Dahlia imperialis
 

I was lucky enough to have a few hours at Abbotsbury gardens last
weekend.
Just by the exit from the shop to the gardens is a tall (at least 8ft)
dahlia in bloom. Large white flowers, lots of buds. Enquiry told us
dahlia imperialis. (Why do the things you really want to know the name
of have no labels?!)
My friend looked it up in the Plantfinder. A certain Hillhouse
Nursery lists it!
Do you sell seeds, Sacha?
My garden isn't as hardy as Abbotsbury, but I'd love to try it next
year.

BTW didn't notice anything particularly out of season the ie no
snowdrops etc.


Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote ...
I was lucky enough to have a few hours at Abbotsbury gardens last
weekend.
Just by the exit from the shop to the gardens is a tall (at least 8ft)
dahlia in bloom. Large white flowers, lots of buds. Enquiry told us
dahlia imperialis. (Why do the things you really want to know the name
of have no labels?!)
My friend looked it up in the Plantfinder. A certain Hillhouse
Nursery lists it!
Do you sell seeds, Sacha?
My garden isn't as hardy as Abbotsbury, but I'd love to try it next
year.

BTW didn't notice anything particularly out of season the ie no
snowdrops etc.


Well mine doesn't flower, ever.
According to Ray at Hill House, where I obtained it, it needs to get up to
the roof of his large greenhouse, about 18ft, before it flowers and then it
has goldy coloured blooms I'm told.
You say the one you saw in flower had white flowers, and David Hill said a
few months ago his has pink flowers, and both of them flower at a much
smaller size (half size) than the Hill House ones.
So, three varieties of one species? Hybrids? Anyone know?

Ours has been out in the garden for the last few years and survived the
winters, but no chance of a flower, nice architectural plant though.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

In article , Pam Moore
writes
My garden isn't as hardy as Abbotsbury, but I'd love to try it next
year.
Powis Castle grow Dahlia imperialis, and while the terraces there have a
mild microclimate it's probably not so mild as Abbotsbury.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On 9/12/04 16:04, in article ,
"Pam Moore" wrote:

I was lucky enough to have a few hours at Abbotsbury gardens last
weekend.
Just by the exit from the shop to the gardens is a tall (at least 8ft)
dahlia in bloom. Large white flowers, lots of buds. Enquiry told us
dahlia imperialis. (Why do the things you really want to know the name
of have no labels?!)
My friend looked it up in the Plantfinder. A certain Hillhouse
Nursery lists it!
Do you sell seeds, Sacha?

No. But we do have young plants from time to time and I'll be happy to send
you one next year as long as you remind me. As Bob says, it's doubtful it
will flower outdoors. Ours does flower in the largest of our glasshouses
but not out in the garden. To be frank, the flower is quite dull, it's the
height the plant can achieve which makes it remarkable, I suppose. Nobody
actually expects to see a Dahlia 17' tall.
The Dahlia that David Hill gave us is *much* more lovely, we think. AND it
flowers in the garden here so from the pov of interest and value, I'd chat
him up, if I were you!
I must tell you that various experts disagree on whether either/or is D.
imperialis or D.excelsa but ours are not white! Neither our imperialis nor
whatever-it-is that David gave us. Chris Brickells told Ray ours is
imperialis and so did a collector of Dahlias, just this autumn and that's
good enough for us, Ray having been given it by someone back from his or her
travels - happens quite a lot here with many plants.
I may say that this same discussion will be heard among those who grow
Passiflorae. One person says we have the apparently 'extinct' John Innes,
another says we do not. ;-)

snip
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:25:15 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

According to Ray at Hill House, where I obtained it, it needs to get up to
the roof of his large greenhouse, about 18ft, before it flowers and then it
has goldy coloured blooms I'm told.
You say the one you saw in flower had white flowers, and David Hill said a
few months ago his has pink flowers, and both of them flower at a much
smaller size (half size) than the Hill House ones.

The one at Abbotsbury was a lovely clear white; only 2 blooms but a
lot of buds. It must have been nearer 10 to 12 feet than the 8 which
I quoted. It was growing a good foot below a raised path, and I had
to reach up to inspect the flower. NO sign of any seed pods, so maybe
only just flowering.
I liked the white one but would prefer David's pink one to "goldy
couloured".
Hey David! Do you sell seed?
Thanks Sacha, I'll do some more research before I buy one of your
plants next year.

Pam in Bristol

Mine bloomed--in a slightly different climate. My climate is similar to the
climate in the UK (which is why I take an interest in your fine board), but
not exactly like any specific part of the country. I have warm summers like
the southeast of England but more rain, and the rain is more seasonal (and
pouring right now). I also have a fairly long growing season--I am guessing
that late frosts are rarer here (Pacific Northwest of USA) judging by all
the complaints that British gardners have about early-blooming
Rhododendrons getting frosted.

Mine was "only" about 4 meters tall when it bloomed.

I didn't think the flowers would be much, but they are. They are quite large
for species Dahlias. Unfortunately they are up too high to really
appreciate unless one happens to have them in a really strategic spot. I
can appreciate mine just fine this year, because I cut them off to harvest
the shoots, which I am hoping to root (I was told this was possible; wish
me luck).

Another fine big Dahlia, which blooms more readily, and is of a similar
scale but smaller, is D. tenuicualis. The leaves are distinctly purplish.

Cheers,

Atar

Sacha wrote:

On 9/12/04 16:04, in article ,
"Pam Moore" wrote:

I was lucky enough to have a few hours at Abbotsbury gardens last
weekend.
Just by the exit from the shop to the gardens is a tall (at least 8ft)
dahlia in bloom. Large white flowers, lots of buds. Enquiry told us
dahlia imperialis. (Why do the things you really want to know the name
of have no labels?!)
My friend looked it up in the Plantfinder. A certain Hillhouse
Nursery lists it!
Do you sell seeds, Sacha?

No. But we do have young plants from time to time and I'll be happy to
send
you one next year as long as you remind me. As Bob says, it's doubtful it
will flower outdoors. Ours does flower in the largest of our glasshouses
but not out in the garden. To be frank, the flower is quite dull, it's
the height the plant can achieve which makes it remarkable, I suppose.
Nobody actually expects to see a Dahlia 17' tall.
The Dahlia that David Hill gave us is *much* more lovely, we think. AND
it flowers in the garden here so from the pov of interest and value, I'd
chat him up, if I were you!
I must tell you that various experts disagree on whether either/or is D.
imperialis or D.excelsa but ours are not white! Neither our imperialis
nor
whatever-it-is that David gave us. Chris Brickells told Ray ours is
imperialis and so did a collector of Dahlias, just this autumn and that's
good enough for us, Ray having been given it by someone back from his or
her travels - happens quite a lot here with many plants.
I may say that this same discussion will be heard among those who grow
Passiflorae. One person says we have the apparently 'extinct' John Innes,
another says we do not. ;-)

snip

--
Enjoy reading about special plants from interesting parts of the world on my
blog at a href="http://wildestdreamsofkew.blogspot.com""Wildest Dreams of
Kew"/a

I have just posted a couple of pics of the tree dahlias I have on
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens.
The double is around 8ft tall despite the gales we have had, the picture was
taken yesterday.

--
David Hill

www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"David Hill" wrote ..
I have just posted a couple of pics of the tree dahlias I have on
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens.
The double is around 8ft tall despite the gales we have had, the picture
was
taken yesterday.

Nice photo's of at least a couple of different flowers. So David, are yours
hybrids between D.imperialis and another? Or are they something else?

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London