From the William Wolkoff Garden inside the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. A bit of sunshine from me to you.
teddahlia Sep 7, 2017 10:40 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
My good friend took two HH Tangelos to the show in Washington last week and got a couple of blue ribbons. I thought he picked them to put in arrangements. Tangelo is going to trial gardens next year.
Today is our club's annual meeting at Swan island. It is starting at 2PM as they want us to judge at the trial garden before we do the pot luck at about 5PM. My potato salad is in process as I write this. There will be a flower arranging demo by Gordon Jackman. Nick Gitts usually does a short talk and answers questions. Sometimes he brings examples of the new introductions. Weather supposed to be a high of 80 degrees and sunny.
We will be wanting a report of what Swan Island flowers you were shown...
CCvacation Sep 12, 2017 6:10 PM PDT
Name: CC PA
Were you able to check out the Glamour Girl stock, Ted? Hoping to buy some if virus-free...
teddahlia Sep 12, 2017 8:07 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I did not get near the Swan Island show garden as they had me judging the trial garden from 2:00PM to 5:30PM. I was pretty tuckered out and then they rang the dinner bell and I went over to the pot luck and had to have some of just about everything. I will be returning to Swan Island one more time to do the very last of the trial garden judging in a week or two and I always cruise though the Swan island gardens then.
One caveat: They are suffering one of the worst outbreaks of spider mite that they have ever had. Some varieties have been devastated. I bet I can find Glamour Girl and get you a report. I was walking to the picnic tables with a friend and we both noted that the Walter Hardisty stock there was excellent, all green leaves and super healthy. In fact, almost all that we saw in that row was good. They have been working on improving stock.
Their new one called "Spoiled Rotten" is similar to Glamour Girl and it is very healthy and flowers look very good.
I took some pictures but am too tired to post until tomorrow. I asked Nick Gitts to pick some of the new ones to show us and he obliged. I got some very good pictures of the flowers in the buckets.
teddahlia Sep 13, 2017 7:39 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Ok after a good night's sleep, I can post the pictures of the new flowers that Nick Gitts of Swan Island brought to our club picnic at their gardens. I am going to spread this out over about 3 posts and the last will be the one that got the most attention. These pictures were shot in early evening light and the buckets of flowers were surrounded by gawkers so I did what I could with the camera.
Matty Boo is a very intensely colored flame that is about 4 inches in diameter. It is being sold for 2018.
This 7 inch in diameter stellar bloom is one for 2019. It is lavender on top and back petals are whitish. It would be one of the biggest stellars around.
Nick talked about his difficulty in getting enough white flowers for their wholesale and retail flower sales. This 4-5 inch white ID may well be what he needs. 2019?
teddahlia Sep 13, 2017 7:52 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Here is the second post. First there were two waterlilies:
This huge waterlily has pretty good form. This flower is about 6 inches in diameter but on my last visit to Swan Island, he showed me a 7 inch version.It has huge very rounded petals.
I wish I had taken more pictures of this sweet little waterlily. It has bright pleasing colors and the petals cup very well and are a good shape. PNWGal said some good things about it. What I noticed as a waterlily breeder was the stem. There is a genetic trait in some waterlilies, where the stem is not hollow and it is very stiff and wiry. Along with this stem trait, has been a tendency for very tall growing plants. There have been very few show waterlilies that are of this entirely different genetic type but this may a very good example. It is not on their list for 2018.
Spoiled Rotten is their 2018 intro that has the deep colors many love. it is about 6.5 inches in diameter.
teddahlia Sep 13, 2017 8:05 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
And last but certainly not least, here is the purple sport of Nick Sr.
Yes, this flower is 12 inches in diameter and has dark purple on the face of the petals and a light purple or lavender on the reverse. It was better than the picture with boomstick stems. Nick said he grew it out this year from the sported plant and was praying that all his cuttings would have the same purple flowers. They did. Not a 2018 intro but if I know Nick, he will be introducing it in 2019 and it may set a record for the introductory price. It does not yet have a name but I told him that it should include his Father's name if at all possible as he would have loved it. If you did not know, the flower Nick Sr. was one of the last giant flowers bred by Nick Gitts Sr. who died of cancer several years ago. The last time I saw Nick Sr was at our club picnic the year he died and even though he was terminally ill with cancer, he insisted on being there and leaned on a tree for about an hour apparently unable to sit down.
blown_dry Sep 13, 2017 8:27 AM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Holy Hera. I would find it difficult to resist such a dahlia. What a find!
Thank you for the posting, Ted! I can see a couple I might have to have, though I might just wait a year for their intro prices to drop. On the other hand, Matty Boo and the thin stemmed waterlily might be useful enough to acquire at higher prices.
teddahlia Sep 15, 2017 10:48 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I have noticed that we sell so much of the new introductions recently that we have very little left to plant for second year sales. HH Exotica is an example. I will have only a very few tubers for sale, if any for 2018. Also, no Madison will be for sale. HH Sunny Boy is doubtful as I only grew a few plants of this excellent cut flower. Yes, at Swan Island they will lower their prices the second year but here, we just do not have enough stock to sell some of the second year stuff and that includes the the third year and prior intros.
teddahlia Sep 15, 2017 12:14 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Flowers picked for Margaret's arrangements for the Eugene show. She wants to enter six designs. She will be using Hollyhill Lemon Chiffon(new name to replace HH Buttermilk) in a design that calls for pastel flowers.
teddahlia Sep 15, 2017 11:21 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Five designs done and ready to enter. Could not do the crescent design without more planning and materials. This club bans scotch broom and that is the perfect material for crescents. No suitable replacement in our yard. My mass design is all ready to enter.
drewtheflorist Sep 16, 2017 5:36 AM PDT
Name: Drew the Florist 14 miles S E of Pittsburgh
Grow Margaret some Foxtail in some of your combos- it gets pretty long in the summer and makes great Hogarth curves
teddahlia Sep 16, 2017 8:45 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
We grew a pot of that several years ago and never thought about using for crescents. Thanks for the tip.
I will post pictures and results from the show tomorrow. Good news.
October 26
Here is what my last Farmer's market bouquets will add ot the dahlias Beauy Berry Bittersweet and hydrageas..I found the hydrageas growing back of the fuel tank under the enormous climbing rose...surprised the deer hadn't found them first!
From the William Wolkoff Garden inside the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. A bit of sunshine from me to you.
Beauy Berry
Bittersweet and hydrageas..I found the hydrageas growing back of the fuel tank under the enormous climbing rose...surprised the deer hadn't found them first!