2025 2nd/3rd Year Trial Varieties
If you’ve ever asked me how many varieties I grow, then you’ve heard me laugh. Way too many is the usual answer. But I believe that figuring out which varieties are heat tolerant is a worthwhile endeavor. So I take the dahlia trials very seriously and therefore why I grow so many varieties. Here’s a little sneak peak into some of my 2nd and 3rd year trials.
So what does 2nd and 3rd year trials mean? I grow a variety for a minimum of 3 years before I will say it’s heat tolerant. Three years usually lets me see it go through all kinds of weather patterns. Sometimes I can tell in year one if a dahlia is not going to cut it, sometimes it will do great years 1 and 2 and flop on year 3. But anyways, let’s get to the pretty pictures.
Normandy Bright Day- she’s a second year trialer- a bit more peach than she appears in the photo. I’ve got high hopes. I did a bit of propagation to increase our numbers so I could see what she would be like growing en masse.
KA Cinder Rose- Loved this one last year, early bloomer which is always a plus. Great coloring! I’m learning to grow out KA varieties for longer than the 3 years. The California climate where they originate is quite the opposite of here so I think a longer testing period is needed to truly see their capabilities in our climate. I’ve got high hopes for this one!
Diana’s Memory- I had this is production several years ago and always loved it but it’s a hard one to store through the winter— skinny tubers. So if it stays it’ll be available as rooted cuttings and we’ll probably grow it on the farm in a perennial fashion.
Camano Zoe- in her high heat coloring. She gets whiter with the pink more concentrated in the center as the temps cool. 2nd year on this and I’m seeing lots of promise.
Hilltop Lost Treasure (left) and Brookside Cheri (right)- I’ve been growing Hilltop Lost Treasure for years because she’s a personal favorite. I’ve been trialing Brookside Cheri for 3 years and had decided to cut it last fall. But then I ended up keeping a few tubers. So we’ll see what happens- they aren’t planted yet. But this is a good example of the hard decisions you have to make. They are both great but they are very similar and there’s only room to keep one. Who would you choose?
