Backyard Pair

I'm always happy when a plan works out. I have my big Japanese iris blooming with an unknown dahlia and they really look great together.

iris ensata Royal Robes

unknown dahlia

This dahlia may be Glenbank Twinkle, but our dahlia story is a bit confusing.

Dahlia in October

dahlia 'Preference'

There isn't a whole lot blooming now in my garden but all of the dahlia are still going strong. In the afternoon sun, the bumble bees are sluggish and swarming over them. Every morning I look out to see if they've gotten frosted off yet. A couple of years ago, they lasted till Remembrance Day but I suspect it will be sooner this year.

Battling Slugs

It's not a very exciting picture but what it represents is very exciting, at least for us. I've posted about our problems with slugs in the past and about a solution we tried with some success last year. This year we're trying coffee instead. Apparently slugs don't like coffee so we've been saving our used grinds and spreading them around the dahlias. Not all the dahlias are up yet but the ones that are show no signs of slugs at all. Since our dahlia selection has dropped from 20+ to 7, this is great news!

Dahlia 'Yellow Star' Makes an Appearance

These poor flowers are a little worse for wear but it is the end of October.  A beautiful lemon yellow semi-cactus dahlia, the blooms are 3.5 inches across.  I won't need to plant yellow daisies next year because I'll get lots of yellow from these.
This may be the end of our dahlia story for the 2010 gardening season.  I have one more bud that I'm hopeful about but I imagine hope will be overcome by frost in the next couple of days.  I certainly can't complain - this has undoubtedly been the longest gardening season since we started 6 years ago.

Dahlia 'Karma Bon Bini' - Hard to Miss

I'm getting close to the end of my dahlia season and so glad I got to see this one.  The yellow interior is close to lime and the red is wonderfully bright.  Karma Bon Bini is a straight cactus with 3" blooms and stands about 2.5' tall.  These cactus dahlias are really growing on me!

Bright & Fun - Dahlia 'Giggles'

What an appropriate name!  You can't look at it without at least smiling.  'Giggles' is another beautiful collarette, planted next to 'Alpen Cherub' and they are a great pair.  These collarettes are tall and graceful with long stalks and rather insignificant foliage.  This bloom is smaller and shorter than it would normally be - standing about 3' tall and 3" across.  It wasn't planted till mid-July and we are now close to frost.  There was a frost warning last night but our dahlia blooms survived.  Other people in the Halifax area had frosty windows and lost their begonias and dahlias - it seems we're in a good spot!

Stunning Dahlia - 'Glenbank Twinkle'

I know I've said it lots this year but this is definitely one of my favourite dahlias!  It starts out dark fushia and lightens as it opens.  The shape is wonderful and it's so photogenic.  It's classification is M-C-DB, which means miniature, straight cactus, and dark blend.  This bloom is 4" across and stands 2.5' tall.  I can't wait to see it open completely.

Tiny Dahlia - 'Little Scottie'

This little fellow is small - barely 2" across - but so wonderful.  It has layers and layers of petals and forms a perfect ball.  The pale lemon yellow is one of my favourite colours.  Next year I will plant it with hot pink in my ring garden.  Little Scottie is a pompon dahlia and stands only 1.5' tall and is one of all the dahlia that Danielle brought me in July.

Delicate Dahlia - 'Preference'

This beautiful dahlia is definitely 'girlie'.  She opens a darker shade of salmon and then lightens into this two-tone pinky-peach with a pale yellow centre.  This heirloom dahlia is classified M-SC-PK.  The 'M' must be a mistake because this is not a miniature - it's 5" across.  SC stands for semi-cactus and PK is for pink.  When it first opens the petals are flatter but then curl back as it ages.  It's sprawled across the garden since Hurricane Earl struck but would be about 3' tall if upright.

Dark Dahlia 'Cornel'

Cornel is a beautiful dark red dahlia with many layers.  This bloom stands at 3.5 feet and is about 3" across.  Slow to open, it is definitely worth the wait.  It's classification is BA-DR, meaning ball and dark red.  This was one of the dahlia that Danielle brought me in July.

Dahlia 'Brookside Snowball'

This is a big white beauty!  She has layers and layers of pointy petals and the three I have blooming are stunning.  While she only grew to 3 feet for me this year, her stalks are extra thick and sturdy.  This bloom is just over 4 inches across.  Brookside Snowball is a ball type dahlia.  This is one of the dahlia that Danielle brought me in July and it's going to get a more prominent spot in the garden next year.

Lift in Fall - Dahlia

The biggest problem with gardening is that advice is often contradictory. This is a function of two things: 1) each plant is often treated differently from zone to zone and 2) often more than one method will work for a single plant. Geranium winter storage is a good example of this, having several methods that will produce very similar results. Although I have lifted Dahlia before, I did not have a quantity that made me feel like I needed to over think the process and also felt that if I lost the few I had, the consequences would be minimal in my garden. This year, my Dahlia stock has become very important to me. The result is that I have been reading Dahlia lift in Fall instructions for a week now. As usual, the advice is endless and contradictory. I have decided to pull the recommendations that make the most sense to me from a gardener's point of view and will be using the following simple 4 step process.

1) Begin the process after the first couple of sharp frosts have killed the tops of the plant off. Above ground plant material will be black when you start. Cut the black, frosted off tops down to 6 - 8" and leave the tubers in ground for a week or so.

2) Dig the tubers, shaking all excess soil off them and removing any obviously damaged root. Label and store upside down for the first few days.

3) Upright the tubers and let them dry in a tray with an open weave bottom. As they dry, inspect regularly and discard any damaged or soft material.

4) Pack and store them in a cool, frost free location until Spring, being sure to keep them dry.

Leaving the tubers in ground for a week or so after the tops are frost killed makes sense because success is always increased with plants if you do not shock them too much at once. Each change in conditions for a plant can put the plant into shock. Pruning, dividing, transplanting, changing water conditions... all of these can cause some level of shock. So one would normally not want to make too many changes at any single time. My thinking is the week allows the tubers to recover from the tops being gone and put themselves into a dormant state. That week has passed in my garden so I will be digging today.

Labeling is very important and only takes a minute or two extra. You can tie a label on the remaining stock, label the container you ultimately store them in or write with a Sharpie directly on the tuber. Any way you choose is fine but you will regret not labeling in the Spring if you don't take the few minutes when you lift.

Drying the tubers upside down for the first few days makes sense because the stems are hollow and will have water in them. Keeping tubers dry is key when winter storing to prevent rot and mold. The upside down position will allow the stems to drain and dry. If I was using one of the methods that would have me removing the entire stem, I could skip the few days of upside down storage.

Finally, packing and storing can mean different things. I will put the tubers in pails, buckets and boxes and will not add vermiculite or peat between them to keep them dry. They will be stored inside my house in the coolest area of the basement and I should not have to worry about humidity level. Our winters are very cold here and we have forced air heat. Humidity is never a problem inside in a Saskatchewan winter. If I lived in a higher humidity climate, I may consider extra packing. The key is too keep them cool and dry in a dark space. Wish me luck and the photographs next year will tell the story of my success, or lack of it.

Oops, there is another one - Dahlia 'Ferncliff Midnight'

Guess I jumped the gun on the last Dahlia in my side of our Dahlia story for this year. This 'Ferncliff Midnight' was a slightly open bud when I cut it in an attempt to save it from our first frost. Since then, it managed to open inside the house for me. On a 5' plant, these 7" informal decorative flowers sit very upright. Described as reddish-purple, they are bright in the sunlight and darker in low light. Either shade is stunning and overall 'Ferncliff Midnight' is a lovely addition to a pink or an orange garden with it's purple tones setting off either colour pallette. It looks just as good beside 'Gerrie Hoek' as it does beside 'Ferncliff Fuego' but I think next year, I will plant it with 'Wine & Roses'.

My Last 2010 Dahlia - 'Yvonne'

Frost has hit my zone 3 garden and that means no more dahlia to introduce this year. This is 'Yvonne' blooming in my friend, Judy's, garden. She is a recommended cut flower with long stems. The plant grows to 4.5' with 4" waterlily form flowers described as salmon-pink. In Judy's garden she is more pink than salmon but because she bloomed so late, I wonder if that is an oddity of this year's weather.

Dahlia 'Orchid Beauty'

A beautiful white dahlia!  This is another of all the dahlia that Danielle brought me in July.  It's a pure white ball dahlia and stands a little over 3 feet tall.  This bloom is 3 inches across and still has more layers to open.  This is blooming next to dahlia 'Glow' and they're a great pair.

Another Collarette - Dahlia 'April Heather'

'April Heather' is an apricot-pink collarette with a pale yellow collar. She is very dainty and quite pretty in the garden. The plant grows to 4' with 4" flowers. Due to the late planting, she did not put a big display on for me this year. We have frost forecast for tonight in my garden so this will likely be the only shot I get of her single bloom. All of the many buds remaining will wither on the stalks with frost. Next year, I will be planting her in the new front bed, much closer to the house.

Dahlia 'Glow'

Another addition to our mutual dahlia collection, this one has been slow to open.  'Glow' is a pompon dahlia that stands a little less than 3 feet tall.  This bloom is almost 3" across and definitely glows in the garden.

Date Night Dahlia - 'Wine & Roses'

'Wine & Roses' is very pretty in the garden and makes me think of Victorian fabrics. She buds up and starts to open quite dark purple but very quickly shows her white, becoming a 5" white waterlily flower with rosey purple tips on a 4.5' plant. I am not entirely happy with the photographs so far but I may not get more blooms from her and I was happy to have been able to see her at all this year. With frost warnings, I won't get that pleasure in regard to most of the rest of the dahlia until next season.

Dahlia 'Alpen Cherub'

A beautiful collarette, 'Alpen Cherub' is pure white with a hint of pale yellow and a big golden button centre.  The stalks stand at 3.5 feet tall and this bloom is 3.5" across.  It was planted late (in July) when Danielle brought me lots of dahlia tubers, so it may typically get taller.  This would look wonderful with Danielle's 'Hot Lips' dahlia.  Here is another picture of it.

Spot of Sunshine - Dahlia 'Ferncliff Fuego'

'Ferncliff Fuego' is worth a closer look. The first I have that buds up lighter than it blooms, it was my first Dahlia pick when I decided to order them last Fall. Colour and clarity are his best features with clear, bright tones making him look like blossoms of sunshine in the garden. He is a 4.5' plant with 7" flowers in semi-cactus form. I highly recommend him for any Summer garden, he is striking.