Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-09
ALL AROUND THE PLACE.

In recent years the dahlia has taken
a foremost place in the ranks of late
summer blooming plants, and few gar
dens now are without beds or borders
of dahlias. The period of blooming,
which formerly began around the first
of August. has been brought forward
through cultivation and selection until
now the gorgeous blossoms begin open
ing in mid-June and continue to dis
play their glories in succession of
magnificent blooms until the plants are
cut down by frost in late autumn.
Dahlias are easy to grow, and in their
range of color and form are not sur
passed by any blooming plant of the
garden conservatory. Not even the
chrysanthemum presents the variety of
color and form that is shown in
judicious selection of dahlias. which
may now be produced in the entire
gamut of color from pure paper white
through all the tingles of yellow to
deepest orange, and through the range
OF pinks and reds. from palest rose pink
to most intense crimson, deepest scarlet
and maroon, so pronounced as to be al
most black. Some growers have pro-
duced dahlias of nauve, lilac or laven
der rue. though these as yet are by no
means common.
Dahlias are produced either from
tubers or from the seed. the former
being the commonest and most gener-
ally satisfactory manner of growing
them. They require a mellow and high
ly enriched soil, enough water that they
may not become dry or Wi1ted. and ex-
actly the same kind of cultivation as
potatoes. Indeed, many of the larger
growers who produce dahlias on
commercial scale plant the tubers in
rows like potatoes. blowing and killing
up the plants as they would the plebe-
ian vegetable. AS rule dahlias will do
well in any soil that will grow good
potatoes. though, of course. judicious
feeding and fertiliZing of the plants will
result in finer blooms and more of them.
In most gardens datlias are now set
ting their buds: some early birds already
| bear opened blossoms To obtain the
finest blooms and prolong the blossom
ing period of the plants growers should
feed them judiciously from now until
late fall, using weak manure water made
with thoroughly well rotted COW manure.
Another good plan is to work in around
| the roots manure from the COW barn.
being sure the material is old, black and
thoroughly decayed. Care must be taken
in this particular, fresh manure will
burn the tender and succulent stalks of
the plants, killing them instead of bene-
fitting them. The grower must also re-
frain from too liberal feeding as if
fertlized too strongly the plants will
make a heavy growth of stalk and TO-
! iiage with few blooms. Manure water
once week, sufficient to soak the soil
around each plant-the water being made
the color Of moderately strong tea-or an
application of the solid fertilizer at in
tervals of a week ten days. is suf-
ticient.
To obtain the finest blooms 1t is neces-
sary to remove all but one two of
the buds from the plants. leaving the
strongest and finest ones. This is a task
the amateur gardener always hates to
perform, but the finest dahlias may only
be obtained by this thinning out, when
the plant sends all the nourshment that
otherwise would have gone to "A dozen or
more buds into the one or two that are
left. The plants should also be tied up
to stout stakes, driven several inches
into the ground in position where they
Will not inture the tubers. Use strips
of muslin an inch wide for this, or raffia
may be used Clean cultivation of the
beds or rows is necessary. by this being
meant that all weeds and grass must be
kept out.
Dahlias may be grown from seed,
blooming the first season il the seeds
are sown early in the spring The seed
may be sown either in cold frames
or in the open ground. the seedlings be-
ing transplanted when about three
inches high. The same cultural meth
DDS apply when tubers are used
Growing dahlias from seed is an inter-
esting experiment. for the reason that
the grower never knows until the
blossoms open what colors or forms his
plants will produce. Seed saved from
| a particularly fine bloom grown from a
tuber may produce plants bearing
blossoms of half dozen colors or more
and of all forms from the cactus type
through the single forms to the big
double varieties 1t seems that every
cross entering into the lineage OF the
parent flower is reproduced in the seed
| OF that flower. SO that single big
| crimson dahlia may be the parent
| stock Of row Of plants bearing
white. pink, yellow, double. single End
| cactus blooms. Interesting, too, is
| the fact that even the tubers pro-
duced by these seedlings do not always
come true; the tuber from plant
| bearing. as Seeding, a pure white
blossom. may the next year produce
pink, yellow or crimson blooms or
blossoms variegated in white and
shades of pink or red. Many of the
| finest new varieties of dahHas have
been produced in this manner, from
seed, and this method of growing the
1 AnI -