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

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.)

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 😄

calico20hill

I never thought about hertiage rhubarb though I am pretty sure I grew up eating from one...Back in those days it was a "Pass around plant" and that was how they were shared before the internet. Or it may even have been planted on the farm my Dad bought around 1939. I(t had been an old stagecoast stop before heading toward Packwood, WA. We bought a rhubarb plant at a local nursery here and found out that they do not like soggy clay soil. We will try again this year and put it in an elevated bed.

Bessie

Wondering what others have found to be the most cost effective way to ship just one or two tubers, with no signature or return receipt. Does the shipping method change based on how far away the destination is? What shipping vessel/box/bag might be best? I know there will be limitations based on freezing temps and the level of tuber dormancy.

MissyWeitzel

Bessie the smallest size usps priority flat rate boxes are $10.40. You may be able to ship less expensively if the recipient is in the same usps shipping zone as you, but then you also need to buy your own box. The small size box could fit around 5 small to medium tubers with some packing materials.

Juliarugula

I’m always worried those small priority boxes will get squished (although I haven’t yet received a squished one).

I think I usually pick first class parcel rate which tends to be around $7 for a box that ships 5 to 10 tubers. It’s a little slower for long distances, about the same as priority for shorter ones.

Pirate Ship is a great website for finding the best shipping rates and discounts for your needs. Sometimes the best choice ends up being UPS, which always surprises me.

KitCMC

AndreaB drool

AKWindWatcher

Darce Yup! Rhubarb, like dahlias, does not grow true from seed though. Every variety out there is a hybrid of some sort. I have all the EFN rhubarb seeds though and am growing them out to see what pops up.

calico20hill

Excellent story. It has inspired me with the idea of putting a name sign on each of our new orchard trees we are planting here. At our ages we know that sometime in the not so distant future either we or our children will be selling our farm when we can not longer live here. And I would like to the purchaser to know what those apple trees are that I ordered from Raintree Nursery...not well known varieties but ones I chose particularly for our climate and taste in Apples. But if they know that it is " NY#75414-1" They should be able to look it up and read "Old style taste but new style disease resistance! This beautiful, dark red apple has an excellent combination of sweet and tart flavors (thanks to its MacIntosh heritage), and is resistant to apple scab, mildew and fireblight. Bred at the New York Fruit Testing program, it has been extremely productive and of superior flavor at fruit tasting trials at Mt. Vernon, WA.

It ripens in early October in the PNW and is considered a mid-season ripener. "

Emilyp

calico20hill That sounds like a fantastic apple Noni, Macoun is my husband's favorite, and it looks like people say it reminds them of a Macoun on some sites. I have a few disease resistant apples and peaches coming from Cummins this spring. I forgot that I ordered them until this conversation, so thank you😅

edewitt

All this talk of heirloom apples makes me want to track down some seeds of these and grow a few trees. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-last-wild-apple-forests-almaty-kazakhstan They say that area is the origin of quite a few fruits.

Darce

edewitt

I don’t know if this is still true but according to this article about the USDA apple collection repository you might be able to get seeds sent to you
“ Malus sieversii is a species native to Kazakhstan which is believed to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of orchard apple (Malus domestica), and it is in danger of extinction. Keeping these specimens alive on dwarf and their own rootstocks is very important to this collection and the future of food. Two very late varieties still with fruit on them, KAZ 96 09-02 and KAZ 96 09-02, were pretty tasty, and lots of other large crabapples from various species were deliciously sour as well. If you have a good bit of outdoor space and patience, you can write to C. Thomas Chao requesting a Malus sieversii seed packet from their open-pollinated block, and he’ll send you 25 seeds and instructions for stratification and germination. Beware, however, that they could end up anywhere between 10’ and 50’ tall!”
https://www.phillyorchards.org/2016/10/26/the-world-of-apples-a-tour-of-the-usda-apple-collection/

Teddahlia

I received our Dahlias of Today publication in the mail today with a nice note from Roger Walker. I cheat and do not have to pay for the publication as I am one of the authors, doing the article on the trial garden at Swan Island. Margaret and I always cruise through it right away looking for Hollyhill stuff. We got some mentions here and there and a few pictures too. I enjoyed reading the article about Wayne Holland of Hy Dahlia fame. I am glad to see he still has his hat in the ring and is breeding a few dahlias. It is the very best dahlia publication by far and this issue does not disappoint.

Darce

Teddahlia

Oh you inspired me to sign up for membership and get a copy of the magazine. I may live too far away to ever come to a in person meeting but the magazine looks fab!

Krista

Teddahlia You inspired me in the same way as Darce! I have finally gotten around to renewing my PDS membership, and I signed up for the Puget Sound Dahlias Association as well so that I could receive my 2022 edition of Dahlias of Today. Looking forward to reading Hollyhill's mentions and poring over photos!

NCDahlia

There is a grower who I have done business with for +15 years about 45 mins from me. 400 Heirloom apple trees you will not find any of these in any grocery store or box box store / home depot, walmart etc. I ended up buying 65 trees from him and have them trained on the tall spindle apple system which is high density where you have in-row spacing 3-4 ft between trees and 11 ft row spacing. My first love was always manipulating fruit trees and bushes. I also have 12 peach trees, now those are super vigorous growers u can not kill a peach tree 😂 I usually cut out 50% of the tree every year. I sell the cut peach tree fruiting wood to whole foods. They label them as flowering sticks lol. That's how u can always tell if you have freeze damage cut off a 1 foot section and see if u get bud break leaving in water.

https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/osapage1.html

https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/osapage2.html

Darce

I have a small village backyard but I have espaliered or pruned to grow as v small trees several apples and plums. It’s so fun to experiment with that- last year was the first year I got a little crop of apples and it was so cool eating them and even giving a few away to the little kids in my neighborhood!
I ordered a bunch of root stocks and scion wood from Burnt Ridge and am going to try my hand at grafting this year.
If you are in the north and need cold hardy fruit trees- Cummins nursery has loads of heirloom apple and pear trees and they also conduct the trials of new varieties for Cornell.
https://www.cumminsnursery.com/

calico20hill

Maybe tomorrow? I only had one flyer for something I wasn't interested in in my mail. I wonder of mail is still slowed up from the snowstorm.

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