Dahlia XXXL

Discussion in 'Other Plants' started by Fat Controller, Nov 2, 2012.

  1. Fat Controller

    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    I have four Dahlia XXXL in my back garden, that I am hoping to be able to dig up the tubers from for next year, but they are still flowering - - when do these usually stop flowering, and do I then simply wait for the foliage etc to die back before digging them up?
     
  2. Kristen

    Kristen Under gardener

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    No rush. Frost will blacken the foliage, dig up after that. Its only prolonged wet & cold that will be bad for them (many people leave them in all winter and just cross their fingers) so even after frost has blackened the foliage I don't rush - some time during December normally does fine for me, I get to it in November if we have frosts and if I have time!
     
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    • Fat Controller

      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    • Jenny namaste

      Jenny namaste Total Gardener

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      I'm having to cut my "Bishops Children" down now FC because I need the space to plant wallflowers and put in my free 12 Apricot Tulips( thumbs up courtesy of an astute GC member)and a few little daffodils.
      Jenny
       
    • Fat Controller

      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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      That was the other reason I was asking Jenny - I have 100 or so daffodil bulbs begging to be planted. I might naturalise them in the grass instead.
       
    • Jenny namaste

      Jenny namaste Total Gardener

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      Have you got room for an extended window box ? Would look nice in those - if they are miniature daffs?
       
    • Fat Controller

      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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      They are big ones Jenny, so would't be much cop - I am thinking tgetight be best in a clump in the grass behind the small wall on the sunny side of the garden; at least then there would be no risk of them getting dug up when changing plants in the borders
       
    • pamsdish

      pamsdish Total Gardener

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      Just stop you mowing that bit of grass in spring :noidea:
       
    • Sheal

      Sheal Total Gardener

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      FC, I have 300 to 400 daffodil bulbs on the edge my lawn, they finish blooming by the end of March, but I can't mow that area until the end of June when they've died back. I'm just pointing out it will look scruffy until then. :)
       
    • Fat Controller

      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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      Sssshhh........ Mrs C will hear you!

      Fair point. I'll have to think about it and weigh it up, as I do like my grass to be tidy.

      What sort of area would 100 daffodil bulbs cover at reasonable density (say a strip 12-18 inches deep)
       
    • Sheal

      Sheal Total Gardener

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      That's a difficult one to answer. :scratch: I wouldn't plant them too close together as they need space to reproduce and they do that fairly quickly. I planted the original 300 along the edge of my drive turning the corner and across the front of my house. The strip was about 3ft wide deepening at the corner and the over all length must be approx. 75ft. I planted the bulbs in groups of four and five but spacing the groups out.

      I'll leave you to work out the maths on that FC. I have a photo that I took the year after planting and I don't think it will re-produce well if I scan it. :)
       
    • Verdun

      Verdun Passionate gardener

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      I plant daffodils amongst deciduous shrubs but also divide into several clumps after floweriing and pot up. I then "plant" my pots where the gaps are in spring. I find this keeps them rejuvenated too. They are good to edge the veg garden, where veg is not grown. I have a large Acer flamingo I cut down every year and have daffodils planted around the base. When the Acer starts to grow the daffodil foliage is dying down. I do this with cotinus and around deciduous grasses.
       
    • PeterS

      PeterS Total Gardener

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      Assuming XXXXL stands for extra, extra, extra, extra large, I am showing the tubers that I lifted today. They are from Dahlia imperialis and excelsa, both of which can grow to over 30 feet in their native Mexico.

      [​IMG]
      This is the first time that I have lifted them - so I didn't know what to expect. On the left is D. imperialis. Its quite unlike any other Dahlia that I know. Its a mass of thick roots - very thick in places, with very little sign of traditional tubers. The milk bottle was added to the picture to show the scale. I had to use a saw to cut the stems - they were far too large to fit in the jaws of secateurs.

      On the right is D. excelsa, which is more traditional and manly. The connection between the tubers and the main stem is a minimum of one inch in diameter - rather more than for most Dahlias. :biggrin:
       
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      • Verdun

        Verdun Passionate gardener

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        PeterS, how big did these dahlias get? How do they compare with normal dahlias? Where did you get them?
         
      • PeterS

        PeterS Total Gardener

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        Hi Verdun. These can be seriously massive. Apparently the hollow stems of Dahlia imperialis are sometimes used as drainpipes in Mexico. My imperialis was hardly more than 8 feet high this year. But I would hope for more in a warmer year as it puts on a lot of its growth as late as October and November.

        I bought both from http://www.hillhousenursery.com/ . D. imperialis flowers very late and needs heat and would be unlikely to flower outside for me. At Hill House, in Devon, they have one outside that sometimes flowers, and one inside their greenhouse that regularly flowers in about November at around 18 feet.

        The D. excelsa also came from there. I don't think it gets as big in this country but flowers earlier. Mine was flowering today when I cut it down. However its much more brittle, which makes it more difficult to grow. But I only bought them as tiny plants earlier this year - so I am still learning.

        In principle they are the same as any other Dahlia, but they have the ability to grow far larger. I have read of tubers 4 feet long. Also the foliage and shape, just by itself, of imperialis is lovely.

        PS D. imperialis can be found under tender/exotics on the Hill House site.
         
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