Dahlia blooms are beautiful, and they are extremely easy to start from seed. Over the years I’ve been satisfied with many varieties including ‘Diablo’ (pictured here), ‘Stargazer’, and ‘Figaro’. I’ve also purchased tubers so I could grow some of the gigantic dinner-plate dahlia cultivars.
Because many of the seed-grown dahlia cultivars grow 12-18 inches tall, they make excellent middle-of-the-border plants.
There are so many colors and bicolors to choose from, and the hues are always very rich and vibrant. Dahlias will grow well sun and partial-sun conditions. They bloom non-stop until frost.
Unfortunately, I didn’t buy any dahlia seeds or tubers this year. The Japanese beetles tore the flowers to shreds last summer so they are on the list of plants I am boycotting for awhile until the beetle populations level out (oh please let that be soon!).
5 comments
These look great. Three years ago I bought a packet of diablo from Vesey’s Seeds. I grew about a dozen plants. All but one were yellow, the latter being orange. I had a similar problem with Fireworke. All dozen or so plants turned out yellow. Luckily I planted them early in my basement under my grow lights where they were in bloom before transplanting outside. I kept two that had slight red stripes and gave the others to friends. The company said It was a poor mix and gave me a refund. I like yellow, but I am more partial to reds and oranges. How did your stargazers turn out? I have lots of seed of a variety of dahlias, including two unopened packets of stargazers, should you like to have some. James
I’ve had the same struggles with flower colors in mixes. I usually end up with boring ol’ white. It used to be that seed companies offered many flower seeds by color, but that seems to be changing. Maybe there just aren’t that many of us that start flowers from seed anymore. The last time I grew ‘Figaro’ I purchased the seeds from Swallowtail Seeds in California because they still sell a few individual colors (orange, red or yellow).
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/annuals/dahlia.html
I haven’t grown ‘Stargazer’ since 2006 and I don’t see anything about it in my garden journal from that year, so I can’t say if I liked it or not. I didn’t grow it the next year, so maybe that’s a hint, but it could also be that the beetles were just too ravenous that year and I was taking a break from dahlias the following year. Thanks for your kind offer of seeds, but they’ll be safer with you or someone else that doesn’t have a marauding band of hungry beetles mowing down everything in sight!
This year I am hoping to grow Bishop’s Children, Redskins, a few Stargazers, and a few yellow Mignons. I had some gift certificates given me that I’ll use for Figaro and other plants. I have bought seed from Swallowtail and find them reasonable in price and shipping. Now I will try Pinetree again.
Still not getting any satisfaction from Pinetree. Bought seed from them a few years ago. Had no difficulty then. Despite advances in technology they seem to have be making it difficult for international orders. James
Sorry you’re having trouble with Pinetree. I love their low prices, but their catalog and website are a tad antiquated (and sometimes annoying). Do they take orders over the phone?
Comments are closed.