Dahlias 2012 season

Thank you

Thanks, Lesley, it's a wee cutie. It is staying in a pot, as the tiny ones seem easier to keep that way.

We have had rain most days last week, and things have romped away, so I have been out there in today's hot sun doing a massive disbudding. It is worse when they get away on you. Taking off buds more than a centimetre across does seem wasteful!

Quite a number of my new plants look as though they may be virused, although some trace element deficiencies can look similar. I will give them a bit longer to see whether they produce some better leaves. It means I have to be very diligent with spraying so that if it is a virus, insects have less chance of spreading it.

I should have a few more flowering by then

Question for Terry: I am going to try this vaseline trick on the stems. I have more weevils than earwigs nibbling my flowers, but it may well stop them too. Do you apply the vaseline just below the calyx, just above the first set of leaves down from the bud, or somewhere else?

OK, thanks. I shall try this tomorrow. I have just watched a beautiful sunset

What a gorgeous colour Mary.

I got it as a tuber last year, but it didn't come with a name. If it is flowering at the next Dahlia Society meeting, I'll take a bloom along and see whether anyone can identify it.