Another Dahlia

Another lovely Dahlia! I like all Dahlias but my favourites are the Cactus type.

very very pretty dahlia very nice if you are interested in cactus you visit this site please www.kkagrawal.com/cactusbloom

Raj, I had a look at the cactus flowers & some of them are very nice. When I lived in Spain I had a cactus like the one titled kk- 05. It produced 100's of small cream flowers every year which were followed by little red elongated fruits. I don't know if it is the same as in your picture though.

When I said "my favourites are the Cactus type" I was referring to the cactus type Dahlias which have spiky flowers.

Thank you Balcony and Thilak. The larger dahlia I started this year didn't even get a bloom open before the cold. Next year, I'm feeding them like crazy. :-)

So when does the cold begin for you? What is cold for you? When does your growing season for Dahlias begin/end?

The cold is now sadly Balcony. The leaves are turning and I got a hard frost last week. I've stayed above freezing since, but 40's F are still a little chilly. Two weeks into September the killing frost usually comes. Last solid frost in spring is last week of May. So I get 90 days of summer. I start the Dahlia and other bulbs and tuber end of april indoors to get a good start with my seeds. It was a hot year, but the dahlia grew much quicker last year in cool rain. Not what I expected so it must be a soil difference. Gonna have to feed them. I dig the tubers after killing frost.

90 days of summer! And we complain here in the UK!!! We have "profited" from climate change in the sense that we can plant out 3 or 4 weeks earlier nowadays & the "killing frosts", as you call them, perhaps don't arrive till we are into November! So we have a growing environment that lasts from end of April till end of October! Mind you it depends where you live in the UK & on the years.

I'm still astounded by the changes that have taken place during my 30 years in Spain! For instance I used to do everything I could to get just one rose flower open by the Chelsea Flower Show at the end of May. (I'm talking about the end of the '60s beginning of the '70s) I never got a rose flower to open before the end of the 1st week of June - if I was lucky! 1 or 2 weeks after Chelsea had ended. Now they are open a full month or more than when I used to grow them in my parents' garden. I saw a yellow rose climber on the 2nd of May this year - the flowers must have opened a few days earlier as they were "blown"!

Another example at the other end of the year: I've seen Dahlias in flower here in Huntingdon a few weeks before Christmas! The garden wasn't particularly sheltered & the owners had done absolutely nothing to protect them. This is an extreme example but I have seen it with my own eyes! Of course most years this doesn't happen & we have a hard frost at the beginning of November then no more until the middle of December.

I agree about the climate changing, though we have nothing very consistant here. The change will actually alter our whole environment. Our flora needs long winters for their seeds to germinate correctly and all our water is available because the ground is frozen. Lose that and we would dry up. Summer is short, but it 24 hours sun and nice warm weather when it is here, so I don't mind. Doesn't help the gardening, but my reclusive nature is always relieved when the cold sets in and I don't have to excuse my staying home.......lol.

I'd forgotten your l - o - n - g summer days! Can't imagine living in a place like that but then at the other extreme you have l - o - n - g nights in winter!

While we were watching the weather forecast the other day I commented to my wife that I couldn't imagine living in a wet climate like my brother does in N.Ireland. She said you couldn't have imagined living in the extremely dry climate of Central Spain either before you went there!

Is it called the Virgin? It's pure whiteness is quite a novelty.

It was definately pure white. These were grown in a courtyard at a hotel south of here. The were immaculate, and free from frost which had reached anything exposed in the same area. I don't know the name though. They are the dinner plate sort.