as many as possible) heirloom apple trees? I think it was on a podcast where I heard his story. It was amazing how many apple varieties he had rescued. Can't remember his name but I bet you do.

Darce

AKWindWatcher

Have you seen this rhubarb that came with the Mormon covered wagons in the 1860s according to the grower - experimental farm has other interesting heritage rhubarbs too
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/morgan-valley-heritage-rhubarb?_pos=6&_sid=50d66411e&_ss=r

AKWindWatcher

SteveM - I think that's Tom Brown? He's one I know of. Think he's rescued over 1,000 varieties or something like that. I don't know him personally but LOVE that he's doing that! The history behind all of these heirlooms is fascinating. I have one rhubarb that might be even older than 120 years. The 120 year plus one has written known history - it was brought up to Alaska via steamship (Yukon River) when Fort Egbert opened in Eagle, AK in 1899. I have another that oral history has as coming from an old English sea-captain who settled in Knik, AK. That sea captain said he got it from Sir Edmund Hillary who got it in Nepal. How cool is that?

Emilyp

SteveM Dan Bussey is a man in my neck of the woods who has preserved many heirloom apple trees. One of his old orchards is 3 miles from my farm. I walked it once with the current owners, and every tree was a different kind of apple, and none were apples I had seen before. The problem was that he hadn't tagged the trees, and the map he had made was lost. So now they have 200 varieties of heirloom apples, but no idea what they are. The moral of the story is, never underestimate the importance of tagging 😄

« Previous Page Next Page »