Hello all! Yes it's that time of year to move to a new year of buying, planning, growing etc. On top of it all - you are a kind and informative group of people who share a lot of info on growing these lovelies. So welcome back to all the old timers, welcome to anyone new! Jump on in and share in your dahlia growing season.

Link to last years thread:

The thread "2022 Dahlia Season" in Dahlias forum

@Melissamaeday @psudan @pirl @hampartsum @petespetals @Johannian @hostasmore @theflowerlady @kaylaalwayslearning @katesflowers @ShawnSteve @luvsgrtdanes @JBarstool

I'm sure I missed adding people, but please come find us and join in! Welcome to 2023!

Bump

Gray and maybe icing here. Winter can move on!

Thanks for the new thread, Scarlet! Already tired of winter and can hardly wait for the growing season to start.

Ordered today from American Meadows!

What did you pick out for this next year Arlene?

Johannian: I hear you! It's a bit lighter here but still snow to come. I haven't looked at the 511 map but it was icy in the region earlier.

Vancouver, Akita and https://www.americanmeadows.co...

That will be lovely! I look forward to seeing your blooms next summer.

So do I.

Perhaps I should start posting here since there is almost no 2022 blooms yet here.
I don't know about you folks up there, but a for newbie in studying/discovering/collecting dahlias I am now at a weird situation by which all in all I must have about 200 tubers in various degrees of growth. Some supposedly the tall varieties just barely 10 inches tall, with even some buds on them. Will they ever grow tall? or will they just stay stunted and do their thing on the lower tier? Most of them seem in very good shape with healthy green normal sized leaves. Simply short...
Second source of doubts are what they actually are. With the exception of about a dozen well formed bushy plants that belong to 'Rebecca's World',
the rest that is about 180/90 plants are all new comers. I've been having about a 50/50% misnomers appearing. Since I'm in the start and some of the misnomers are actually very worthy for their right, I'm not too frustrated that I got something different from ordered. Some are predictably the kind consistent with the label. However the bloom size, is below Internet size descriptions. I suppose that is because they are first blooms, they are all inside grow bags, so I should expect improvement once they get a first round of granular feed. From what I've read from posts of others here and elsewhere, mislabelling seems to be particularly prevalent in the dahlia trade specially when, peeps like myself, just have to rely on tubers coming from the international trade. I suspect that Mr. God up in heaven must be chuckling at me...it is a good way for me to learn how to coexist with a positive stance and deal with uncertainty. In consequence this is just a wordy post, since what have finally become ffe blooms have yet to be identified... among presumably about 100 different varieties.
I just came back inside from my dahlia patch which were in cover under a Arizona cypress line. They are now being spread out into open full sun so that they really harden up. Also they are being tied to stakes and eventually will go into various beds. (that still need preparation...has anyone up there feel that every spring? ) So perhaps when this thread actually reaches 2023, perhaps I might have blooms worthy of sharing. and my dahlias in place... This December is way too cool to expect anything much.

Arturo

Work was slow today so I partially went down a rabbit hole thinking of the dahlias. Haven't solved my issue of how I'd like to change things up, and of course how many of these will I plant? Still noodling that too because I do have a wandering eye right now looking at pictures of blooms why do I do that when I say no I'm not buying. Hahahah.

Winter really hasn't taken off - that 3" of snow went somewhere. It is not here at my house. Fine by me. Of course everything is grey and brown w the exception of my honeysuckle which still has bright green leaves hanging on it. And the neighbors lilacs that rebloomed in October.

Ok, well I'm going to go look and see if there is anything I must truly add. Hah.

Arturo: I'm always ahead and thinking optimistically for the next growing season! 2023 it is!

As for surprises. I bought a 2 fer of Kelvin floodlight and I had a few bags that were suppose to be various named varieties. Yep, I ended up with 7 Kelvin floodlight plants. Now I like Kelvin, but 7 was just way too much for my liking for next year!

Hopefully you'll have beautiful surprises. Sometimes on those smallish first blooms I cut them off especially if I'm certain of the plant and gre the year before. How's your watering going?

ScarletTricycle said: Arturo: I'm always ahead and thinking optimistically for the next growing season! 2023 it is!

As for surprises. I bought a 2 fer of Kelvin floodlight and I had a few bags that were suppose to be various named varieties. Yep, I ended up with 7 Kelvin floodlight plants. Now I like Kelvin, but 7 was just way too much for my liking for next year!

Hopefully you'll have beautiful surprises. Sometimes on those smallish first blooms I cut them off especially if I'm certain of the plant and gre the year before. How's your watering going?

My 'Rebecca's World' belong to old standing group of tubers. I must been growing them for about 16 years by now. Very easy, they even can be left out in the ground in my conditions. They tuberize easily and multiply even more. Perhaps the only down side is that they are late bloomers, so I won't be seeing much of flowers until February, even this year that all my tubers were started indoors. we'll see... Btw it is an excellent tuber keeper too, so even lifted they stay plump and fresh and sprout indoors early on. Actually, my hope lies in identifying these overall good performers and concentrate my dahlia beds relying heavily on good survivors.
I've been after Kelvin's Floodlight for a few seasons already. None made it here yet. The other yellow that I had for just one summer (2016) is 'Grand Prix' that was sold out when I tried to get it again this past season.

Its really a wonderful dahlia. My photo doesn't do any justice to it... The tips are white and it adds charm to the otherwise quite similar dahlia (KF)
So in this dahlia assortment quest, what I also discovered already that my initial search/ buy should include more than a single tuber per variety, given the vagaries of the full process.
I suppose that you folks now are in that stage where you wonder and wander through catalogs, wish lists, yearnings, desires, and solemn internal promises ( which are relentlessly broken) not to purchase more than... and easily going overboard... Dahlia farmers rely heavily on our inconsistencies... so that's how the economy gets running and prosperity gets established. Worse comes to worse, if I have just too many tubers of a kind, apart from trading or giving away I might consider eating them. After all the aztecs grew them for food and since they accumulate inulin instead of starch, they are appropriate for diabetics like myself.
Thanks for reminding checking adequate watering. I regularly drench each pot every two days. Sometimes I skip a watering because we are having some late rains this spring. Forecast, if they come true, anticipate rains every 10 days or so. However sometimes a bag may be overlooked. I also try to let the soil reach a dry stage before watering again. I prefer my dahlias to ask for water rather than discover that they have rotted at the base of the sprouts; also it deterrs hordes of slugs ( my main dahlia enemy... ). But perhaps that could explain the initial smallish blooms. As the season progresses I will place them directly in ground with a drip line. Those that remain in pots will possibly need daily watering then.
Arturo

Arturo: If you lived close I'd send you kelvins. It's a lovely huge bloom and actually fairly prolific. That's most interesting where I received a lot of them in my mix bags that you've gotten none I think a bag of 5 mix 3 need up being Kelvin. Strange how that happens. I was perusing some websites last night and the way they perceive the trendy ones and the prices to match…I guess supply and demand.

So far I have not ordered, just l looked because really I've three crates in the basement at about 120 tubers per crate that's more than enough kid1 kindly reminded me we aren't planting that number this year nor the number I did last year. Thank you kid1 for your valuable insight.

Kid2 is under the weather and woke w the pukes. We were suppose to take him out for breakfast today to celebrate man accomplishment. Now we are watching some god awful cartoon. I think it's time to go dahlia look some more.

Happy Saturday all! Arlene's colors were so lovely. Maybe there is a bunch of colors I'm missing in my own beds.

Totally skipping the snow and whatever crud the day brought. I laid low all day long:

https://neillstrain.com/blogs/...

Some pretties! I'm just looking at ideas.

Thanks for starting a new thread, Scarlet! Sorry you had crappy weather, we've only had a dusting of snow thus far, and though we can use the moisture I don't want to deal with it.

Arturo...omg I laughed for a long time about eating the dahlia tubers. If worse comes to worse, I could probably dump some ranch or Dorothy Lynch on them and pretend they are vegetables. I've heard that they are good for diabetics due to their composition!

I did put a small order in today with Arrowhead Dahlias. It wasn't intended, but was irritated with work (my new project is crypto fraud and I'm not a big fan, but hey it's job security) and saw an IG post about their sale. I got Maarn and Verrone's DF (both staples in my garden and neither were very generous with tuber making this year), and Snoho Les as AC White Rabbit got thrown in the trash and now I need a new variegated ball.

Nice shopping, Arlene!

Dan, congrats on your elliptical purchase. I've burned out many treadmills over the years (usually in apartment complex gyms or at my parent's house, ha), so agree that this will last much longer. I also wish people waited to leave reviews until after they've owned something like that for a long while. My gym has 3 different kinds of them, and the one that has up to 20 resistance/20 incline is my fave. They do work wonders, and are less abrasive than pounding out many miles on a treadmill.

I love this forum and forgot I was even in it. Excuse my long absence. It's fun to read about your new dahlia fantasies and purchases... who needs the dance of sugar plum fairies when we have the dance of dahlia petals?

It's good to know I am in the company of people who swear each year after digging all those tubers that they are NOT going to buy any, then are seduced by all the pretty pictures. Last year I bought 19 new varieties for my tiny garden which put the count up to 50; that's not counting the trades! I love the idea of trades. I just bought one variety from a grower, trying not to add NEW varieties to my already too long wish or replacement list for those that died. I hated to spend 20 bucks on just one tuber and shipping but that's how bad i wanted it.

So what is the first thing one does after the sweat and pain of digging and washing and cutting up all those clumps subsides for a few weeks? Buy more, of course! The number of varieties in my tiny garden plot keeps climbing, as does my age. Aren't I supposed to be going in the direction of acquiring less and having less work to do? Haha.

I look forward to seeing what you all are buying and growing in 2023. Had heavy losses in the storage unit last winter. I hope this winter is kinder.

back flowerluvr! I had 13 when I began and moved to 50 and by last year 120. Haha I need to cut back, but yes I have a roving eye when it comes to looking at the lovelies.

Melissa: crypto? Are you dealing w the mess in the news or just in general? I'm not sure how to feel about it because to me it seems like everything is made up and maybe in the end you've made money or maybe it doesn't really exist. And what are these mining operations and how does that work? I know they have taken over rural America w their mining centers and they say the buildings hum all the time. I'm progressive in my investing, but that one is one I seriously don't get or for my mind seems sketchy. I'm interested to see your thoughts. So yay for another new gig. Have you got your sabbatical all planned?

AM: so I'm kind of confused. With all the heavy weather out west, my accuweather popped last night saying 3-6" snow this week. I just looked and now no snow? So where's it going? I went and looked and can't find a darn thing! Even the 3-6" is gone. Can I just say the last 4x of snow events we were to have have been forecasted for my area completely wrong? At this rate there should have been close to a foot already on the ground - and frankly last night at bed when I looked out it looked like powder sugar only.

Weird.

You'd think w/ all the tech out there we'd know exactly but I feel we know less yearly.

I have a lot to do today since I sat on my duff yesterday. Kids have activities today I need to make a gift and treats for. Kid1 has ball practice and I'm over school saying family time on Sundays is not important.

After all of the things I have to get done, I like to get downstairs and check the crates. Needs to be done for December and hopefully my loss ratio is pretty nil.

Look forward to seeing people's buys this year! Read elsewhere that it seems as crazy as last year w the openings. Anyone loose all that they have selected in their carts? What's the must have tuber for anyone? I'd just be happy to have all the ones I planted out actually bloom the next year. Hah. I think out of all of mine I was 37% that didn't and that's kind of high in my book!

Happy Sunday. I'm off to have a cuppa, head to mass and see what and how the day shakes out. Send me good mojo vibes for the day. I've a ton to get done.

No snow out there just the powder sugar dusting. Not sure what this weeks weather will bring because the little I did find says an inch or no accumulation later in the week. I think the upper Midwest has traded places w the other spots in the country for snow fall.

So stay safe everyone with snowflakes headed your way. Tuber check update later.

ScarletTricycle said:
AM: so I'm kind of confused. With all the heavy weather out west, my accuweather popped last night saying 3-6" snow this week. I just looked and now no snow? So where's it going? I went and looked and can't find a darn thing! Even the 3-6" is gone. Can I just say the last 4x of snow events we were to have have been forecasted for my area completely wrong? At this rate there should have been close to a foot already on the ground - and frankly last night at bed when I looked out it looked like powder sugar only.

Weird.

You'd think w/ all the tech out there we'd know exactly but I feel we know less yearly.
.

Like any person in this beleaguered world, climate as it enfolds puzzles me ever more....I have no doubts that climate is changing and in the average warming. However, I still have those nasty late spring freezes that wiped almost all my spring blooms of roses, lilies, irises, but fortunately not my dahlias because my guardian angel ( that is my godson in flesh) covered them up. So I spend quite a lot of my thinking in devicing schemes of weather protection that are within our practical possibilities.It restricts my landscape designs as well. Given that, however I still envision a general management scheme that is plausible, given my specific conditions. I guess these musings must be either in the front or in the back of the mind of everyone here....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
I watched this video with quite some interest. As I was trained during my higher education in grad school up there, into independent critical thinking, which was deemed crucial in the advancement of science, both pure or applied: in my case nature conservation science, agriculture or veterinary medicine. So when the video was announced in YT, I started to watch it and did so up to the end. She is a true independent thinker which is a great relief to me. Of its content what is most interesting is she explains clearly where climate short term forecasts stand today: UNCERTAIN!!!! is the norm, rather than the opposite. She gives arguments that are consistent to my own observations. When to rely WU, or accuweather and thus how to tweak in my own precautionary actions. If at risk, prevention and/or precautionary measures are the norm.
So my dahlia beds should be organized in such a way that a fleece cloth can cover it. Also the beds should have arches already in place so covering in the evening is straight forward. I'm planning the same for my rose beds or my lily beds. Gladioli are part of the dahlia retinue so they'll be covered as well. Daylilies don't seem to suffer that freeze. Most of them are only showing their new scapes almost a month later from the freeze, which happened Nov 17. The good side of this that I can keep my structures prepared and thus extend my blooming season in fall, by protecting them again against the first fall frosts that usually are spread out for almost six weeks, until the real hard frosts hit and stops everything.

Arturo

I'll have to take a look later today at the YouTube you posted. I usually have used a variety of sources when inclement weather is on the way but of late it seems like it's either not correct or my sources aren't posting. Or maybe they think the Midwest doesn't need updates. Hah. When you watch national weather that's usually the case, the middle isn't important. Especially when there is the freak out of a few inches of snow out east and everything closes. I had a cousin who used to call me - "is everything shut down there?" She'd ask when we were to get a storm that we would share and I'd say why are you asking and it was usually well you are suppose to get 3" as we are. And I would end up laughing and saying life goes on here, maybe at 18" of snow we'd come to a standstill but not 3", that's just a dusting.

I'm off to get some sewing done before I head to Mass. we're going to a later one today to let one kid sleep in. Then if time permits those tubers need a check!

And if I choose to avoid all I have to get done today since I was a lump on a log yesterday, I might go peruse more flowers to look at and dream one day of having a lovely cacophony of blooms!

Any new blooms to report Arturo?