I had the camera out today , mainly for a dahlia photo shoot but also the first of the daffs for the season 2018 .
TAHI is Maori for # 1 and , on song , it is the first to flower .
Growth is good and strong this autumn – after a pre Christmas drought , we have had good regular rainfall and obviously
enough to get the tazettas motivated .
Paperwhites are also well through and starting to flower . Their vase life is a little less than the Tahi series but they are
such a very clean white .Again , the bud count looks promising .
Thanks for both these early lines must go to Bill Welch , Bill the Bulb Baron , who , many moons ago sent the seed to Kiwi
growers Max Hamilton and John Hunter who grew them and made some fine selections .
I lifted a good amount of both these lines prior to Christmas 2017 and only replanted them about 10 days ago .
A little tickle tells me they are already making plenty of root growth and I would expect flowers in 10 – 12 weeks.
I do not HWT the early tazettas as I have no questions about their health or vigour and experience has show that they
certainly do not enjoy a warm – tepid 3 hour swim .
Could not resist posting this Dahlia – TAURANGA JUBILEE , a large fimbriated .
Stunning colour and big flower with intriguing form . Was NZ Dahlia of the Year for 2018 .
A big thanks for those posting your show results for the season and your other daffs in the gardens .
We always welcome the inspiration as most are still in the trenches , planting our daffs .
We finished our long summer on Sunday – out of Daylight saving ; lighter mornings but dark at 7 pm .