Dahlias 2012 season

[Tel]

Sept 16, 2012 18:55:10 GMT Lou78W said:

Anyone who gets a "placing" this year is a hero.......what a miserable year for most of us......onwards and upwards....we are all planning for next year now

Your right Lou lets hope for a better 2013, Lesley and Candyblue have done well this year, Derek, DC and Scrumpy would have hoped for better i think. In my case after this year i need to get my enthusiasm back on track.

[dcdahlia]

Been up the garden tonight and ryecroft brenda t is miraculously now dressing back to the stem with nice centres I did'nt know weather to laugh or cry ;D :'(it might save me from looking for another small dec.Hopefully it was just this years abysmal weather but if it had done this last week I would have had an entry in the small dec class at harrogate.

[Lou78W]

Isn't it always the case "if only".....

[AJ]

Bought a tuber just to try it out early this year and got 5 nice little plant

s.

[Tel]

Careful AJ, they can be contagious. ;D

[candyblue]

Sorry for the delay am having problems with my laptop at home so am trying to ghet some piccies on at lunch at work

Some pictures of dahlias at Harrogate

A new variety from Halls, I cant remember the name but apparently we are getting it next year




Spartacus, another thet OH likes


Giants decorative class

[Cherry]

Your dahlia did look good AJ.

Candyblue, thanks for the photos. The new one from Halls looks good. Well they all do actually.

[Lou78W]

Thank you Tracey.....lovely stuff ;D ;D...I see they have been painting the vases this year......

[AJ]

that was the lowest growing one I could find. Would love to grow loads but anything taller would probably get flattened up here by the wind

[dcdahlia]

Anyone interested in any field tubers ( for price of p+p only) let me know and I will post out in november/december.Varieties will be:
Jomanda,marys jomanda,joan walker,kenora valentine,ruskin michelle,leopold chloe,ryecroft brenda t,oakwood goldcrest,blyton softer gleam,dikara superb,grenador pastelle,ruskin harmony,janal amy,ruskin myra and hillcrest candy.

I could also do a swap as I am after some winholme diane and a mini cactus( weston pirate or weston stardust)

[dcdahlia]

That variety from halls is westerton lillian a large dec raised by the chairman of our society gordon hodgson.

[scrumpy]

I've been a bit quiet of late.Busy on other things.
Anyway,nice pics of the national show, last one looks like Barbarry Sultan , new small dec. Had a couple of plants of it, wasn't to sure about it myself. May be worth another go.
As for DC and being up against the moonlights, perhaps the stage has been reached where there should be a championship just for them, and a separate one for other semi cactus varieties. Must be demoralising knowing good blooms can never win.

Anyway, a little while back in the timing for shows, I mentioned 2nd flushes, as I used to use them for late shows. Thought i'd give a few examples of them, and at the same time what I reckon from this years blooms what would make good garden varieties, as well as exhibition.

The one that has been particularly good is Dikara Moon. No idea if that was entered at the nationals but in my garden it knocks spots off the Charlies.
This picture was taken today. Don't forget the plants flowered first early August, and I have been cutting them regulary since, and I haven't looked after them particularly well. So this particular bloom comes from a side shoot well down the plant.
Size and form and colour are still good. Stems very good. And plant remains nice and compact.



Next one is Ryecroft Rebel. I've lost count of the number of blooms i've had off this one. They are now so tall that the stems can hardly support the blooms, but still they look like this. I reckon this one is best grown as a large, off four laterals, for early August, then follow up with 8 laterals for September



Lastly a picture of my sport. Couldn't get two to match for the nationals as the best selection finished about 4 days early. I had one spotless bloom that was as good as any moonlight i'd grown. One day I'll get it there.
So this one is on the plant, is about 6 foot 6 inches tall, and shows it's colour closely. Always has that slight yellow tip to it.
And below it the same bloom taken in a different location. These digital cameras are very erratic!!





For garden use as well as exhibition, the three that have done particularly well for me are
1. Barbarry Melody. Since early August, there have always been blooms ready for cutting. I tried growing them six up initially to see if I could get them up to a big size, but they stayed on the small side. Since then i've let them go and just disbudded the laterals and they keep to more or less the same size, but like the one shown below today, keep their colour and shape and strong stems. And still they are producing loads more stems. And It's been out in all weathers.



Next one, Brenda T. This one again has been flowering over a long period, kept it's form, and hasn't marked too much with all the rain. This one has come from a plant that had at least 12 laterals on it's 2nd flush.



and finally, Ryecfoft Zoe. A few weak stems but at least 100 blooms from six plants, and still they are going strong.



All in all, apart from show time, i've probably had my best garden display of dahlias ever. One of the advantages of stopping early I think.

[dcdahlia]

There were a few vases of dikara moon at harrogate scrumpy,there was also some ryecroft rebel but it looked like it would be hard to match.That barbarry looks good what were the centres like.Early on all my brenda t were blowing the centres only half way back its only the last 7/10 days that it has put itself right it was going on the scrap heap but I have had a change of mind.As for the moonlights if you can't beat them join them I am gonna try some again next season.

[scrumpy]

The centres on the barbarry are OK. I would say they aren't as good as last year. Will see what next year brings.
As for Rebel, judging rules are supposed to have changed a bit meaning a little bit of colour mis matching won't be downgraded.
However, you can grow them at least 10 up and still hit the ring so there is a lot of choice of blooms.
Your Brenda, do you mean they opened up singly after the buds looked fine?
That happened with one of my Softer Gleams this year, and a few years ago Alfs mascot and Mascot mayo did it. You can tell by watching the bud develop when it's going to happen. In my case, every bud on every plant went single so I got rid, so when you say it's corrected itself do you mean on the same plant, or are different plants OK? If it's the latter, stick with them for next years cuttings as whatever caused the problem, it hasn't affected them.

With regards to the moonlights, and if it's your soil that causes the problem, I grew mine for Harrogate in 30 litre polypots, five up, using Keith Singletons hanging basket compost/garden top soil 2parts / 1part. They all got pretty close to top size, were clean apart from where our little insects did their stuff, and good form.
No spotting at all.

Very surprised more people aren't showing Dikara Moon. Needs someone on this forum who grows for the nationals to put some in

[dcdahlia]

Brenda t did'nt have much centre as it began to open so as it got about half way back the centre had gone.Then all of a sudden it was opening with a load of centre in and dressing right back on the same plants.It seems to have got better after I covered.I would happily take a tuber of dikara moon off your hands for a try scrumpy is there anything you would like of mine and we could do a swap ;D