Jessica is one of the all time dahlia greats. I talked to someone related to the Hales that originated it way back when. They were able to sell it in Chicago for $1.00 per stem when other dahlias were $2.00 per dozen. It won all the big shows and was considered the best of the best. It sported to white with lavender tips and that one was called Jessica's Tears. Swan island tried to sell it but the poor tuber production and the huge demand were not compatible. Ray Sturman who has mostly retired from showing is the best exhibitor of Jessica I have ever seen. He lives in a microclimate where dahlias do very well as he is about 30 mile from the ocean and in a sheltered wooded valley. He brought it to the show last weekend and it won a nice prize. Good stock of Jessica is hard to find and it is prone to getting virus and prone to being more of a flame blend rather than a bicolor and sometimes it gets to be an orange red. I do not think the flower you pictured is Jessica.
sylviap Sep 26, 2019 11:35 AM PDT
Name: Sylvia West Sacramento, CA Zone 9b
Hmm I guess. I would have to search to see where this one came from.
Any idea what it might be?
teddahlia Sep 26, 2019 11:53 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Pee Gee is a possibility.
sylviap Sep 26, 2019 12:43 PM PDT
Name: Sylvia West Sacramento, CA Zone 9b
What is it about this flower that says not Jessica? Just curious which characteristic I should be looking at.
teddahlia Sep 26, 2019 1:32 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Here is picture of Ray's Jessica.
teddahlia Sep 28, 2019 11:15 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Hollyhill Leda was entered by Ember Clack at the Roseburg show.
sylviap Sep 29, 2019 11:32 AM PDT
Name: Sylvia West Sacramento, CA Zone 9b
A few months ago someone here asked if anyone had Eva Luna and how it was performing. So another update:
Eva Luna continues to unfurl. Thought it was fully open a few days ago. It is sold as a giant, but I measured it at 8 inches. I never get giant size anything.
While waiting for this one to open I second-guessed the purchase, but now I'm happy I got it. Lots of buds, though very late (counted 15 pretty ripe buds yesterday.) Beautiful colors. Healthy plant that tolerates heat. Lateness might be due to spring weather. Have to plant it somewhere better next year.
blown_dry Sep 29, 2019 11:34 AM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Well, not much damage from wind and rain but nearly everything is going open centered. I hope some of those have time to make seeds since I haven't collected many yet.
teddahlia Sep 29, 2019 7:34 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I have most of our seeds gathered but will harvest more this week. I wonder if anything pollinated this late would ripen. Many pods are getting rotten here. If it gets warm again.....
That is a good question.It looks like 2 weeks of mostly dry weather coming here... I guess all I can do is try. I can start with the pods that are on the plants today. Sky is blue at the moment..
teddahlia Sep 30, 2019 8:52 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I have well over 300 seeds from the Meggos B SC Dark blend(white with purple tips( looks like a Clearview Cameron flower in a lot of ways but with poorer form and with deeper purple) that was planted with the giant and large dahlias. They are especially black and fat. I will plant some of them and save some for the next year. If it does make large flowers as he says it should, I will plant more of the seeds. However, if it makes smaller flowers, I doubt that I want to grow very many of them as it is not from our blood line and it would be going backwards in many ways. I have scads of seed from the WL that produced Sandia Isa. Same thing: if the seedlings are really good I will plant more. Otherwise the vigor and height are real problems for me. As you all know, I dislike short dahlias and Isa and it's parent are short and not all that vigorous.
I bought Sandia Isa and can't find it in my garden. I thought maybe it was that nice white waterilyl that is deeper then Bride to Be but this one is over 4 feet tall, maybe 5'
sylviap Oct 8, 2019 11:02 AM PDT
Name: Sylvia West Sacramento, CA Zone 9b
I have dahlias in the yard that have just started blooming and a few on the cusp (maybe next week)
AC Shannon
Daisy Adair - I don;t remember Daisy having that pink tinge to it.
Diva
HH Big Red - a better picture would show all the ripe buds starting to open
HH Big Pink - NOT! Ugh another mislabeled plant - pretty sure it is Just Peachy
HH Funhouse - probably the worst planting spot in the yard - finally opening
HH Clowning Around - I thought it had white tips but the color is from the twist in the petals at the end? This color - (coral?) - is unique in the yard. In the sun it looks neon.
Wyn's NEW Pastel - wondering what the NEW stands from - probably ___ ____ Wynne
I have heard what the NEW stands for and but don't remember...it is wasn't anything that went with the meaning of "new"...Did the N stand for her daughter "Natalie"? I can't remember now..
melissamaeday Oct 8, 2019 8:26 PM PDT
Name: Melissa Omaha,NE
I think the NEW is her daughter's initials...she didn't want a dahlia named after her, if I remember the story I read somewhere right!
teddahlia Oct 10, 2019 7:24 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I am going to try to get Daisy Adair for Margaret. She loves white WLs and although it does not make a lot of tubers she wants to give it a try. We also want get some HH Big Pink. We have HH Pink Cadillac but it is not nearly as big. We are gong to grow more of HH Red Funhouse , keeping all tubers for ourselves as we oversold last year. HH Clowning Around sports to a good looking solid flower at times. We have marked some of the sports in our garden.
DillyDahlia Oct 14, 2019 5:31 AM PDT
Name: Tina NY Zone 5b/6a Flower Power!
Mingus Toni - cute, but my blooms have no depth, they are pink with true red
teddahlia Oct 14, 2019 8:51 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
Helen Bair of Helen's Dahlias "stole" the seedling she named Mingus Toni from Phil's reject pile. He had to bargain with her to get stock of it.
teddahlia Oct 14, 2019 9:00 AM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
I planted my leftover pot tubers in the space devoured by a gopher on AUGUST 1st. Here is a picture of three of them blooming on October 13th. Does that mean we can move forward our planting date to August? Of course not but certainly one could plant here on July 1st and get lots of blooms. These pot tubers by the way were as dry as the Sahara desert and only showed the smallest green sprout above the dry potting soil. If they were animals I would be prosecuted for plant neglect concerning these pot tubers.
