Who’s growing Dahlias this year

[Onionbhajisandwich]

What varieties are you growing this year? I’ve got some Babylon Bronze and Kelvin Floodlight (among quite a few others) that I’m really looking forward to growing this year!

i found a seed packet so have germinated those

just standard, no name dahlias

They great! I am really excited for my mango madness one.

@FernGilly yes I have a mango madness one as well! Looks like it’s going to be a really nice colour - I hope they come out like the pictures!

Me

I bought my first ever tubers from Farmer Gracey,
Creme de cassis
Bishop of Dover
Wishes and dreams
Preference

They are sitting in pots on a window sill currently, I’m excited to see how they get on.

@ThursdayLastWeek I love famer Gracy! It’s my favourite place to shop for the garden

This is the first I’ve ordered from them, but I find all their marketing, presentation, packaging so beautiful

There’s a NT garden near me that has an amazing display of ‘preference' every year , I’m very excited to see how mine turn out in comparison!

Here they are!

@ThursdayLastWeek I’ve just looked up preference! It’s beautiful! I bet you’re excited! Last year was the first year I grew dahlias and they turned out really lovely so I’m hoping for the same success this year.

I have a few Bishops Children seedlings. We tried a couple of tubers last year, but one did nothing, and the other just got devoured by slugs, so a bit disheartened.

Bishops Children are great, though.

I’ve got a packet of Bishops Children seeds to plant, and 4 tubers from Farmer Gracy on order. Quite looking forward to seeing them in the summer.

I got mine from Farmer Gracy too. I've never grown them before but I'm trying Thomas Edison, Cornel Brons, Arabian Night, Bishop of Canterbury, Tam Tam, Totally Tangerine and Kelsey Annie Joy. I also started off Bishop's Children which are just coming up. The tubers are showing no signs of life yet.

I have never grown them from seed, only from tubers. Do the seed grown ones flower the same year too ? If so probably a much cheaper option !
I have gone Dahlia mad and bought loads from Crocus and Sarah Raven as they both had sales. I am going leave mine in the ground now as they have done better in my garden than the ones I grew in pots.

Bishops Children flower the first year. I leave them in the ground overwinter too.

Kicking myself for digging them out, feeling they were overly congested, tbh.

Me! I've never grown them before, as I'm on claggy clay and so they'll need to be lifted.

But so far I have sprouting: Hs Date and HS Sun and Ice.

And on order, Cafe Au Lait (because I'm basic!), Penhill Watermelon, and a cactus one and a ball one. Very excited...

I’ve got some Akita dahlias to go with paper daisies and Chinese asters, but I left them all outside last night! Kicking myself today. The air temp was 4 degrees, do you think I’ve killed them?

@SirVixofVixHall I got some from Sarah Raven too this year. I’ve ordered a black jack which I’m really excited to see how big it gets - they looked huge in the pictures!

@TheSpottedZebra the sun and ice one is lovely! I hadn’t seen that one before - it will definitely go on my list for next year (I would put it on this year but DH is going to go mad when he realises how many he’s got to find room for this year )

[quote Onionbhajisandwich]@TheSpottedZebra the sun and ice one is lovely! I hadn’t seen that one before - it will definitely go on my list for next year (I would put it on this year but DH is going to go mad when he realises how many he’s got to find room for this year )[/quote]
Ah, thank you! I thought I'd have some singles for the pollinators, and some big flouncy ones for me.
I've only been interested in dahlias for a matter of weeks and it's hit me like a ton of bricks. .

It's a very ^expandable' collection, isn't it?

This year, I’ve gone with-
Le Baron
Eveline
Downham Royal

@TheSpottedZebra isn’t it just! I’ve been cheering myself up all winter by ordering dahlias and now I’ve had to make a spreadsheet so I know the heights and colours of them all!

A spreadsheet? That's so organised!

How many are you growing this year, and how many are new to you this year?
Have you got a favourite from last year?

This is disappointing as I had my first year last year and have been watering my large dahlia pot expectantly until this thread when realised I should have dug them up or protected them! Perhaps I will use their pot for tomatoes instead now unless any hope they might have survived!

Not sure if I can face the disappointment this year. I love them but unfortunately so do the snails!

You might be alright @Looseleaf, depending on where you are?

I grew some from a cheap pack of wilko seeds last year - they were allegedly pompon but only one of the plants had pompon flowers. I didn’t bother keeping them.

I only have decking so everything I grow is in pots. Imagine this will effect the size overall but that’s ok for me.

Did you buy to a colour scheme @Onionbhajisandwich? I Google’s a few of the varieties you mentioned and they’re all sort of 'hot' colours?

@Whadda

This year, I’ve gone with- Le Baron Eveline Downham Royal

These are all v pretty!