Who knows a bit about dahlias please?

[Benchwayze]

I am no gardener.
I want some colour along the wall that separates my drive from the lawn of my corner house. The drive is about four feet above the level of the lawn, so I want some fairly high plants with plenty of show, to go right along the wall which as about 25 feet long.
I need suitable varieties to adorn the wall, and be visible from my side too. The plants need to be about 4-6 feet high I would guess.

Questions:

Is it too late to buy dahlias?
If not, can I grow them in containers until the frost has gone?

Any ideas on varieties would be welcome.

(As would a volunteer to dig out the border! ) :mrgreen: (Joking folks!)

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[RobinBHM]

Tubers go in April to May I think.

Would look nice with Verbena Bonariensis

 

[sunnybob]

Theres blue and theres black. thats the sum total of my gardening knowledge. Glad to help (g)

 

[Rhossydd]

Is it too late to buy dahlias?

It shouldn't be, maybe a bit late to get bare rooted tubers, but smaller plants that will grow up should be available in pots now or very soon.
They shouldn't be planted out until after the last frosts, so maybe as late as June. Make sure you support taller varieties with stout canes, they can get pretty heavy and don't forget to deadhead them to promote continual flowering until November.

Try to get to, or order from, a specialist Dahlia nursery. You should then get good advice on the most suitable varieties for your situation and good plants too.

 

[Doug B]

Just search online for them John there are loads of varieties, they're a bugger for black fly so will need spraying in the summer. There's even a perennial variety now, we bought one a couple of years ago, has a beautiful small pink flower.

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks for the info folks. I am trying to remember what my old Dad used to do for the black-fly; I think it was just soapy water, but it's a bit far in the past.

Looking on the 'tube, it seems I need a greenhouse, (although my Dad never had one until he retired, and added Chrysanthemums to his passions!) and probably an allotment is needed too. As I don't wish to get too involved, I think I'll simply buy some container plants that I can lift in the winter. That doesn't seem like too much trouble, and given the time, maybe I can add to my collection over a couple or four years!

Bob, I think I will get some black ones, so I can't see the black-fly. Sound good? :mrgreen:

Thanks again everyone.

Regards

 

[lurker]

John,

Dahlias are very hard work!
They can put on a great show but to get there takes a lot of work and even then, they will take every available opportunity to die on you.
If you are no gardener and dont intend to be, I'd think of something else.

 

[Rhossydd]

black-fly; ... I need a greenhouse.... probably an allotment is needed too.

Careful what you read on the net. Dahlias are one of the flowers people get absolutely obsessed by.
For people that might just want some big blousey flowers in the garden they're ideal. You don't really need that level of facilities and care.

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Lurker and Rhoss.

I managed to run an allotment in my youth, on the strength of what I picked up from my old Dad. But his magic touch with dahlias was something I couldn't emulate. We can't eat them as far as I know, so I didn't take a lot of interest in them, other than to admire his efforts. So maybe I should be a gardener; but woodwork is my first 'love'.

I don't intend to start serious gardening now, because my woodworking would suffer even more! However, I do need something showy in the summer garden, so I will give them a try, by getting some pot-grown plants to 'build' a display, utilising some of the larger pots I have hanging around the place; if I am lucky!

If I do have any luck, I will post some pics!

Thanks again.

John.

 

[Rhossydd]

We can't eat them as far as I know,

The tubers are edible, but it's an expensive form of unappealing nutrition.

 

[Benchwayze]

Another vegetable for my list, for when I am starving!

Thanks Rhoss

John

 

[beganasatree]

Hi John,I was in the garden center today and they had lots Dahlia tubers,there is a new one for this season it is almost black and has flowers the size of a dinner plate and 4 foot tall.The packs of dahlia plants are normally just small bedding plants 12"to 18"tall.I grow mine in tubs and up until 2 years ago I dug up and stored the tubers.Now I just cut them back and store them still in the tubs in the old shed and greenhouse.Give them lots of feeding.

Peter.

 

[Benchwayze]

Thank you Peter.

I don't envisage filling the garden with blooms, and raising hundreds of cuttings, like some of the guys on Youtube. Therefore I did wonder about the possibility of growing and storing the tubers in their pots. Most people say they need lifting, cosseting, and storing in the dark or they die; even in a greenhouse. Seems to me that if yours survive a Scottish winter in pots, mine should be okay down here in Brum! So your plan sounds like a good 'un...

As to height, my plot is at 550 feet elevation, at the southern end of a long valley, and it gets windy here. So I want to steer clear of the tall plants, (Some varieties can grow to 7 feet or more.) Rarely a still day, and I think the taller plants would get a bit wind tossed. My Dad's old plot is just about a mile away, and as I recall he stayed with plants at about four feet and he always had a decent show. Either way though, I will have to get a shift on if I am to do this at all!

Thanks again.

Regards
John

 

[John933]

The quickest cheapest and easy way is. Just to buy a pack of seeds. They woun't be big the first year. But a good show, Pick off the seed from the flower you like and re sow the next year. By year three you will have more than you need. As for digging them up each year. Don't bother. Leave them in the ground over winter. You will have so many. The few you lose will make no difference. Or put a covering of straw over the top. To keep the worst of the frost out.

So that seed's sow leave. Cup of tea and a smoke.
John933

 

[Benchwayze]

I never thought of that; as long as I don't have the "Society Against Cruelty to Dahlias" after me!' :mrgreen:

Thanks John

 

[beganasatree]

Hi John,just checked out my pots this morning I emptied out the top few inches of each pot to find that all tubers have got new growth and no rot (DAHLIAS ARE HARD WORK???)John you could give Gavin Carter the secretary of the Birmingham Dahlia Society a call 01214442755 and he will give you all the help that you need.The society will have a plant sale at the end of the month/start of next month and you will be able to buy plants,that will save you some time.

Peter.

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Peter.

Thank you for that. I have heard of the Society, but so far I haven't tried contact. I wouldn't mind being a member, if the bug bites, but at present I am merely looking for some nice colour along the of my drive. As my house is a corner property, the display would set a nice tone to the avenue! :mrgreen: So my gardening mad mate across the road suggested! He grows roses, but his best specimens are in his back garden!

I used to grow Fuchsias quite seriously, but at the time the society I joined kept trying to persuade me to enter the show each year. I'm not really competitive in that way, so I just paddled my own canoe, as they say. Besides which I couldn't get sanction for a greenhouse, from SWMBO! A green house is almost a necessity for serious fuchsia growing. Were I to get as involved as the guy on Gardeners' World last night, than I'd definitely need a greenhouse, and a pretty big one at that

However, I am going to see how I feel when I've had a few plants in bloom, and if I it's for me, then I'll check out the BDS's show dates, and maybe go along as a visitor, just to test the waters!

So thanks again Peter. As said, I shall investigate.

Regards

John

 

[ColeyS1]

When my dad lost all his dahlias due to frost I decided I'd search for some to replace his collection - the garden looked bare with the mass of wonderful flowers they produce. He use to show them for years but now only judges which seems less stressful for him.
From what I learned searching for him, "exhibition dahlias" are like the pedigree of dahlias and any others are pretty looking ones that have been grown to a particular look- that's how I interpreted it anyway.
I've been busy working away the last few weeks getting my own containers ready for my own effort at growing dahlias . I'm very excited- its a shame I didn't plant some last year- may have had some tubers going spare


Coley

 

[whiskywill]

Hayloft Plants are still taking orders for plants with a May delivery date. http://www.hayloft-plants.co.uk/Dahlia/ ... 17795.html

 

[ColeyS1]

Possible *thread hijack* topsoil arrived this afternoon

Only got them covered in and watered about an hour ago. I realised I cared less about spilling the topsoil after a few beers :lol:
Please grow, reach for the sky o shrivelled up tubers !

Coley

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