On 28/03/2011 13:18, gingerbrad wrote:
Hi All

I am a newbie to the site so hello to you all and a here's a bit of info
about me.

I have a reasonable size plot round the back of the house and its south
facing (Leeds, North England) so we get a decent amount of sun.
Currently, mainly lawn with a border round much of it. We have a
greenhouse and wood store in the bottom of the garden. I have helped out
for a friends gardening business mainly landscaping so not afraid to get
my hands dirty. I have big plans for the garden, my wife has just not
told me what they are yet!

Anyway, i was watching Monty on gardeners world on friday and was taken
by growing dahlias from seed rather than tubers. Now i have always
steared clear of growing them from seed as i had it into my head that
they were biennial from seed (not sure why or where i got the idea
from), and i was not keen on having a section of the garden used for
this alone. Anyway, not sure who the guy was but it sounded to me like i
have been very wrong and that it is perfectly possible to grow from
seed.

Does anybody have any experience of growing dahlias from seed and if so
can you advise on which would be good ones to go for? My wife really
likes the big pompon type blooms and i really like the idea of getting
lots of seed for the same price as one tuber!

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Brad



I found Dahlias very easy from seed. I grew D. 'The Bishop's Children'
(related to D. 'Bishop of Llandaff') and got a good selection of
colours. It's a good way of building up your Dahlia stock if you're not
too worried about named varieties. I would certainly encourage you to
have a go. Certainly try some pompom types to suit your wife :~), but
do consider trying D.'The Bishop's Children' or another single type as
they will attract bees into your garden. Double-flowered blooms offer
little to insects .. with the possible exception of the earwig:~(.
Molluscs are also a problem. It's just as well Dahlias are so easy from
seed. Enjoy.
--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay