Four Hills of Squash: Dahlia Starts Arrive and More Seed Starting

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Dahlia Starts Arrive and More Seed Starting

When I arrived home tonight, I was excited to discover that my dahlia cuttings that I had ordered from Corralitos Gardens had arrived. In most cases, I order dahlia tubers. That is what almost all of the commercial dahlia growers choose to sell and I am also very comfortable growing dahlias from tubers. But Corralitos Gardens only sells live dahlia cuttings. They also sell some unique and foreign dahlia originations that no one else carries. So if you want to grow a few of those, then dahlia cuttings is what you will receive. This year I ordered;

"Blyton Softer Gleam" - Ball Light Blend Orange/Yellow, 2005 British Introduction, Great cut flower
"Yesterday" - BB Informal Decorative Yellow, 2015 Introduction
"Camano Sunshine" - B Informal Decorative Yellow, 2012 Introduction, Corralitos' most productive cut flower
CLearview Louise" - B Semi-Cactus Light Blend Yellow/Pink, 2011 Introduction
"Gilwood Terry G." - BB Cactus Yellow, 2003 British Introduction
"Darksider" - B Cactus Dark Red. A 2015 origination and winner of the Lynn B Dudley award. And this was my free gift - $18.00 price to order!

Once your order arrives, it is really important to open the box immediately and unpack the cuttings from their protective plastic clamshells. Then I get them quickly planted in 1/2 gallon pots and water them in well. It is hard to believe at this point these small starts will grow to be full size dahlia plants. But I know from past experience, by Fall, I won't be able to tell any difference between these cuttings and my dahlias that were started from tubers.

After getting the dahlia cuttings potted up, I turned my attention to seed starting. I am about 10 days behind where I would like to be on this task, but better late than never! So tonight I seeded two trays, to join the flat that I already started last Sunday. I planted;