"David Hill" wrote ...

I was gathering some seeds from the dahlias still out in the field today,
when I was sorting them out for drying I found that there was a lot of see
collarette seed germinating, in all I picked out and planted 70.
That's Dahlia seed germinating out of doors in January.
I also have a stem of Dahlia with some very beaten up flowers and several
new shoots so tomorrow I'll have to take them as cuttings.
Also 4 or 5 of the Hybrid tree dahlias still have green stems. All the
"normal" dahlias are long gone.

Perhaps you are also breeding a variety of hardy Dahlias. Bit like
Phalaenopsis orchids which used to be tricky to grow demanding specialist
knowledge and equipment but have been domesticated over the decades and are
now long lived house plants.
It always surprises me how some plants seem to go against the general
wisdom, for the second year we have a good bed of young coriander on our
allotment so planting the seeds in the autumn works. Some years ago, after
allowing some red lettuce to seed (because they are quite pretty), we had a
complete coverage of red lettuce by February, like a red carpet of baby
plants.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK