4:19 p.m. Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dahlias put on seasonal show

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By C. W. Cameron

For the AJC

Fall’s showstopper flower is the dahlia, with its lush color palette and wide range of sizes and types. In Atlanta, dahlias start blooming in August and continue until late October or November.

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Martha Tate, for the AJC Dahlia 'fisherman'.

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Brian Killingsworth, a retired Southern Bell worker, uses umbrellas to protect his dahlias from rain that makes the bloom too heavy for the stem in his Creekside Dahlia Farm in Ellijay. He also runs a small mail-order business for these showy flowers.

PHIL SKINNER, pskinner@ajc.com Brian Killingsworth, a retired Southern Bell worker, uses umbrellas to protect his dahlias from rain that makes the bloom too heavy for the stem in his Creekside Dahlia Farm in Ellijay. He also runs a small mail-order business for these showy flowers.

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“Dahlias are like dogs,” said Scott Kunst, landscape historian and owner of Old House Gardens — Heirloom Bulbs, a mail-order nursery in Ann Arbor, Mich. “There are huge ones, tiny ones, ones that are neat, ones that are rag mops. I think that diversity is really cool.”

“Cool” is an important word when you’re growing dahlias. They come originally from the mountain plateaus of Mexico, where they thrive in bright light and very cool nights.

You don’t have to be a gardener in Georgia to know that cool nights don’t come our way until September.

So is it possible to keep dahlias growing through our hot, humid summers to get to that great bounty of fall bloom?

The members of the Dahlia Society of Georgia say yes, and they’ve created a display garden at Stone Mountain Park to pique your interest.

The display garden is just about 250 square feet packed with 160 dahlia plants of about 100 varieties. By mid-August, there were more than 70 varieties in bloom, and the show will get bigger as the weather cools off.

“It’s a labor of love [for society members],” said member John Kreiner of the planning, planting and tending that goes into the garden.

Selecting dahlias that are heat tolerant is the biggest factor in success for Atlanta gardeners.

Wanting to provide the best advice for their many Southern customers, Old House Gardens reached out to Kreiner for advice on varieties that would do well in the South in general, and Atlanta in particular.

Because you probably don’t want to start off with all 100 varieties found in the display garden, Kreiner especially recommends these old-timers: ‘Kidd’s Climax,’ ‘Juanita,’ ‘Thomas Edison,’ ‘Prince Noir,’ ‘Deuil du Roi Albert,’ ‘Jersey’s Beauty’ and ‘Bishop of Llandaff.’

Dahlias need at least six hours of sun a day, and more is preferable. Late afternoon shade can help them get through our hot summers.

Dahlias must have well-drained soil, and staking is essential because dahlias can grow 4 and 6 feet tall. Put in your stake at the same time you plant the tuber — no hammering a stake right through your tuber in the middle of summer!

Dahlias have shallow feeder roots, so put down a 4- to 6-inch blanket of mulch to keep the soil cool. Water deeply once a week. Georgia winters are warm enough that the tubers can stay in the ground with just a good 4- to 6-inch top coat of mulch.

For more information on growing dahlias, the Dahlia Society has a guide on its Web site,  www.dahliasocietyofgeorgia .com.

If you want to add a few dahlias to your garden next spring, Kunst suggests placing your order in the fall.

Unlike the tubers grown for mass marketing, these heirloom, heat-tolerant varieties might be gone if you wait until spring to order.

With a little planning now, you’ll be enjoying your own exuberant dahlia display garden next fall.

To see dahlias  in the Atlanta area

The Dahlia Society of Georgia display garden is on the grounds of the Antebellum Plantation and Farmyard at Stone Mountain Park. A one-day parking permit is $10, and admission to the plantation grounds is $9.

The Dahlia Society of Georgia will host the Georgia Dahlia Show on Sept. 26-27 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The show is free with admission to the garden, $15 for adults.

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