ScarletTricycle said: Arturo: I'm always ahead and thinking optimistically for the next growing season! 2023 it is!
As for surprises. I bought a 2 fer of Kelvin floodlight and I had a few bags that were suppose to be various named varieties. Yep, I ended up with 7 Kelvin floodlight plants. Now I like Kelvin, but 7 was just way too much for my liking for next year!
Hopefully you'll have beautiful surprises. Sometimes on those smallish first blooms I cut them off especially if I'm certain of the plant and gre the year before. How's your watering going?
My 'Rebecca's World' belong to old standing group of tubers. I must been growing them for about 16 years by now. Very easy, they even can be left out in the ground in my conditions. They tuberize easily and multiply even more. Perhaps the only down side is that they are late bloomers, so I won't be seeing much of flowers until February, even this year that all my tubers were started indoors. we'll see...
Btw it is an excellent tuber keeper too, so even lifted they stay plump and fresh and sprout indoors early on. Actually, my hope lies in identifying these overall good performers and concentrate my dahlia beds relying heavily on good survivors.
I've been after Kelvin's Floodlight for a few seasons already. None made it here yet. The other yellow that I had for just one summer (2016) is 'Grand Prix' that was sold out when I tried to get it again this past season.
Its really a wonderful dahlia. My photo doesn't do any justice to it...
The tips are white and it adds charm to the otherwise quite similar dahlia (KF)
So in this dahlia assortment quest, what I also discovered already that my initial search/ buy should include more than a single tuber per variety, given the vagaries of the full process.
I suppose that you folks now are in that stage where you wonder and wander through catalogs, wish lists, yearnings, desires, and solemn internal promises ( which are relentlessly broken) not to purchase more than...
and easily going overboard...
Dahlia farmers rely heavily on our inconsistencies...
so that's how the economy gets running and prosperity gets established. Worse comes to worse, if I have just too many tubers of a kind, apart from trading or giving away I might consider eating them. After all the aztecs grew them for food and since they accumulate inulin instead of starch, they are appropriate for diabetics like myself.
Thanks for reminding checking adequate watering. I regularly drench each pot every two days. Sometimes I skip a watering because we are having some late rains this spring. Forecast, if they come true, anticipate rains every 10 days or so. However sometimes a bag may be overlooked. I also try to let the soil reach a dry stage before watering again. I prefer my dahlias to ask for water rather than discover that they have rotted at the base of the sprouts; also it deterrs hordes of slugs ( my main dahlia enemy...
). But perhaps that could explain the initial smallish blooms. As the season progresses I will place them directly in ground with a drip line. Those that remain in pots will possibly need daily watering then.
Arturo