You're all very kind to reply. It has been an odd year, I think many plants were delayed because of the intense heat. All my other dahlias, all raised in pots and planted out pretty much together, have been flowering for a good three to four weeks now. I will hold my breath for the CoL And I am I believe the ONLY person who didn't have an excellent crop of tomatoes this year! San Marzano, Roma, Black Russian, a knobbly one beginning with C - all rubbish! The only ones which have performed are Gardeners Delight. They're the (gardening) breaks! Happy days all
We're moving our greenhouse, so had to finish the tomatoes, although loads were still green. We put them in a brown paper bag with a banana and all of them ripened up.
It's knowing what to do with things that counts - Robert Frost
Hi @adamadamant I grew dahlias for the second time this year and amongst them was Cafe au Lait, they were the ones that I was most excited about. They were the last dahlia variety to flower though, after Bishop of Landaff and David Howard but by 20th July I had my first huge flower and since then they have flowered so well. So they are definitely worth planting, absolutely stunning. I’m not sure if it was beginners luck but I hope not … I planted them in my raised veg bed which i decided to use for dahlias, cosmos and some veg. During last autumn I dug in lots of homemade compost, I bought them as tubers, grew them on in the greenhouse and then planted them out in the middle of May. I have watered them a lot, probably every day with any spare water I had, but haven’t fed them. Not sure if any of that helps but I’m such a fan of Cafe au Lait and hope yours bloom. Here’s a photo of mine.
@CDouch Lovely to see a photo of D Cafe au lait thank you. I am not a fan of pink but the added shades of beige to brown make it very special. Perfectly named.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Exactly what I was hoping for! I have about twenty little green buds on stalks around two inches long, and am in despair of there being enough light or heat for them to progress. Can I ask roughly when you planted your dahlias out? Perhaps I did mine too late, but they went out when they all (and I have about four varieties) about a foot tall. The rest are flowering well. Anyway congratulations on a great display they do look gorgeous.
Hi @adamadamant Yes I planted them out in mid May as I saw on the weather forecast that frost was very unlikely, I live in South Devon, so I decided to take the plunge. To stop them getting eaten by slugs I covered them up over night with clear plastic pots (a tip from a kind gardener on this forum) and that worked brilliantly. I only had 2 plants but they have produced masses of huge flowers. Good luck for next year, it sounds like yours went out a bit late this time. Definitely my favourite plant in my garden, here’s another photo to spur you on for next year 😃
I am drooling over the pics. of Cafe au Lait. I have tried twice to grow it from purchased tubers with very poor results. I am going to try again next season, the colour combination is delicious. It is used a great deal in wedding flower arrangements. I grow other dahlias, from tubers and seeds, with no problems except earwigs and slugs. I did leave the C au L tubers in the ground over winter so this time I am going to lift them and store in the shed. I live in Cornwall so leave most of my tubers in the ground over winter, half of them are in large containers, and the rest in borders.
Hi @Joyce Goldenlily after reading that you haven’t had much luck with Cafe au Lait I’m really hoping that my success this year wasn’t beginners luck! I will definitely lift the tubers and store them over winter as last year I left about 4 tubers of another variety in the ground and only 2 survived. I’ve been using dahlias as cut flowers this summer and adding one Cafe au Lait bloom to the vase makes for a stunning display, I love them.
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I grow other dahlias, from tubers and seeds, with no problems except earwigs and slugs. I did leave the C au L tubers in the ground over winter so this time I am going to lift them and store in the shed. I live in Cornwall so leave most of my tubers in the ground over winter, half of them are in large containers, and the rest in borders.