Name: Jon George Gainesville, FL ...crazy enough to grow dahlias in
Thx Sylvia!!
PNWGal Aug 15, 2016 10:46 AM PDT
Name: Linda Portland OR, zone 8b
Lakeview Curly looks like one that needs disbudding to get the flowers out of the bush. A lot of varieties start their first flush with short stems like this, and later blooms have longer stems. If I am familiar with the variety and know that it does this, I may even remove the first flower buds and let the plant put its energy into growing the side shoots with the longer stems. The shoot in the front of the picture looks like it has a decent stem on the flower bud. If you were to remove the shoots to either side of that flower stem, the earlier the better, the flower stem would grow longer and stronger. As it is, you can see the side shoots are going to grow taller than the central flower bud, and it won't have the space to develop properly or be as visible as you would like.
blown_dry Aug 15, 2016 1:40 PM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Yes, you can develop a feel for which buds are not going to emerge. If the buds are fairly well along, but have no stem to speak of, go ahead and nip those off. As Linda says, you can see that some of your Lakeview Curly buds have nice stems on them already and will be up and out of the plant when they bloom.
I have been out hanging the label tags on the twine and just saw my Willowfield Mick opening its first bloom. I am excited to see this one since Teresa (Cowlitz River Dahlias) is quite taken with it. So far I just have one mystery that is not as labeled but I am sure I will find more. I found HH Margarita with a nice bloom about to open so that is exciting! I still find short ones to the east of the tall ones thouigh. I think some are supposed to grow taller and some will just have to wait until next year when we can try it again. (and hope they at least make some tubers). I should write a height on each plant tag before I dig them this year so I have better info as to their heights.
sylviap Aug 15, 2016 8:53 PM PDT
Name: Sylvia West Sacramento, CA Zone 9b
Thanks for the pix ... and next year's ordering list grows just a little bit longer
And thanks for the info about Lakeview Curly. When I have time this weekend, I'm going to trim all the buds that are not above the foliage. Looking forward to seeing how it looks, as the plant is very healthy and is producing lots of buds.
[School started last week so I have less time to work outside now.]
mandolls Aug 16, 2016 4:13 PM PDT
Name: Geof WI
I am still getting some first blooms off of the later dahlias.
Keith H - petal formation isn't right but the colors are great.
CG Sparkle
AC Golden Nickels
French Doll - (been blooming like crazy for a while)
Verrone's Sandra J
HH Black Beauty
Wyn's New Pastel
Citron De Cap
Who Dun It
Nice blooms! I think HH Black Beauty tops them all for correct color and form, but you have a lovey selection. I'd love to trade you something for Wyn's New Pastel next year.
Today I picked out just the ones I like for myself at the test garden...not that I will buy them all but these are ones I would enjoy in my garden. It is becoming evident which ones fade out and which ones don't produce many flowers. They had one good judging session that ended up getting rained out.
#2
#6
#8
#9
#11
#12 The colors are considerably paler then then in July
#15
#16 I must have this pom!
#16B
#25
#26 Pink Parasols
#30
#31
#33
#33B