Dahlias from Seed

 I have always liked Figaro Dahlias as an annual.  This year, on a whim, I ordered a pack of seed because I was also growing out my Bee's Choice Dahlias from seed I saved, and I wanted something to compare it to.  I found that I had a poor germination rate, or poor seed viability from my own saved seeds but that otherwise they grew about the same.  The Figaros are way ahead of the others on flowering time which is probably influenced a lot by the time they were taken out of their pots.  The others had to wait for the Peas to be finished while these went in the ground in early June after the weather sorted itself out.

I put them in corners in front of my white Marigold and Ageratum combination.  I am getting a good range of color but I would like to get some deep pink or dark red.  This is the drawback to growing your own from seed.  Had I purchased these in a nursery, they would have been weeks ahead and I would have seen hints of what color they would bloom.  Still, it is a good experiment and I will do it again.  I have six plants still to reveal their colors.

Another seed experiment:  Last year I started a tray of Citrus Blend "Panolas" (a cross between Pansies and Violas).  I love the Orange, Yellow and White color combo and they are hard to find in stores.  So I grew them myself and saved the seeds last year.  I didn't have anywhere to plant them.  But, while waiting for the bare rood Seascape Strawberry plants to take off, I realized that the strawberry bed would probably be a good spot.  The Pansies will grow early in the spring before the Strawberries put on a lot of growth.  Then they can reseed themselves and die back while the Strawberries are doing their thing.  So a few weeks ago I scattered my saved Panola seeds in that end of the Strawberry bed and now I have a nice little crop of color in there.  All I had to do was remember not to weed them out when I was maintaining the Strawberry patch.  This bed gets so weedy with Oxalis.  I need something nice to take up the space and fight with the weeds.

Dahlia of the Day:  Brown Sugar

The Brown Sugar Dahlia is supposed to be a rusty, brown or copper colored flower.  The one I got several years ago has proven to be a deep burgundy red with no color fading at all.  It is, in my opinion, a poor example of Brown Sugar so I have renamed it "Sugar Brick"