Thursday, July 14, 2011

Last flowers on tree dahlias


Dahlia imperialis, Tree Dahlia
Despite the horrendous gale force winds of late, the tree dahlias still have a few flowers hanging from the top of the plants. I have been waiting for them to finish so that I can cut down the giant stems and start taking some cuttings. Cuttings usually consist of stem pieces cut into lengths with two ridges or nodes remaining. These are placed length ways just below the surface of the ground and when the weather warms up, shoots appear from the nodes and a new plant is off and running in no time. I usually place lots of cuttings in a Styrofoam boxes, cover them up with potting mix and forget about them. These get potted into large pots just after the shoots appear and roots have formed. 
2017 update: i no longer grow them for sale.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, you learn something new everyday! I've been walking 'under' some of these on my daily walks and have wondered what they were. I did think they looked like dahlias but never have I seen dahlias this tall. Looks like I was right.

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