Don: Since the double purple and double white Dahlia imperialis seem to have come from Strybing, I am curious if they have been given cultivar names yet, or should one of us take care of that chore? At 03:39 PM 10/22/2005 -0700, you wrote: >Here at the botanical garden in San Francisco we have numerous clones of Dahlia imperialis, most wild colllected from southern Mexico and Guatamala. Some have flowers to 5 inches across. One clone blooms early (a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving ) while most bloom closer to Christmas. They come from white to pink to dark lavender and there are double and single forms of most. Some have reached to 18 feet tall.. When crossed they produce lots of viable seed and some interesting (shorter, stockier) forms are being developed. We also have two more everblooming species. Dahlia tenuicaulis hails from Chiapas, Mexico and blooms May through February It has two inch mid lavender flowers and only gets 8 to 10 feet tall. Dahlia sp. nova has thin half inches stems and leans through other plants to 10 feet and blooms April to March with large 4 inch pink flowers that hang downwards. It has smaller leaves. Some of the hybrids being developed seem to be everblooming. > Don Mahoney San Francisco Bot garden at Strybing Arboretum >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, NC 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdel.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent