Dahlias - lamenting the old and welcoming the new.

These are beautiful Dahlias.
I do hope the harsh weather hasn't killed them all.
Fingers crossed they'll be okay.
Lovely photos.
Sid ~ good blog. :o)

Beautiful flowers and lovely photos too. My fingers are crossed for you, hope they are OK.

They are beautiful Sid, I love Dahlias there are so many to choose from,I collect seed in the autumn ,try to make sure to lift one of each and leave the rest,I figure that way I,m going to have a chance the next year to have some more.I hope yours make it through because you have a great selection........

Hope your lovely flowers return for you. They look lovely and so do your two new ones. Great blog. I have never tried dahlias here because of the water-logging but had a few where I lived before.

These are stunning Sid...such a wide variety and range of colours.A cheery sight to lift the spirits !

I love dahlias and yours are such striking colours.I've not been brave enough to try many of them -the slug prob and having to lift them has always put me off ! Having said that I have one in the shed under compost,will see how that goes this year.I am quite a lazy gardener and plants have to look after themselves mostly- I'm ashamed to say !!!

I hope you haven't lost any dahlias. They're beautiful.
A neighbour of mine once had a garden full of them. They looked spectacular in summer - so many shapes and sizes. I like the new ones you have especially Marble ball.

Lovely flowers, let's hope they survive!

Thank you all for your kind wishes! They may well survive (I might just be using this as an excuse to buy more plants!), but I do worry that that the prolonged cold weather might have penetrated the soil deeper than in previous years. Time will tell.........

Lincslass - it's never occured to me to collect seed...that's something I will have to try! Do you think the big doubles will produce viable seed?

Aster - I'm the same - a bit of a lazy gardener really - which is why I've never lifted my Dahlias....if mine survive this winter, then I need never worry about them I think :-)

I haven't had to lift them before, either, Sid. I fear for them this year - that frost was so penetrating!

Oh well, as you say,another excuse for a shopping expedition - I don't mind that... :-)

Enjoyed your lovely photos and informative comments. Thank you. I too have dahlias that I have not lifted. I did not have enough time to do the planting I wanted to do last year so did not have time to unplant. So I am worrying with you as they are one of my favourite flowers.

After reading this blog Sarah...I think I may want to give Dahlias a try...I never have grown them but have always admired them..hoping yours and everyone elses do very well this coming season.

Thanks Gf - hope yours survive too...

I hope you do Cat - I think there is probably a Dahlia to suit every taste - full range of colours (except blue) and also a full range of different flower size and shape. Also, different foliage colours. I forget the name, but there is a sport of D. 'Bishop of Llandaff' which has yellow flowers and purple foliage - that one is on my want list :-)

AH! Do you recall my last year's fiasco about 'Bishop of Llandaff'? I bought him to go in my 'hot' border,and he only grew up to about a foot high and produced pale pink flowers! Someone obviously packed the wrong tubers... I have bought another one to have another go this year. Fingers crossed! It was funny, really, but annoying too.

Ooops!

Did you find a new home for ol' Pinky?

"Bishop of Landaff" sounds very intriguing Sid...I would love to see that one come to fruition...I would have that on my want list as well! Very interesting colors yellow and purple.....this I will want to see!

Bishop of Landaff has dark red flowers and purple leaves and appears to me to get quite tall. I don't have any of those.....maybe I should get one if any of mine dont survive the winter...... BTW the one I was rabbiting about above is a sport of B of L, which has yellow flowers, but i don't remember the name.........

Hi all,
I think I can add the Bishop to my long list of "precious plants I've managed to kill off through bumbling incompetence", sadly. My fave dahlia I did actually manage to lift, tho it is quite large, and it's been hiding under an old jumper in the greenhouse, so not quite frost-free with the weather we've had this winter. We shall see!

Sid, do you have many pompom dahlias? I think they always look so groovy.

Hi Weeding - Sorry to hear about the Bishop LOL Do you really need to lift your Dahlias? I'm only over in Hereford and mine have been outside for 15 odd years.....although this winter was a rotter, so I'm not sure how they've faired......

I do have one pompom - but I don't think it's a very pretty one! You can see it fifth picture down bottom right corner - red and white job. I'm not that keen on it, but I do like pompoms otherwise, yes Groovy! You will see I have bought a new pompom - 'Marble Ball' which I will plant come about end March :-)

Interesting blog Sid, as this year is the first that I am trying out dahlias they are at present under a heap of compost and fleece in the greenhouse waiting to go into their new homes. Let' hope yours all survive our harsh winter, it will be interesting to us all to see what has survived.

Thanks Lmv - good luck with them :-)

Great blog, Sid. :o)

I too love dahlias but never had much success with them. This year I've got some B of Llandaff, B of Oxford, Lilac Time and Arabian Nights. There's also some unknown ones out the front that so far, aren't doing a thing. Mind you, neither are the bishops or lilac time. I got a peek of one of the Arabian Night only this morning.

Anyway, I'm wondering if you have any signs yet? Have all your beauties survived?

No sign of them yet Llew, but it's still early days. I wont know for sure either way until late in May I think. Your Arabian Nights seems early to me.... I wonder why you haven't had much success with them? Dahlias are easy! lol I find you really need to keep an eye out when they first emerge, otherwise the slugs will have them, but once they're away they're ok and then I slosh a bit of liquid manure around them a couple of times during the summer. They get cut back after the frost has taken them down and they stay in the ground all winter, which has worked for many years up until now!

Well, I feel much better reading that, Sid. The ones in the pots aren't showing either, so maybe I'm just being too impatient, lol.

I hope so! Good luck with them :-)

Just thought I'd let you all know, my first Dahlia is now showing above ground - YAY! It's the big purple one growing in a container in the drive :-) I remember this one was first up last year too. One up; umpteen more to go!

Yay!!! glad to hear it, Sid.

Mine are coming too. 4 of the unknown 5 out front have broke the soil. Another Arabian Night is through and the Lilac Time in a pot is through.

So fingers crossed that I have more success than usual and that ALL your beauties come through for you.

Hope so :-) Good luck with yours!

Great blog Sid, how did they fayre then......were you pleased with the new varieties? I love B of Landaff.....plan on having it next year in my hot border. We've had lots of small pompoms this year, the best being an orange with gold edges.....a real beaut!

Hi Janey and Tedward - Well in the end, I only lost one, but it was one of a matching pair, so didn't matter too much. All the others did survive, but they have not been so good this year and have not come up as tall as they usually do. Marble Ball has done well and you've seen the spectacular flower on that one! But Black Narcissus took a real beating from the slugs and has not flowered as yet. Fingers crossed him tho! S.

i checked on 23 of my dahlias at the weekend that i had left in the ground... alas only 5 survived... gonna look at the other side of the garden this weekend.

Oh no! That's such a shame Rose! Where in the country are you? I'm worried about my Dahlias again this spring...just a case of wait and see I guess... :-S