Julia is right. I am just under-fertilizing or something. I was just at Old House Dahlias, the source of my stock, and his are rather larger than mine. Of course, his had more intense color as well. I just don't get the sunlight to fully develop some of the pigments. Nice guy, Mark.
Amanda,
Thanks for following up. Might have to go back on the list!
blown_dry Aug 26, 2022 6:56 PM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Mingus Gregory is a neat bloom. One of my fave forms and lots to look at.
Juliarugula Aug 27, 2022 9:16 AM PDT
Name: Julia NW Indiana
New favorite - Hollyhill Moonsong!
teddahlia Aug 27, 2022 5:56 PM PDT
Name: Ted Oregon We enjoy breeding new dahlias!
HH Moonsong is the only flower that we introduced that was hand pollinated by me. Margaret did all the hand pollinating for several years and I made one of those "guy" statements that I could do just as well as her. I crossed numerous flowers and got no seeds from my crosses except for a very few from an older HH seedling that I had crossed with Ivory places. Pure luck that it turned out to be HH Moonsong. I never again hand crossed anything.
blown_dry Aug 28, 2022 3:12 PM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Jupiter. Medium size. One of my faves.
AC PAC Grow this every year.
Penhill Watermelon This is such a big vigorous plant. Pumps out giant blooms no matter the neglect.
AC Crazy Train (Solid) - I call it "Ruby Train"
Hollyhill Jumbo Jack - Lovely!
Vera Seyfang - May be too messy even for me! Maybe.
janell Aug 29, 2022 8:57 PM PDT
Name: Janell Ohio
Clearview Cinnabar. Very prolific. Never shatters.
Hy Patti. This was my favorite last year and I am still swooning
Hollyhill Donnatella. The plants grow like weeds in the best way. The color intensity varies considerably week to week with our weather
Also Hollyhill Donnatella, less mature, during a hot spell
Hollyhill Serenity. Each bloom is a gift.
Coseytown Baby Cakes. Prolific and side buds produce long stems
Brown Sugar. The plants are shorter than I’d like but my florists and daughter coo over the color
Leila Savanna Rose. The purple reverses make me imagine that I am harvesting a many-tentacled sea creature.
blown_dry Aug 30, 2022 6:36 PM PDT
Name: Amanda CA Redwood Coast - Zone 9b DahliaAddict.com
Wow. Will have to add HH Serenity to my list! LSR seems neat.
AndreaB Aug 30, 2022 7:02 PM PDT
Name: Andrea SE Michigan
Nice pics, Janell. CV Cinnabar is one I’d like to grow sometime.
edewitt Aug 31, 2022 8:16 AM PDT
Name: Eric DeWitt Mountainair, NM
Mingus Gregory was another Mingus introduction I've always wanted to grow but haven't purchased (yet). That Hollyhill Moonsong is gorgeous! Those Jupiter blooms are a great form and color combo. Hy Patti, Brown Sugar, and Hollyhill Serenity are also some knockout blooms!
I don't usually post pictures of blooms until they've developed pretty well but this Hollyhill Electra color is so unique I had to post a picture of it. It's like an electric watermelon color. I tried to keep this as true to color as I could. I'm excited for this bloom to open all the way!
Juliarugula Aug 31, 2022 9:23 AM PDT
Name: Julia NW Indiana
Ted, I went back to look at your photos of HH Moonsong, and found it interesting that the opened (outside) petals were paler while the inside petals were pinker, while mine is the opposite. Why do you think that would be? I’m guessing maybe that the flowers in your photo opened fully on the plant in the sun?
Janell, I’ve been considering Leila Savannah Rose - your photo is beautiful! I may need to pick up one for next year…
edewitt Aug 31, 2022 11:15 AM PDT
Name: Eric DeWitt Mountainair, NM
Temps have always messed with the coloring of blooms for me. There's pretty big differences in what some blooms look like in the summer compared to autumn.
That’s a nice collection, Amanda. Can’t say I’ve seen Jupiter before. Reminds me of BQ Sparkle.
Eric- have you grown AC Thornbird? Wondering if Hollyhill Electra is similar in color. I’ve always wanted another in Tbird’s color. So unique.
Cosey Aug 31, 2022 6:54 PM PDT
Name: LeeAnn Zone 6b, Pennsylvania
These darn Tarnish bugs are getting in the way of my dahlias blooming. Grrr. They are so hard to combat, especially with pollinators present.
Dahlia: Coseytown Peach Donut looking peachy.
Juliarugula Aug 31, 2022 7:22 PM PDT
Name: Julia NW Indiana
Cosey, the tarnish bugs are the most frustrating pest I have in my garden. I haven’t yet seen any real solutions for them. They even get inside my bags sometimes (except the nice thing about that is then I have them trapped and can squish them).
Ted, yes - that’s the photo I was looking at!
edewitt Sep 1, 2022 9:30 AM PDT
Name: Eric DeWitt Mountainair, NM
AndreaB wrote:
Eric- have you grown AC Thornbird? Wondering if Hollyhill Electra is similar in color. I’ve always wanted another in Tbird’s color. So unique.
I have not but I have Hollyhill Margarita growing a couple of plants over from it and the color is quite similar. There's something about that flourescent purple hue in those two plants that make them stand waaaaaay out from all the others. Now I'm gonna go look at pictures of AC Thornbird.
janell Sep 1, 2022 11:45 AM PDT
Name: Janell Ohio
Juliarugula wrote:Ted, I went back to look at your photos of HH Moonsong, and found it interesting that the opened (outside) petals were paler while the inside petals were pinker, while mine is the opposite. Why do you think that would be? I’m guessing maybe that the flowers in your photo opened fully on the plant in the sun?
Julia, I am seeing something similar with Hollyhill Donnatella. The petals that open the in vase are creamy. The ones in sunshine are pink. I need to wrap a bud in aluminum foil like Kristine Albrecht’s husband to test for that rare light-dependent pigment trait…
