dahlias

[robh]

thanks steve am hopeless

[robh]

has he members any of the members ever grown the following dahlias hillcrest embers hanna and kismet are tthey as good as the pics i have seen cheers

[sweetpea]

haven't grown these particular varieties but Les Jackson of Hillcrest Dahlias is a reputable dahlia grower/breeder and has many excellent varieties to his name. Usually prefixed 'Hillcrest'.

[Tel]

I have only grown one Hillcrest variety and that was a few years ago now, it was called Pink Suffusion, small decorative, this variety was not on the show bench for long though, mainly i belive because it had to be grown 4 up to get it to size, taking up a lot of space for 4 blooms when you could use another variety and get 6-8 blooms per plant.

[scrumpy]

I did try a few Hillcrest dahlias when Les first brought them out.
Became affectionately known in those days as Hillcrest Virus

Tried a few of his smalls......desire and suffusion but as Tel says, were on the small side but certainly good for garden use, local shows. Could never get decent tubers from them either.
Also tried a few mediums....Trueform and Delight. Again, nice enough for the garden, but not on the show bench.

[robh]

bought some more sahlias today from braithwaites of leeming bar they were bonnaventure, hamari accord, kids climaxsir alf ramsey ,ruskin avengerand wooton impact i have to say they were the strongest plants i have bought i bought some from n d c and halls but by far braithwaites were strong plants, brought them 70 mile and snapped 2 getting out of the car i have been able to take a cple of side shoots off the broken plants dont know if they will grow though nothing ventured nothing gained he has a lot of new varietys for stock cant wait to see them in bloom

[Tel]

Some nice dahlias there Rob.

[scrumpy]

They wouldn't have been strong plants if you'd ordered them a month ago.
What you have are pot grown plants, as opposed to cell rooted that the suppliers send by post.

[robh]

proberley if they turn out ok this year i will visit him again when they flower and decide what i want for next year and order them but go and collect the same time next year he still had them inside but will be bringing them out next week

[robh]

i have 16 trays of dahlias and tubers about 200 in all i put them out every day and take them in at night when can i start to leave them out permanantly do i just watch out for low tems and frost at nite

[Tel]

After you have have had them out and taken them in at night, for a couple of weeks, you can then leave them out day and night.
Just keep a eye on the weather, in case any frost is forecast.
I normally plant mine out either the last weekend in May, or the first weekend in June, if the forecast is favourable.