A great selection of varieties that I hadn’t, for the most part, seen before. I’m off to investigate! Thank you for the recommendations.
Also re compost, I work in a garden centre plant area, and increasingly customers are grumbling about the quality of compost. It is more challenging with peat free but Melcourt are so much better than the rest of the usual garden centre brands. £300 was a spendy spend, can’t argue with that, but one that will hopefully repay the garden over time
Sorry, pressed send too early! Also wanted to say I’m obsessed with growing them from seed now. I go around people’s gardens collecting dahlia seed and putting the seedlings into a great melting pot of dahlias that I grow each year. You never know what you’re going to get, it’s so exciting.
What a lovely read, thank you. You always inspire me to think ahead, which is great because I’m a bit overwhelmed with my new (to me) long abandoned garden!!
This is so helpful and I love how you write about how the flowers you pick change once you bring them inside, for example, liking whites in bathrooms!
I wish it was easier to get some of the newer ones in the US! Johnathan Buckley is resplendently luminous, hoping some adventurous US dahlia grower will somehow obtain it and propagate it for sale!
Also tip for US gardeners looking for good peat-free compost -- I have only found two peat free compost brands, and the only one worth spending money on, in my opinion, is called Organic Mechanics. Either the planting mix (rich chocolate cake soil) or the potting blend (same, but with rice hulls mixed in for better drainage) are both good. Pricey but worth it to me, and easy to order online.
Hi Arthur, hope you had a great Xmas. Never grown dahlias but neighbours do and they thrive on our heavy clay soils. Everyone also leaves the tubers in the ground - but we usually have mild winters here in the south west. You have inspired me to try them this year. I think I prefer the singles and good for bees/butterflies as you say. But I won’t be lifting tubers, too much faffing and anyway, the mice would eat them, like they do all the bulbs I store. Am off to finish planting tulips now. You helpfully said before that we can still plant up to January 🙄. Here’s hoping we have a long dry summer and all the best Arthur for you, your chickens and all your beautiful flowers 🌺
Wonderful to read this this morning! Talk of dahlias, trifles, circuses and ice cream colours….. bees, butterflies and chickens…… 💕❤️🐝🦋
A great selection of varieties that I hadn’t, for the most part, seen before. I’m off to investigate! Thank you for the recommendations.
Also re compost, I work in a garden centre plant area, and increasingly customers are grumbling about the quality of compost. It is more challenging with peat free but Melcourt are so much better than the rest of the usual garden centre brands. £300 was a spendy spend, can’t argue with that, but one that will hopefully repay the garden over time
Thanks for sharing these varieties Arthur - some new to me and very handsome! Especially frosty tips, and Irish Pinwheel,
Sorry, pressed send too early! Also wanted to say I’m obsessed with growing them from seed now. I go around people’s gardens collecting dahlia seed and putting the seedlings into a great melting pot of dahlias that I grow each year. You never know what you’re going to get, it’s so exciting.
What a lovely read, thank you. You always inspire me to think ahead, which is great because I’m a bit overwhelmed with my new (to me) long abandoned garden!!
Long garden very exciting!
The lady who lived here obviously loved it but sadly it’s been left for several years. Bit of a project now!!
This is so helpful and I love how you write about how the flowers you pick change once you bring them inside, for example, liking whites in bathrooms!
I wish it was easier to get some of the newer ones in the US! Johnathan Buckley is resplendently luminous, hoping some adventurous US dahlia grower will somehow obtain it and propagate it for sale!
Also tip for US gardeners looking for good peat-free compost -- I have only found two peat free compost brands, and the only one worth spending money on, in my opinion, is called Organic Mechanics. Either the planting mix (rich chocolate cake soil) or the potting blend (same, but with rice hulls mixed in for better drainage) are both good. Pricey but worth it to me, and easy to order online.
Thank you for the dahlia recs AP. And for the Melcourt tip off - it reminds me that it’s worth driving that bit further to pick some up
Hi Arthur, hope you had a great Xmas. Never grown dahlias but neighbours do and they thrive on our heavy clay soils. Everyone also leaves the tubers in the ground - but we usually have mild winters here in the south west. You have inspired me to try them this year. I think I prefer the singles and good for bees/butterflies as you say. But I won’t be lifting tubers, too much faffing and anyway, the mice would eat them, like they do all the bulbs I store. Am off to finish planting tulips now. You helpfully said before that we can still plant up to January 🙄. Here’s hoping we have a long dry summer and all the best Arthur for you, your chickens and all your beautiful flowers 🌺