Re: Dahlia imperialis

--- david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Laura,
> 
> It shouldn't be all that hard to find, or your local
> retail nursery ought to be able to order it for you,
> as there are several wholesale nurseries that grow
> this, including San Marcos Growers in Goleta, and
> Suncrest Nurseries in Watsonville.  It is certainly
> not a drought tolerant plant, and needs regular
> garden
> water to look its best. 

I bought this plant from "Plant Delights" nursery
which is also where i got my other decidedly non-med
plant, Musa sikkimensis. They are at:
www.plantdelights.com. Their catalogue seems to change
seasonally so they may or may not have it.

 It will also be very prone
> to
> wind and/or early fall rain damage as it gets
> skyward,
> so it really is best where planted in the protection
> of a building courtyard or sheltered by surrounding
> large trees.  I also find it best to situate this
> where you will see the blooms, as they will face
> south
> or west to maximize sun exposure, and you may find a
> better view from your neighbor's yard if you don't
> keep this in mind.  Late fall winds such as your
> Santa
> Ana's can do real damage to the plants right before
> they are getting ready to bloom in late
> October/November.

Mine is in a somewhat protected spot, although not
really. It's open to any southern, eastern, and
western winds, but is protected by a big Dodonea
viscosa right behind it. I didn't see any damage from
the recent storm. But it does seem like it could
easily break or topple with enough force. They do tend
to form rather tuberous roots though (which isn't
surprising being a dahlia).  

> 
> I have several in my garden that did mostly survive
> the most recent gale force winds, but they were
> certainly looking better a week ago.  There is
> another
> species called D. tenuicaulis, which has deeper
> purple/magenta flowers on a shorter stalk over a
> longer bloom season, maxing out a 10~12 feet tall
> rather than 20.  My D. imperialis get about 18 feet
> tall and have hundreds of flowers at one time,
> keeping
> the honey bees very busy at this season. 

I think I may just keep this one around :). It does
seem prone to snails in the spring, but by midsummer
it was looking good and the snails didn't seem to
bother it (but all headed towards my banana looking
for moist spots). It is actually fairly ornamental
even without flowers, as the leaves are bipinnate
(dissected twice), and the leaflets are deep green
toothed and broadly oval.

> All of the Tree Dahlias are extremely easy to root
> from cuttings of woody trunk with at least 2 leaf
> nodes, so if you see some in the neigborhood, it
> wouldn't hurt to ask for some...


It's even easy to root with non woody tip cuttings.
Tat's how i started the second plant (which has a
thick base and four strong stems). This is one plant
that's somewhat forgiving of getting whacked back (as
i decapitated the original with a hose!).



=====
_____________________________________

Barry Garcia
USDA: 9
Sunset: 17
Marina, CA
Sittin' on  sand dunes.

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index