Dahlia 2015

[Maggi Young]

Not sure if the link will work, but I posted a pic of a Dahlia Imperialis in the section below.  As always with Dahlia Imperialis, given the height of the plant, they are taken from a frogs perspective

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12521.msg319800#msg319800

 And did you self-pollinate the flowers,  François ?

[François Lambert]

 And did you self-pollinate the flowers,  François ?

Yes ...

but a frost killed the plants a little later    The Dahlia outside was too big to move anywhere else, I moved the small one from the greenhouse to the barn, but by -4°C outside the temperature in the barn hit frost level and all the aerial parts were toasted.  To be noted that a Hedychium Gardnerianum in the same barn perfectly survived these temps.

Up for another try this year, I will try to grow the small one into a 'bonsai' size so that I can try again to pollinate the flowers and bring it inside when frost comes my way.

[johnstephen29]

Hi Lesley there is dahlia bishop of Dover, pinky/white flowers/dark foliage, bishop of Oxford, orange/red flowers/dark foliage, bishop of york, yellow flowers/dark foliage, bishop of Canterbury, pinky/purple flowers, dark foliage, bishop of Auckland, red flowers, dark foliage. Bishop of Lancaster, red flowers, dark foliage! Bishop of Leicester,  pinky white flowers, dark foliage. Hope this helps john.

P.s. Comisurations on the cricket.

[johnw]

Lesley  - Chuffed your chocolate dahlia has settled in as ours and ones given to local friends all perished after a very wet summer & autumn. I do hope someone in this hemisphere has it going.

There's  'Bishop of York' and 'Bishop of Dover' about.

john

[Graeme]

Lesley, see http://www.national-dahlia-collection.co.uk/en/catalogsearch/advanced/result/?category=9

noooo - just gone to have a look at that website and orders closed 29-03-2015 - its like getting to the sweet shop and they have just locked up -
certainly will bookmark for next year though as prices looked good

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Well mine is obviously not Imperialis then, but the flowers on my plant are exactly the same as the ones in Lesleys pic. Maybe someone can identify it.
Cheers John.

[johnw]

Saw imperialis live for the first time last November when a friend's flowered in the hoop house in late November.  Quite an impressive sight.

john

[johnstephen29]

Dahlia imperialis looks an impressive plant, there was a root for sale last week on the UK ebay site. I had it on my watch list, then forgot all about it.

[Matt T]

Good number of suppliers listed here in the RHS plantfinder, John.

[johnstephen29]

Cheers matt

[François Lambert]

Dahlia imperialis looks an impressive plant, there was a root for sale last week on the UK ebay site. I had it on my watch list, then forgot all about it.

I purchased mine in late summer on E-bay from a French nursery as a rooted cutting.  This summer there will probably be similar offers on the Web.

[johnstephen29]

Thanks Francois I'll keep a look out for them.

[Lesley Cox]

Those other Bishps are really nice, thanks Ralph for the link. A breeder in Auckland, Dr Keith Hammet has produced a line of very similar flowers on almost black foliage but dwarfer, more compact plants. Three were in the garden here when we arrived, a butter yellow, a terracotta/orange and a crimson which ages to magenta. They're all good plants for this )autumn time of year. The B of Ll goes from strength to strength and so far we've had no frosts so he should be OK for a while yet.

John, my little one from your seed hasn't flowered this year because I was afraid of losing it and kept it totally dry, though still potted, in my shed last winter than (forgive me) forgot about it until I saw the Bishops coming though strongly. So when I went to look and retrieve the tuber was fine but no growth. Planted out it is growing well but still very short so it will be too late for this year but I'll leave it out this time and the others which are hardy here anyway, and perhaps cover with some pea straw and it should come away much earlier and so flower and hopefully seed, in which case I'll send some. There's a lot of seed coming on the Bs. I wonder if it would be worth sowing some?

[johnstephen29]

Dahlia's packed in compost starting to grow now.

image by johnstephen29, on Flickr

image by johnstephen29, on Flickr

image by johnstephen29, on Flickr