Picture of a flame seedling taken with the sun shining through the petals a bit. Got real good color on this shot. Seedling may not be a keeper as flower does not have much depth.
Glorious colors shot that way! I will have to try that in my garden in the morning!
teddahlia Sep 6, 2013 12:42 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I have ordered another lens for my slr camera. This time it is what they call a prime lens. That means it does not zoom and if you want the flower to be bigger in the frame, you hold the camera closer to the flower. I suppose you could call that "manual zoom"
Prime lenses are supposed to be able to shoot much sharper images. And the aperture on this one is 1.7 meaning that I should be able to shoot in low light situations.
And being such a cheap person, I am buying one from the 1980s for only $45.00. New ones cost in excess of $300.00. Lots of people use the older lenses and the examples of their pictures using the same camera with the antique lens are pretty darn good. Next week you may see some pictures posted. Should be here on Monday.
teddahlia Sep 11, 2013 11:37 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
My prime lens was delivered and I have been getting used to shooting with it. It is not very automatic and my kid showed me how to use a "semi automatic" focus. You aim at the flower, hold down the shutter button and then turn the focus ring on the lens until the camera senses full focus and the camera fires the shutter. A bit tricky as you must have it out of focus to start and you must aim the focus sensor exactly on what you want focused. I took a lot of shots and artistically this one came out very well. It is a half ripe Pink Martini.
There is a bigger version on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyhilldahlias/9727035484/siz...
MaryNZ Sep 13, 2013 12:59 AM PDT
Name: Mary St George New Zealand
I think it's well worth learning to drive that lens!
drewtheflorist Sep 13, 2013 4:56 AM PDT
Name: Drew the Florist 14 miles S E of Pittsburgh
VERY SHARP !
teddahlia Dec 20, 2013 11:10 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
In September I decided to try to photograph several of our Hollyhill waterlilies and seedling waterlilies in a group shot. This is much easier said than done and first I went out to the garden and picked the flowers. Some were first year seedlings, others second year and a few even third year and older. There were very few flowers in the seedling patch and I picked all that I could. Then I took some Oasis(Noni, I cannot work without Oasis and until they come up with "organic" Oasis, I am going to continue to use it because you can place the flowers exactly where you want and they do not move) and put it into a suitable container. I picked some greens because dahlias do not have enough leaves and the greens fill in blank spaces. Then I quickly arranged the waterlilies as best I could. By now it was getting a bit late in the morning to take good pictures and I set the basket of flowers on a stand with the sun facing it. I took a bunch of pictures and they were not coming out and I moved the basket into some dappled sunlight. I took a few more pictures and then decided to quit and save the basket till late afternoon when the light would be better. Later that that day a gust of wind toppled the basket, several flowers wilted and that was the end of the project.
Yesterday, I was looking for a picture to post to the Hollyhill Facebook site and remembered the waterlily pictures. So, I used the best one on the site. Today when I checked the site it had been viewed by 250 people. Here is the picture:
I may have posted it on Cubits back when but I do not remember doing so.
I could look at this all day during December! Ted, are these all your creations? If so, tell us about the white one. It sets the others off so nicely!
teddahlia Dec 20, 2013 3:14 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
The white one is 10-120 and is a seedling of a white waterlily called Tahoma Porcelain that Les Connell introduced about 10 years ago and now is no longer sold by anyone that I know of. We still grow it and lost it one year but we had given it to friend that gave it back to us. It is a nice cut flower waterlily that does not make a lot of tubers. The seedling is nice but perhaps not nice enough to be a show flower. It grows rather tall and Margaret has rescued it from the "Do not grow again department" for several years now. It seems that people are looking for white waterlilies and I noticed that the Boleys have a beautiful white seedling that will be show flower and they posted a picture of it on Facebook awhile ago. And the Ilers of Blossom Gulch(they do not farm in a gulch, terrible name) have a glorious one coming out in a couple of years, if they can get it to make some tubers. I will grow extra of our white 10-120 next year and may actually name it and sell it with the proviso that it is a cut flower. Bride to Be is about the best cut flower in white waterlilies and as we have mentioned before you need to severely cut the plant back to get long laterals. Kelgai Anne is a nice white one with a blush. Margaret got tired of it this year and we are only going to grow a plant or two of it next year. Looking forward to growing more seedlings of waterlilies next year. We got two really nice ones last year, the flame and a red one(there can never be enough red waterlilies!).
honnat Dec 20, 2013 4:09 PM PDT
St. Paul, MN
That photo is great Ted! Is the one on the right side as "lavender" as it looks in the photo?
Bride to Be did nothing for me last year; so I didn't dig it. Bad stock? Too hot? I'm not sure. I don't remember how many I planted. I did get Porcelain (not Tahoma Porelain) from Corralittos and that was fantastic. Really long stems. As we have mentioned, it is a horrible tuber producer. I did get two little tiny tubers from them and saved a couple more that are the equivalent of pot roots. We'll see how they all store. I took special care to divide those early on.
It seems growing and showing a good waterlily is a bit more difficult than you would think. In our society, one of our perpetual trophies that is passed around each year is just for the best single water lily bloom. Many attempt; but not many waterlilies look show worthy when they are presented. Another difficult trait that makes showing waterlilies difficult is that they tend to "fold up" when they are out of the light. Petals that are cupped are preferred, but some really stand erect too much and need special treatment to relax enough to display properly.
Also, many waterlily varieties have some poor growth habits. That could be because many have Pam Howden parentage which is a gorgeous flower (my wife's favorite); but a sometimes disobedient plant. Getting decent stems and healthy looking bushes is a challenge. That's why I'm glad to see Hollyhill is focusing a fair amount of their breeding efforts to waterlilies.
teddahlia Dec 20, 2013 5:41 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
About five years ago, we decided to grow all our waterlilies in a separate row. I tied them up as I do all our dahlias and they flopped all over the place. And that included Pam Howden. I learned that for whatever reason,waterlilies do not hold themselves up very well and I have to spend a lot more time tying them up in the row. Most of our waterlily Hollyhill intros grow taller and stronger than typical waterlilies. Tigress reaches 5 feet tall easily and has strong stalks. Pink Tigress is just about as tall. Black Widow is a bit shorter but does ok. Hollyhill Sprite is over 6 feet tall. but does need staking and tying. Monet was over 6 feet tall at the trial garden in Tacoma. Hollyhill Pink Martini(2015 intro) grows a solid 4 feet tall and does not need as much staking as other waterlilies. The 2012 yellow waterlily seedling was 6 feet tall and very vigorous. The first year flame seedling was over 5 feet tall but the red one was only 4 feet.
We grow Mak's Royal Ruby and Taratahi Glo. They both needs lots of tying up. R. Mona does not. Sandia Shomei is OK. Taratahi Ruby flops over. Pam Howden is very bad as you say. We grow lots of it to get pollen and I am usually finding flowers near the ground that flopped over. Ruthie G. is OK.
You know, of the ones on this forum that tried Bride To Be last year I think we all had the same experience except you, Ted. Few flowers, slow to get to blooming, and I got tubers but not that many. I'll be starting it early this year and hope it takes off better. Mine never got up to full height even without pinching back. I'll try to remember to pinch it this next year and should have a fuller bush by starting it earlier and doing that. The flowers were really sweet, just sparse. I'll be waiting for your new white one though. I like them big and strong and I like ones that fold at night and wake up in the morning. It makes them seem more sentient
FLflowerboy Dec 20, 2013 8:48 PM PDT
Name: Jon George Gainesville, FL ...crazy enough to grow dahlias in
Gorgeous blooms, Ted! You have inspired me to grow more WL dahlias, and I will be excited to try some of yours this year.
Noni, sentient dahlias would be ok if they could only make breakfast for us when they wake up in the morning!
teddahlia Dec 21, 2013 9:17 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Swan Island Dahlias probably grows at least a thousand plants of Bride to Be and therefore can cut more flowers. Apparently, it is a different type of dahlia than what many of the cut flower people want. The flowers are just bit smaller than most waterlilies and that makes it better for Swan Island in that they ship flower bunches all over the USA. Larger waterlily types would not ship as well.
Margaret loves white waterlilies and is disappointed with what is available. As mentioned, Porcelain is the premier white one but you cannot keep the few tubers it makes. We tried to get Porcelain from a California person who gave us an unrooted cutting. It did not make it and I would have ordered it from Corralitos this season, had they not closed for 2014. It would be great to have in our breeding program as it does grow tall and vigorously. The other color of waterlily that we want badly is purple. In our seedlings this year there was an "almost" good purple one. It could have been a bit darker purple but it's biggest problem was that the center did not close on some or most blooms. We kept it anyway and will plant it to get pollen and seeds. In order to get a purple dahlia you need to start with either purple or white. Since there are no purple ones to be had right now, Margaret needs to cross red dahlias with white ones to get purple. Red to red and red to yellow will not work. It is the yellow pigment that you have to lose and then red combined with white equals purple. Red flowers have a yellow base, so when you cross red to white only a small percentage will be purple. And our purple seedling needs to be crossed with whites and reds too. Too bad there is not another purple one out there and she could cross purple to purple and that would be the best cross. By the way, each year the Boleys, donate seeds to the dahlia club and they sprout them and sell the plants. A purple waterlily was the best one last year. You can see how the dahlia breeders are racing towards the same goals. Margaret says she will name and sell our white one as a cut flower in 2015.
honnat Dec 21, 2013 10:20 AM PDT
St. Paul, MN
What happens if you cross a waterlily with another dahlia that has the color you are looking for; but a different form. If you plant enough of them, would you eventually get a waterlily? Like a shallow, FD-P crossed with a white water lily or something.
teddahlia Dec 21, 2013 11:10 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
We have gotten "waterlily" seedlings from semi cactus flowers that must have crossed with a waterlily. It would be much more difficult to have a flower with high petal count like a miniature FD produce a waterlily. The form of a waterlily is flat petals that cup upwards and very few rows of petals. Many semi cactus flowers do not have high petal counts and the cross with the waterlily flattens the petals and hopefully gets them to cup upwards. So it could be possible to take a purple semi cactus and cross it with a white waterlily with the hopes that something nice would happen. The problem with such crosses is that it takes many generations of crossing back to real waterlilies to get the form back. For example waterlilies are supposed to have rounded tips. When you unfurl a semi cactus petal it has pointed tip. In breeding it is generally many small steps to get to your goal. If one had about 10 years to develop the waterlily semi cactus cross, it might be possible. You can see why it is probably better to cross two waterlilies than using a semi cactus. When you cross the waterlilies you are preserving the form and just looking for color and the color is possible from the white and red crosses.
You say shallow fd-pom. Is there a shallow fd-pom that is purple? I have not seen one.
drewtheflorist Dec 22, 2013 7:29 PM PDT
Name: Drew the Florist 14 miles S E of Pittsburgh
Holly Hill Black Widow grows to about 5 1/2 ft for me and is loaded with long stem cuts. (most of mine grow taller than the west coast catalogs list--- could be a 'regional' thing ? ) without an over abundance of tying . I have a decent yellow waterlily seedling out of seed parent Camano Sitka B IC DB. So, waterlilies can come from unexpected places . Hopefully the tuber stores well so that I can see what it does next year.
honnat Dec 22, 2013 7:54 PM PDT
St. Paul, MN
HH Black Widow was quite tall for me too. I think it was easily 5 feet at home (with just a little shade); and about 4.5 at the farm where it got full sun. The heat splits the petals tips more; and it will have green centers in the worst of the heat; but it still grows strong.
I remember a couple years ago, there were several growers that entered HH Black Widow at a show and no one was awarded a blue because they all had split tips on the petals. It doesn't deter people from growing it as it is a fantastic dahlia.
CCvacation Dec 22, 2013 8:07 PM PDT
Name: CC PA
Looking at Linda's Dahlias, I find myself frustrated that I can't see the side of the blooms... It's like only seeing a mountain from a birds point of view with no horizon line. You can't see how deep it is, or how the petals really line up with each other in 'real life.'
To me, the dahlia image made by shooting straight down into the face of the bloom can create a great artistic shot with the right lighting, but a lousy mug shot for selling.
teddahlia Dec 25, 2013 11:51 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Not much going on as I wait for arrivals of family on Christmas day. Here is a picture of last years red waterlily seedling that is about seven inches in diameter. That is very large for a waterlily but not nearly as large as AC Tran that is an inch or so bigger. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to putting them both into some sort of container next season to show off waterlilies on "steroids".
