Rossendale Peach (Much bigger then I thought it would be...wonderful color! It would probably be a little more pastel in my garden. I ordered it. Snoho Sonia...ever so much nicer then the club specimen I tried that was open centered from the beginning! A whole patch of these was stunning! I think these dark red ones were Mingus ALex. I had it before and lost it. I had forgotten just how nice it is! Deep glowing color and just what some of my wedding orders want in "passionate" tones. Treby Dainty...just as cute as a button! I have one but it is buried behind some others and haven't actually seen a bloom. I may rip out the ones that are hiding it and let these shine forth! (I Have to check what is hiding it before I know if I can do it Ferncliff Dancer..one I grow that I like a lot but the color was even more intense up there. Its a miniature with these lovely autumn colors in it. Theirs was so much taller and more floriferous.
I need to get out and cut for the weekend now...more photos as I get time.
honnat Sep 19, 2015 12:54 PM PDT
St. Paul, MN
We had our late show this weekend. I just entered 10 blooms; as I had a farmer's market to cut for this morning and wanted everything I had for that. We had 2 inches of rain that SOAKED and damaged a lot of larger flowers so I stuck to small stuff and wanted it to be pretty good in order to enter it.
Left to right
Chimacum Davi - Won best MB in show
River's Novelty - 2nd place in class (was not the best stem or flower)
Irish Pinwheel - Blue - ST-FL
Hollyhill Loverboy - Best M-FD in show
Clearview Erin - Blue -ST PR
Hollyhill Purely Purple - Blue - M-FD-PR
RC Diane Brazil - Blue - ST-DB
Parkland Rave - Best BB Bloom in show!! wohoo!!
Camano Buz - Blue - M-FD-OR
Robann Royal - Blue- MB-PR
That is AWESOME! I hope you flower customers know the quality of what they get from you! You should post those results where you sell your flowers.
teddahlia Sep 21, 2015 1:32 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I am back from ADS National Show and I met Em!
1:30AM and I will post stuff tomorrow
teddahlia Sep 23, 2015 12:34 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I took pictures at the New York trial garden but sharing them would be unfair to the entries. The growing conditions there were so difficult that most entries looked very bad and there were very few with flowers of any quality. I am posting just one picture for you to see. They had stripped the lower leaves from the plants and in some cases as much as 4 feet above the ground. Two entries that had been stripped severely were well over 8 feet tall and resembled tree dahlias. Two of my entries survived the adverse conditions and looked pretty good and were scored rather well. My other entries did not do well.
OH my goodness. and I thought ours looked poorly this year!
Talked to my daughter in Maine and she was pretty disappointed with her dahlias this year. She says they had such dry weather nothing grew and hers are only 2 feet tall and she hopes the first blooms will happen before frost which could come any day now. I had not reallized their summer was so dry this year. She is going to move hers back to the slope with springs that run under the surface all summer...more work on permaculture on the hillside.
Its good to know how the weather is affecting dahlias all over the country and what techniques we can develop for working with them.
Whooohoooo! We got to out to swan island dahlias today's! It was very bright and sunny, somewhere around 80 degrees. I have never been there this late and it was quite informative. Lots of blooms left on many varieties and it was easy to see which ones fade in an undesirable fashion with our strange hot dry year. It was equally interesting to see what looked really good,
In the test garden there were two that I remember well,that we did not have at our test garden. There was a big healthy looking plant with what looked like giant yellow WL with red stripes, and a smaller but good sized sunny yellow WL type....both looked very desirable to me, The AA pink and white one that frequently has its blooms stolen at our garden looked lovelier down here, I thought. The plant was quite a bit shorter and I think the foliage looked healthier, and I liked the color better. This one seems to like the full sun exposure.
PNWGal Oct 5, 2015 3:44 PM PDT
Name: Linda Portland OR, zone 8b
Swan Island is looking now like it usually does in early September, as far as the size of the plants and the number of blooms. Now is a great time to see a lot of varieties at their best, when the nights (and the days) are cooler and the rich colors come out on some of the more subtle types. September Morn is well named! And the sunlight is less harsh and more golden. This is my favorite time of year to go, and I'm glad you got the chance to see it.
That giant yellow waterlily has been very popular with visitors to the garden. They like the smaller yellow waterlily too, and so do the judges. I think it was one of the first to get three passing scores, and after it was up to 5 scores we had to shoo the later judges towards other entries! The AA pink & white held up amazingly well to the intense heat and sun we had this summer. No shade around this garden!
addicted Oct 10, 2015 5:40 AM PDT
Name: Em NY
Linda and Noni, do either of you have pix of these blooms? I would be interested in seeing them even though we don't yet know their names.
I did not take my camera with me on this trip...seems to me I have seen very similar pics on one of our friends websites showing as possible future introductions......
PNWGal Oct 10, 2015 8:39 PM PDT
Name: Linda Portland OR, zone 8b
I cannot believe I didn't get a decent photo of the giant waterlily! I can see it so clearly in my mind's eye, but that doesn't help anyone else. Think Hollyhill Tigress on steroids. It ended up having more petals than fit into the official waterlily description, so some of the judges called it a formal dec and it may be sold as such. Whatever. It still looks like a giant waterlily, and there is nothing else like it!
Here is a crummy picture just to show the scale.
and one just as the first bloom was opening to show the nice variegation and colors.
PNWGal Oct 10, 2015 9:24 PM PDT
Name: Linda Portland OR, zone 8b
The smaller waterlily looked so delicate and petite in comparison, though really it's just a normal size WL. It's a lovely clear yellow with a good cupped waterlily form.
The big ones are amazing! Good one to plant in a fenced front yard where people can gawk but not touch....the would think it is our gardening skill, not that of the breeded
I am really going to need the smaller one! I am assuming we will be hearing its name quite soon?
teddahlia Oct 12, 2015 7:22 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Trial garden scores starting to arrive. There are seven trial gardens and we have some in all seven. So far, two have sent out the scores and so far so good. I have created a small spreadsheet to tally the scores. The two that have done well thus far are the only two that we sent to all 7 gardens. No mail delivery today as it is Columbus day. Expect several envelopes in Tuesday's mail. And once I know the scores, I will share them with this forum.
honnat Oct 12, 2015 7:33 PM PDT
St. Paul, MN
Cool...insider info. I have to keep reminding myself the dahlia community is still back a few years with communication. Seems odd to rely on the post office for anything but packages. I wonder when trial garden results will be in a google doc or something.
teddahlia Oct 12, 2015 7:49 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
One garden sent an email. The other was old fashioned paper. Only 5 to go. The last one for some reason has been Tacoma.
teddahlia Oct 15, 2015 7:03 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Have scores from 5 of the seven trial gardens now.
PNWGal Oct 16, 2015 1:18 AM PDT
Name: Linda Portland OR, zone 8b
Cue theme tune from "Jeopardy"......
teddahlia Oct 16, 2015 8:12 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
No sense letting the cat out of the bag early as it only happens once per year. The suspense is always there each year for us. Waiting for Spokane and Minnesota. Also, each year we have to fill out the "new variety questionnaire" for the Dahlias of Today and select some pictures for them. You cannot complete the questionnaire without the scores. It is nice that you neophyte breeders can follow the process past the trial gardens to the "free publicity" portion. Yes, the trial garden and ADS bench results are listed in the ADS Bulletin and now online at the ADS site and this helps tuber sales and helps people select and buy the new ones. But the Dahlias of Today is the Cadillac of the yearly dahlia publications and it is very important to get your variety into that annual compendium of dahlia goodies. They will allow you to suggest some of the written description and many times use much of it although it is always edited for their purposes. And they do not limit their new introductions to show flowers and will consider new and exciting cut flowers and what I call arrangers flowers.
CCvacation Oct 16, 2015 9:10 AM PDT
Name: CC PA
Had a chuckle at myself just now... Knowing the actual definition to the words greatly enhances understanding... Got this word confused with a more, umm, let's say, 'nefarious' word.
ne·o·phyte
ˈnēəˌfīt/
noun
a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.
Rossendale Peach (Much bigger then I thought it would be...wonderful color! It would probably be a little more pastel in my garden. I ordered it.
Snoho Sonia...ever so much nicer then the club specimen I tried that was open centered from the beginning! A whole patch of these was stunning!
I think these dark red ones were Mingus ALex. I had it before and lost it. I had forgotten just how nice it is! Deep glowing color and just what some of my wedding orders want in "passionate" tones.
Treby Dainty...just as cute as a button! I have one but it is buried behind some others and haven't actually seen a bloom. I may rip out the ones that are hiding it and let these shine forth! (I Have to check what is hiding it before I know if I can do it 
Ferncliff Dancer..one I grow that I like a lot but the color was even more intense up there. Its a miniature with these lovely autumn colors in it. Theirs was so much taller and more floriferous.
I have to keep reminding myself the dahlia community is still back a few years with communication. Seems odd to rely on the post office for anything but packages. I wonder when trial garden results will be in a google doc or something.