Dahlia Profile - Lucky Number Seedlings
Hello friends,
Today we're looking at dahlia seedlings that I grew from Lucky Number dahlia seeds I harvested back in the summer of 2024.
First up we have the original Lucky Number dahlia. It's a peony dahlia with multiple rows of bright pink petals, with yellow centers. Each flower is about the width of my palm. Lucky Number gets to about 1 metre in height with bright green leaves and brown stems.
And here are the progeny of my Lucky Number dahlia.
This first one is a single dahlia with colours of peach and yellow in the petals, and a smaller flower than Lucky Number. The dahlia plant is similar in size to Lucky Number, but the stems are much darker in colour. My hunch is that this dahlia is a cross between Lucky Number and my Mystic Sparkler dahlia in the garden.
The second dahlia is pretty similar to the first dahlia, but the petal colours are a much darker pink, and there is an uneven mottling across the flower petals. The flowers are much bigger than Lucky Number in size, and I think this dahlia is a cross between Lucky Number and a red hybrid tree dahlia that grew in my garden in 2024, from seed that I purchased from NZ dahlia breeder Keith Hammett. The hybrid tree dahlia was bright red in colour with huge single flowers similar to this seedling.
The third seedling is definitely another cross between Lucky Number and the red hybrid tree dahlia. The petal colour is exactly the same as the red tree dahlia, but has rows of petals similar to Lucky Number, and the plant as a whole is similar to Lucky Number in size and colour.
And last up is a Lucky Number seedling that looks like a smaller cross of the third seedling. The flower is much smaller, and the red a bit more scarlet. I think this is also a cross with the red hybrid tree dahia.
It was an interesting experiment to grow seeds from the Lucky Number dahlia, and right now I'm unsure if I will keep any of the seedlings, as space is always at a premium in my garden. I'll make a decision in the coming weeks on what to do with these dahlias, and then tag them for digging up or keeping them once the first frost has passed.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Dahlia Profile - Lucky Number
Hello friends,
Today's dahlia profile is for Lucky Number, a large flower decorative dahlia of unknown origin.
I rescued my Lucky Number dahlia tuber one year in Wellington, in November, from the clearance section in Mitre 10. It was in a clear plastic bag and had a cardboard label on top stating it's name. It was in pretty bad condition, with numerous shoots growing through the plastic bag. I took it home and planted it in my garden, and hoped for the best. I was rewarded with a strong growing dahlia, with numerous, beautiful pink flowers, and a bright yellow center which attracted many bees. This was the first dahlia I ever bought, and it's what started my obsession with dahlias. Lucky Number is my favorite dahlia for these reasons.
The plant gets to about 160 cm high and 100 cm wide, and the flowers are approximately 15 cm wide.
Flower bud opening:
Fully Flowering:
Lucky Number has numerous flower buds growing on it, and over the coming it week's it'll absolutely put on a show until late autumn. I collected seed from this dahlia last year, and now have two seedlings, and in the coming weeks they will flower too, I'm excited to see what they look like.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
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