This gorgeous big dahlia, Camano Sitka, has been blooming all summer. It blooms early, it blooms late, it blooms all around the block (in my Johnson community garden.) Good stem width too. A keeper! I hope it makes good tubers. We'll see later this month or in early November.
This pretty anemone dahlia is said to be a good producer of blooms on a tall plant. If cut early, it helps avoid petals shattering, and can be an good cut flower for bouquets and arrangements.
Paul Smith was my grandfather on my mother's side. We were estranged and I am not a gardener. Mom happened to mention his passion for cultivation of the Paul Smith Dahlia in the last days of her life. Just wanted to thank all who continue the flower's existence. As I understand it is not an easy task.
One of the loveliest of the Formal Decorative Dahlias, Polventon Kristobel seems to me to be almost perfect in form and colour. The flowers are a deep, dusky raspberry pink with gold tips to the petals. Very striking. Introduced in 2016 by Cyril Watkins of Cornwall in the UK. A firm favorite.
The Danny Dahlia was hybridized by my grandfather Frank Marker of Upper Montclair, NJ. It was named after the birth of my brother, Daniel Cole, in October, 1958.
B of L can be VERY hard to keep, and rots for many people. In past visits to Swan Island, even their rows had a lot of empty space where they were growing B of L plants for their catalog tuber sales.
What's in a name?
The name of this dahlia has always interested me. I first heard the name 'Suffolk Punch' as a child, reading about breeds of horses in one of the books my family mysteriously owned. We weren't horse people. Suffolk Punch is an English breed of heavy draft horse, or draught horse, as it is termed in the UK. 'Punch' is slang in the UK for a short, stout individual.
This dahlia was developed in the UK, but its appearance has little in common with the Suffolk PUnch horse, or horses in general. It isn't sorrel or chestnut in color, as characterizes the horse breed, but at a stretch you could say the plants are short and stout, I suppose. I finally decided the 'Punch' in the dahlia name could be a play on words, and refer to the blooms' reddish pink color, which is not unlike the color of many punch drinks.
Any thoughts?
Dahlia World lists the flower form as single, but as can be seen in photos in the database, some doubling (extra rows of petals) can occur. Personally, I think 'novelty open' (NO) is a more accurate description of the flower form.
Disambiguation:
The two flower forms currently listed for this entry, pompon and incurved cactus are seriously at odds with each other. All of the photos in the database are of a cactus type dahlia.
Data World lists five different cultivars with the name 'Purple Gem', viz.
Purple Gem I Pom Pu. 1941 Barwise UK ir0/cd13/nds42w/adsc02
Purple Gem II SBa Pu. <1938 Dahlia News38
Purple Gem III SC Pu. 1965 ir0
Purple Gem IV MinD Pu. 1958 gw
Purple Gem V SC Pu. <1957 kops NL ir0/cd34/ =kops purple
Dahlia Addict references only an incurved cactus form, which seems to agree with the photos in the database.
I conclude that the database photos match either Purple Gem III or Purple Gem V in the Dahlia World list, and probably Purple Gem III, the most recently introduced of the entries. However, the database Year introduced (1941), Country of Origin (UK), and Hybridizer (Barwise) entries refer to Purple Gem I in the Dahlia World list. Likewise, the ADS classification code is appropriate to the pompon version (Purple Gem I), not a semi-cactus or incurved cactus form. I hope someone on the administrative side sees this comment and cleans up the data for this entry.
Flower form for Bloomquist Tamara. Dahlia World gives the form as fimbriated. [Bloomquist Tamara M.Fim. R. 2009 bloomquist USA ads12]
My limited photo evidence of the blooms suggests that the petal tips are not significantly split or serrated, but the petals are very narrow, curled or twisted, and revolute through most, if not all, of their length. To my inexpert eye, the blooms appear more like a cactus type than anything else. I offer this observation with the caveat that dahlia blooms do not always behave true to their cultivar standards, either in form or color. The blooms I've seen might be anomalous.
The earliest blooms on the plants I saw at Dahlia Hill were not fully double, as they should have been for an 'informal decorative' designation. This caused me to doubt the plant label. However, blooms that were produced later in the same season did conform to the official description. I mention this as an aid to gardeners who might wonder whether they were sold the correct tubers when they see the first blooms on their plants.
Dahlias with flower forms, like Ebony Star, that are classed as novelty (NO or NX) typically aren't given size descriptors such as M, B, BB, etc. The blooms I've seen are about the size of a typical single form dahlia, i.e. about 4 inches across, somewhere between M and BB.
Disambiguation notice: The probable reason that two flower forms (single and waterlily) are listed for this cultivar is that, according to Dahlia World's list, there are two dahlias of this name.
One of them is a red single (China Doll I Sing R. 1990 takeuchi USA adsc02)
The other, which most closely matches the photo in the database is a waterlily (China Doll II SWL Pk.-Y.Bls <1994 swan island USA ads05).
I note, also, that this second form is a better match for photos I have taken at Dahlia Hill for a cultivar labeled 'China Doll', but which I have not yet uploaded to the database. They are a blend of pink and yellow, but are considerably darker overall than the photo currently on file, which is purportedly from the developer, Swan Island.
I have read that members of this series of dahlias are meant to be grown as annuals, and they are listed as such by some growers.
One site claims they were bred not to produce tubers.
This is a case where several different cultivars might be intended (see below). Absent any proposed cultivar-specific data or a photo, this database entry is ambiguous.
From http://www.dahliaworld.co.uk/d...
Blue Danube I SBa L. 1948 ir0/cd12
=bonny blue
Blue Danube II SD L. <1957
Blue Danube III MinD L. <2012 jans12
It would appear that Blue Danube I or Blue Danube III are the more likely ones based on flower form, since a common name 'Ball Dahlia' was included when the entry was created. An introduction date for Blue Danube III of "<2012", which might mean "before 2012" still leaves that choice suspect, however, given the garden.org database entry creation date in 2011.
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