Quote:
Originally Posted by MG1
I purchased a bag of red dahlias years ago from Costco. Not sure what variety, but it is as hardy as any plant can be. Over the years, it kept growing bigger and bigger. I don't look after them at all. Five years now, I think. It got so big that I dug the tubers up and gave more than half away to my Italian neighbours. I thought for sure they wouldn't grow back, but there they are. As bushy as ever. They're almost like weeds, the way they grow. The pom pom dahlias I purchased this year for the first time, is from a place out in Mission. Ferncliffe Gardens, I believe. Five out of five of them have sprouted (can I use that term for tubers?). The three I bought from Gardenworks are the ones that are wilting in this heat. Only two of them have come out of the ground. They are beside the original bushes, so not sure why they aren't doing well. I may have forgotten to put bonemeal into the dirt when planting. My gladiolus are looking great. I tell ya, nothing like sea soil. SO, I really don't know much about dahlias, except aphids are gross. I used to use pesticides (Safers Endall), but started just spraying them off with a powerful shot of water. Like when that planet was destroyed in Star Wars, I heard/felt a thousand screams as they all died in an instant. Aphids' heads are stuck on the plant and the water just decapitates them, as the bodies aren't sticking to the plant. My neighbour just wipes them off the plant stalks with his fingers. Yuck, not me. I don't want to go anywhere near those ugly things. From far away, they look like a coat of tar. Up close, there are thousands of them. Ants actually farm aphids, so get rid of them and the aphid problem isn't as big a deal.
As for Hydrangea's, I have no luck with the one I have. It looks like Charlie Brown's christmas tree. Sea soil might not be for them. I will have to transplant it into a pot. Roses don't like sea soil, either. According to Brad at Select Roses. Now roses, I have lots of. Everything from Florabunda and climbers to the most amazing hybrid teas. I have this rose called dark knight. It starts out black and turns into a deep deep purple. I have a pure white variety called, Pope John Paul, that's stunning next to a velvety crimson red rose variety I have no tag for. Anyway, an orange coloured rose just started to bloom. So many varieties of roses. So beautiful.
Anyway............... I talk too much.
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So I got curious and looked up what a dahlia is.
It's the same stuff my dad used to grow when I was younger. He also did roses and those flowers on a stick (no idea what they were called)
He attracted a lot of attention from neighbours, people commenting on how pretty they are, and assholes who would just cut the flowers off and take them.
I didn't know dahlias were hard to grow, and he gave a lot of the bulbs away. He dug them out every year in the fall to put them away so they don't die in the winter.
We just bought a house and I asked him if he wanted to grow flowers at my house. He pretty much told me to fuck off lol.