Dahlia diaries

19 Dec '07 11:12 am

My dahlias have just started coming into flower.Smiley helped me to get them staked this year and they are tied so that the wind will not destroy them.
Newby is the first to flower.It is my favourite type,being miniature decorative.
I like the watermelon colour,and it is healthy and strong
I will add to this thread as more start to flower-they are all in bud.
Dixie

19 Dec '07 3:06 pm

Can you believe my wife long ago told me she thought of dahlias as 'old-lady' flowers?! Funny how people get these odd notions. I admire them quite a lot. I especially like the ones with the darker, purple folliage. I've grown the one with the red-orange color and have seen another purple folliaged dahlia with a gold-yellow flower I liked even more. There are so many forms to admire and such outstanding colors - like your scarletty pink-orange beauty.

21 Dec '07 12:18 pm

Dixie, your dahlias are stunningly beautiful. I can't wait to see more.

21 Dec '07 6:10 pm

dixie when i was young these were my favourite flowersbut i never grew any couple of months ago i scattered some mixed seed in my front garden and i now have a very healthy dahlia flowering what a surprise .i didnt think they grew from seed

12 Jan '08 1:57 pm

Most of the dahlias are in full bloom now.It is the bedding dahlias that are grown from seed,Poodles-they are annuals and give such a bright and prolific display all summer.
My ones are grown from named tubers and can be shown.I would get about three for the price of one rose.I have always bought from Belle Fleur dahlia specialists from Invercargill.
Dixie.

12 Jan '08 6:22 pm

A few more photos.White dahlias do not photograph very well,especially in strong light,bur I have lots of white varieties because they look so fresh among other flowers
Dixie.

13 Jan '08 8:31 am

My goodness, Dixie, but you do have some beautiful flowers. Deb and I are just floored by the variety you have there. Deb would be happy to have nothing but dahlias in her garden from now on. Very Happy

By the way, we are wondering what you mean when you refer to some of them as "cactus type." Could you explain, please?

For the past couple of years, Deb has had good success with dahlias. She loves them all but grows mainly Stargazers. She's wondering if they are in the same family as your Winter Star dahlias, now that she's seen your pictures. Deb also loves dahliettas and plans to fill the front flower box with them this year.

Your flowers seem to be so perfectly shaped, you must have the ideal growing conditions. By the look of some of the pictures, you're growing them in the shade of trees. Is that a particular variety which is shade-loving or will any variety thrive in the shade?

We are most impressed with your flowery friends. Applause

You'll have to excuse me now. Deb is headed outside with her garden trowel and we still have two feet of snow!! d'oh!

Christopher and Deb

14 Jan '08 12:39 am

Dixie, I have always loved dahlias, and remember a rich dark claret pompom in a neighbour's garden from my youth. We had many lovely dahlias at home too. Then they 'went out of fashion' and I didn't think of them. Some years ago my father planted annual dahlias on the farm and we have 10 or so lovely ones that stayed and became more robust - yellows, whites, pink, salmons. I've tried twice over the last three years to grow dahlias with spectacular lack of success. In future I will source my tubers from Johannesburg and not from the tropical heat of Tzaneen where no-doubt they languish on the shelves for months as they are not really suitable down there...

14 Jan '08 3:59 am

What a great combination. The lavendar tips on your Samantha Dahlia look like a great match for the colors of your lavatera.

I also like the white ones because with those you can really appreciate how sculptural these flowers are without the 'distraction' of color. To my mind that is what is so great about these flowers is their variety of great forms but also the spectacular colors.

16 Jan '08 5:33 am

Dear Dixie, your Dahlias are so beautiful and make me somewhat envious. Dahlias were a favorite of my father because as a child he helped his mother take care of her treasured Dahlias. I have never had much success with them because our weather is not too conducive to their growth. They must be dug in fall to protect the roots from the freezing temperatures that strike at odd intervals and they must be staked and sheltered from our strong winds and pouring rains in spring and summer. Other than that, I can't imagine why I haven't tried more. They are indeed marvelous flowers. You have so many beautiful ones!

Dahlia diaries

Dahlia diaries

Your Dahlias look great.

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