Visit to a Dutch Dahlia Nursery of International Fame

[Lvandelft]

First a view at the seedlings field.

Than some collarette Dahlia's and I made one picture of
Pompon Dahlia in a vase on one of the tables.

Dahlia Pompon (English Type)

Collarette Dahlia:

Dahlia Ann Breckenfelder             
Dahlia Clair de Lune                 
Dahlia Collerette Queen               
Dahlia Hootenanny                 
Dahlia Mariposa   
Dahlia Night Butterfly
Dahlia Pooh
Dahlia Don Hill       

[Lvandelft]

The last picture shows one Dahlia bed where we liked the combination of the
dark leaves with the flowercolour very much.

Dahlia bed

We had a very enjoyable time in a beautiful surrounding!

[Brian Ellis]

Luit I love the colarettes, Dahlia Night Butterfly is a stunner, I will look out for that one.

[Lvandelft]

Luit I love the colarettes, Dahlia Night Butterfly is a stunner, I will look out for that one.

Yes Brian, I thought I would finish with some Dahlia, wich are more fitting
to "Rocker's" tastings. 

[Armin]

Hi Luit,
thanks for the Dahlia picture tour. I really enjoyed it.
There is an amazing number of flower forms and fanatastic color combinations.

The only thing which holds me back growing them still today is that the tubers are not frost hard

We I was younger I had plenty of Dahlias in our families garden. But I could not borne the annual dig up process after I started my business carrier.

Wouldn't it be a genius idea/challenge to breed tiny and frost hard Dahlias for alpine gardens?

[johnw]

Luit -  I am awaiting ripening of seed on the unknown Mexican species Dahlia. As to the readiness of the seeds both Mark and Fermi mention "when the seedhead dries".  Paul T. says "the seed head will fall apart". The problem here is the flower falls off but the material held inside by the calyx gets quite juicy rather fast. I am concerned about the seed head rotting and and as well how long it takes for the seed to ripen. This is not exactly the dry climate of Mexico.

Is it possible you might ask your Dahlia breeder friend about the matter? I could get him a small tuber if it interests him.

johnw

[Joakim B]

This is a lovely thread Luit
Strong colours and big flowers 
In Sweden I was not fond of dahlias since they needed to be taken up each winter and I had some of that with me when going to Portugal but here they are hardy and make a wonderful plant this time of year. It is a bit susceptible to mildew and it is a petty. Maybe only here where it is to dry for them?

Lovely to see all of this splendor thanks for showing
Kind regards
Joakim