Before going to a garden center, I thought I'd query the wonderful
knowledge base in this forum.

I obtained a half dozen different dahlias from my mom in Seattle on a
recent trip and brought them back to Abq. These are ones she's grown
for years there but none have names so a detailed info is not available.
They grow beautifully there in sun and of course the humid climate. I
believe they are all of the large head (3"-9") varieties, no pompoms.

Mom said I should dig a hole 12" deep, plant the bulb(tuber) maybe 6"
deep and cover. As it sprouts to cover it more and more until its at
regular ground level. She's been growing them for over 50 years in the
same yard so this piece of advice is probably as sound as can be.

OK, so what do I need to do to grow them here?
- soil preparation, amendment
- full sun, partial sun or almost no sun

I was thinking peat moss and steer manure for prep. Also, almost no sun
since the summers are so hot and I have a place on the N side of the
house where the only direct sun is a few hours in the late evening,
shaded totally until maybe 6pm in summer. Mums thrive there and tulips
grow somewhat, no place else though, too hot. In the full sun we had
some Figaro varieties (very small dahlias) and they were spectacular, I
could almost hear them telling me thank you! These area different
variety though and I only have 6 to grow so I want to do it right.

TIA for all your help.
PS- library is out of books dealing with Dahliassigh......

Could be interesting if these varieties have been with her that long.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

I'm positive they have. To the best of my knowledge they were
originally purchased in the 1948-50 era and she's religiously dug them
up each fall, placed them in a paper bag in a warm area to dry and
winter. They've roduce loads of babies each year, thus her giving them
away. She's been given some by neighbors on occasion but has given hers
out more often over the years. I can't recall her ever buying any in my
younger years. I know one time my dad bought a trailer load of chicken
manure for our then ½ acre veggie garden and he dumped a shovel full on
each dahlia in one area. Burned those suckers bigtime and mom ranted
for ages afterwards. Dad never touched her flowers after thatG.

One of them she sent is supposed to have a very large yellow head and if
its from the one I saw in the yard in 2000 its at least 12" wide. The
plant was maybe 8' tall and about 3" thick at the base. A real monster.
Another is deep burgandy/purple with white stripes.

My big concern is that they won't like the soil we have here. Not sure
if they'll like our heat.

David Hill wrote:
Could be interesting if these varieties have been with her that long.

I'm positive they have. To the best of my knowledge they were
originally purchased in the 1948-50 era and she's religiously dug them
up each fall, placed them in a paper bag in a warm area to dry and
winter. They've roduce loads of babies each year, thus her giving them
away. She's been given some by neighbors on occasion but has given hers
out more often over the years. I can't recall her ever buying any in my
younger years. I know one time my dad bought a trailer load of chicken
manure for our then ½ acre veggie garden and he dumped a shovel full on
each dahlia in one area. Burned those suckers bigtime and mom ranted
for ages afterwards. Dad never touched her flowers after thatG.

One of them she sent is supposed to have a very large yellow head and if
its from the one I saw in the yard in 2000 its at least 12" wide. The
plant was maybe 8' tall and about 3" thick at the base. A real monster.
Another is deep burgandy/purple with white stripes.

My big concern is that they won't like the soil we have here. Not sure
if they'll like our heat.

David Hill wrote:
Could be interesting if these varieties have been with her that long.

I'm not sure if they'll like Albuquerque's heat and dry air, but they grow
extremely well in Spokane, which has much hotter summers and much less
humidity than Seattle. However, we have rich loamy volcanic soil here - I'm
not sure what kind of soil you have there. If it's some kind of desert clay
(caliche) I'd suggest amending the soil thoroughly with lots and lots of
compost before planting.
"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Before going to a garden center, I thought I'd query the wonderful
knowledge base in this forum.

I obtained a half dozen different dahlias from my mom in Seattle on a
recent trip and brought them back to Abq. These are ones she's grown
for years there but none have names so a detailed info is not available.
They grow beautifully there in sun and of course the humid climate. I
believe they are all of the large head (3"-9") varieties, no pompoms.

Mom said I should dig a hole 12" deep, plant the bulb(tuber) maybe 6"
deep and cover. As it sprouts to cover it more and more until its at
regular ground level. She's been growing them for over 50 years in the
same yard so this piece of advice is probably as sound as can be.

OK, so what do I need to do to grow them here?
- soil preparation, amendment
- full sun, partial sun or almost no sun

I was thinking peat moss and steer manure for prep. Also, almost no sun
since the summers are so hot and I have a place on the N side of the
house where the only direct sun is a few hours in the late evening,
shaded totally until maybe 6pm in summer. Mums thrive there and tulips
grow somewhat, no place else though, too hot. In the full sun we had
some Figaro varieties (very small dahlias) and they were spectacular, I
could almost hear them telling me thank you! These area different
variety though and I only have 6 to grow so I want to do it right.

TIA for all your help.
PS- library is out of books dealing with Dahliassigh......

Steer manure is ok on top of the soil or some inchs from the tuber, it
can burn the hair fine first roots.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dahlia-net

The Number 1 List for Dahlia people.


--
Dragons Must Fly when Thread's in the Sky

www.starlords.org

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Before going to a garden center, I thought I'd query the wonderful
knowledge base in this forum.

I obtained a half dozen different dahlias from my mom in Seattle on
a
recent trip and brought them back to Abq. These are ones she's
grown
for years there but none have names so a detailed info is not
available.
They grow beautifully there in sun and of course the humid
climate. I
believe they are all of the large head (3"-9") varieties, no
pompoms.

Mom said I should dig a hole 12" deep, plant the bulb(tuber) maybe
6"
deep and cover. As it sprouts to cover it more and more until its
at
regular ground level. She's been growing them for over 50 years in
the
same yard so this piece of advice is probably as sound as can be.

OK, so what do I need to do to grow them here?
- soil preparation, amendment
- full sun, partial sun or almost no sun

I was thinking peat moss and steer manure for prep. Also, almost no
sun
since the summers are so hot and I have a place on the N side of the
house where the only direct sun is a few hours in the late evening,
shaded totally until maybe 6pm in summer. Mums thrive there and
tulips
grow somewhat, no place else though, too hot. In the full sun we
had
some Figaro varieties (very small dahlias) and they were
spectacular, I
could almost hear them telling me thank you! These area different
variety though and I only have 6 to grow so I want to do it right.

TIA for all your help.
PS- library is out of books dealing with Dahliassigh......

Also, you may need some light shade during the high afternoon time of
the day.


--
Dragons Must Fly when Thread's in the Sky

www.starlords.org

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Before going to a garden center, I thought I'd query the wonderful
knowledge base in this forum.

I obtained a half dozen different dahlias from my mom in Seattle on
a
recent trip and brought them back to Abq. These are ones she's
grown
for years there but none have names so a detailed info is not
available.
They grow beautifully there in sun and of course the humid
climate. I
believe they are all of the large head (3"-9") varieties, no
pompoms.

Mom said I should dig a hole 12" deep, plant the bulb(tuber) maybe
6"
deep and cover. As it sprouts to cover it more and more until its
at
regular ground level. She's been growing them for over 50 years in
the
same yard so this piece of advice is probably as sound as can be.

OK, so what do I need to do to grow them here?
- soil preparation, amendment
- full sun, partial sun or almost no sun

I was thinking peat moss and steer manure for prep. Also, almost no
sun
since the summers are so hot and I have a place on the N side of the
house where the only direct sun is a few hours in the late evening,
shaded totally until maybe 6pm in summer. Mums thrive there and
tulips
grow somewhat, no place else though, too hot. In the full sun we
had
some Figaro varieties (very small dahlias) and they were
spectacular, I
could almost hear them telling me thank you! These area different
variety though and I only have 6 to grow so I want to do it right.

TIA for all your help.
PS- library is out of books dealing with Dahliassigh......

I would be interested to know what varieties these dahlias are ass so many
from the 50's have been lost.
You might be able to match some of them to pictures on this site.
http://www.wgltd.co.uk/

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

I've bookmarked the site and will check them out when and if they
growG. I hope they do. Looks like the consensus is a semi shaded
area & easy on the steer manure. I'll amend well with peat moss for
water retention since we have little humidity in the summer, 10%
usually. Soil is clay and sand but often hard as a rock so the peat
moss should help keep it broken up somewhat.

David Hill wrote:

I would be interested to know what varieties these dahlias are ass so many
from the 50's have been lost.
You might be able to match some of them to pictures on this site.
http://www.wgltd.co.uk/

Dahlias hate clay! The best you can do is to plant each tuber in it's
own good sized pot full of good potting soil and then you can either
dig a shallow hole and put the pot in that or put the pot on a stand
or base if there's any trees which roots will seek out the water. Also
as your in a dry area, ( I live in the High Mojave Desert of calif. )
you'll have to watch out for spider mites too and grasshoppers love
the tender plant of dahlias.



--
Dragons Must Fly when Thread's in the Sky

www.starlords.org

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
I've bookmarked the site and will check them out when and if they
growG. I hope they do. Looks like the consensus is a semi shaded
area & easy on the steer manure. I'll amend well with peat moss for
water retention since we have little humidity in the summer, 10%
usually. Soil is clay and sand but often hard as a rock so the peat
moss should help keep it broken up somewhat.

David Hill wrote:

I would be interested to know what varieties these dahlias are ass
so many
from the 50's have been lost.
You might be able to match some of them to pictures on this site.
http://www.wgltd.co.uk/




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.614 / Virus Database: 393 - Release Date: 3/5/04

Dahlias hate clay! The best you can do is to plant each tuber in it's
own good sized pot full of good potting soil and then you can either
dig a shallow hole and put the pot in that or put the pot on a stand
or base if there's any trees which roots will seek out the water. Also
as your in a dry area, ( I live in the High Mojave Desert of calif. )
you'll have to watch out for spider mites too and grasshoppers love
the tender plant of dahlias.



--
Dragons Must Fly when Thread's in the Sky

www.starlords.org

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
I've bookmarked the site and will check them out when and if they
growG. I hope they do. Looks like the consensus is a semi shaded
area & easy on the steer manure. I'll amend well with peat moss for
water retention since we have little humidity in the summer, 10%
usually. Soil is clay and sand but often hard as a rock so the peat
moss should help keep it broken up somewhat.

David Hill wrote:

I would be interested to know what varieties these dahlias are ass
so many
from the 50's have been lost.
You might be able to match some of them to pictures on this site.
http://www.wgltd.co.uk/




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.614 / Virus Database: 393 - Release Date: 3/5/04

Hmmmmm, mites could be a problem. Grasshoppers are not as we have 2
MinPins (miniature pinchers) that detest grasshoppers. They move into
the Marigolds and Brandy & William terrorize them. They spend the
summer harvesting my Roma tomatoes at will, chasing away birds,
grasshoppers, butterflies and any other object that might invade their
domain. Brandy even gets PO'd when AIR moves in her areaG.

Starlord wrote:

Dahlias hate clay! The best you can do is to plant each tuber in it's
own good sized pot full of good potting soil and then you can either
dig a shallow hole and put the pot in that or put the pot on a stand
or base if there's any trees which roots will seek out the water. Also
as your in a dry area, ( I live in the High Mojave Desert of calif. )
you'll have to watch out for spider mites too and grasshoppers love
the tender plant of dahlias.

Hmmmmm, mites could be a problem. Grasshoppers are not as we have 2
MinPins (miniature pinchers) that detest grasshoppers. They move into
the Marigolds and Brandy & William terrorize them. They spend the
summer harvesting my Roma tomatoes at will, chasing away birds,
grasshoppers, butterflies and any other object that might invade their
domain. Brandy even gets PO'd when AIR moves in her areaG.

Starlord wrote:

Dahlias hate clay! The best you can do is to plant each tuber in it's
own good sized pot full of good potting soil and then you can either
dig a shallow hole and put the pot in that or put the pot on a stand
or base if there's any trees which roots will seek out the water. Also
as your in a dry area, ( I live in the High Mojave Desert of calif. )
you'll have to watch out for spider mites too and grasshoppers love
the tender plant of dahlias.

I forwarded your message to my father, who is a Master Gardener in ABQ.
Here is his reply.

The ones I had two years ago didn't mind full sun at all. They did well in full sun. I think fertilizing is often overdone and I base it on soil measurements and not plant type. Also I grew the Dahlias in both the well amended vegetable garden, raised, b
ed and the un-amended front lawn area. There was no significant difference between the two.



--
Brett Woywood
************************************************** **********
* "I seem to be having this * *
* tremendous difficulty with * *
* my lifestyle." * *
* -- Arthur Dent -- * *
************************************************** **********

I forwarded your message to my father, who is a Master Gardener in ABQ.
Here is his reply.

The ones I had two years ago didn't mind full sun at all. They did well in full sun. I think fertilizing is often overdone and I base it on soil measurements and not plant type. Also I grew the Dahlias in both the well amended vegetable garden, raised, b
ed and the un-amended front lawn area. There was no significant difference between the two.



--
Brett Woywood
************************************************** **********
* "I seem to be having this * *
* tremendous difficulty with * *
* my lifestyle." * *
* -- Arthur Dent -- * *
************************************************** **********