Dahlia Bed

Lovely colours.

These r Great GT & go so well planted together :)

Very nice colours!

Thank you Bernieh, Jacque and Balcony. :-) I am slowly collecting dahlias by purchasing a little six pack each year and reserving the tuber. These are the stargazer mix. The double was a real surprize.

abosolutely beautiful GT.love dahlias..uploaded a picture on dahlias recently
see page 1

Thank you Deida. I'll check yours out. My own are more demanding for feed than I give them. I think I will have to focus more on that next year.

Thank you M.

GT:

You have some beautiful Dahlia hybrids there!

Thank you Delonix. I only got a few blooms this year, but each one enjoyed. These are stargazer, a new addition to the collection.

GT:

Can you leave the tubers in the ground through winter?

I have to pull all of them, label and store in the backroom. The only things that do outdoors are some lillies and crocus or pasque flowers. Tulips do it but the shrews and squirrels love to remove them under the snow for dinner. My liatris would live, but the season would start too late to see any blooming.

I've thought of having another go at growing Dahlias on my balcony again next year. To that end I picked off a seedhead on the chocolate coloured Dahlias growing on the ring road here. (Have you seen the flowerbeds blog I wrote a few days ago?) I'll save the seeds to plant at the end of winter & we'll see what happens!

I'm convinced to get new rich composty soil for them every year. I usually recycle the soil and mix in the bean and pea soils for nitrogen. My poor flowering this year has prompted me to try something new. I'll have to check out your blog, I'm poor at getting into the blog land side. :-) Too busy enjoying warm garden sights. :-)

The one thing you don't need for Dahlias, or most flowering plants, is soil rich in nitrogen! As you must know, nitrogen stimulates vegetive growth at the expense of flowers. Dahlias certainly need rich soils but a higher concentration of phosphorus & potash is what is required for free flowering. You want to use soil rich in nitrogen for leafy plants & green vegetables not for flowers.

Ah well. :-) Another tip to explain my slow loss of flower quality each year. :-) I'll have to use a different ammendment next year. :-)

That would be a good idea! You should see an improvement in your flowers then. :-)