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Posted on 1:24 PM by Wanto and filed under
By John Morrison
Erecting a close boarded fence is not effective to prevent frost pocket if the garden is in the lowest position in the neighbourhood. In this case a close hoarded fence all round may help a little, but really it is very difficult to prevent frost damage in such situations by structural alterations.
Individual plants can be protected at planting time, but apart from this it will be as well to become resigned to losing the plants a little earlier than the luckier gardeners in more ideal sites.
Being a true perennial the dahlia may be propagated in several different ways other than by the primary one of raising from seed. In fact this natural method of increase is seldom used by the modern grower except for raising some of the bedding varieties, such as the single Coltness hybrids, or the double Charm hybrids and for the purpose of raising new varieties.
With plants produced from divided tubers the first flush, which is the most useful to the exhibitor, particularly in the case of the giant varieties, is usually produced too early for the main shows and the blooms are more or less wasted. In addition to this, many exhibitors believe that the finest blooms are produced by plants raised from cuttings, though whether this is true is a moot point.
These divisions, although allowed to live an independent life, are still part of the same variety, with all its good points and faults, and will not vary except in the comparatively rare case of mutation, when some part of the plant may differ from the original. This mutation or sporting will naturally be most apparent when the flower is affected, the most usual variation being a change of colour, though, more rarely, the form of the flower may also be affected.
It is sometimes possible to obtain a proportion of clean healthy plants by taking cuttings from a tuber which may later show symptoms of disease. It is probable that if such tubers had been divided, all the plants obtained would have been diseased.
Individual plants can be protected at planting time, but apart from this it will be as well to become resigned to losing the plants a little earlier than the luckier gardeners in more ideal sites.
Being a true perennial the dahlia may be propagated in several different ways other than by the primary one of raising from seed. In fact this natural method of increase is seldom used by the modern grower except for raising some of the bedding varieties, such as the single Coltness hybrids, or the double Charm hybrids and for the purpose of raising new varieties.
With plants produced from divided tubers the first flush, which is the most useful to the exhibitor, particularly in the case of the giant varieties, is usually produced too early for the main shows and the blooms are more or less wasted. In addition to this, many exhibitors believe that the finest blooms are produced by plants raised from cuttings, though whether this is true is a moot point.
These divisions, although allowed to live an independent life, are still part of the same variety, with all its good points and faults, and will not vary except in the comparatively rare case of mutation, when some part of the plant may differ from the original. This mutation or sporting will naturally be most apparent when the flower is affected, the most usual variation being a change of colour, though, more rarely, the form of the flower may also be affected.
It is sometimes possible to obtain a proportion of clean healthy plants by taking cuttings from a tuber which may later show symptoms of disease. It is probable that if such tubers had been divided, all the plants obtained would have been diseased.
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