Collecting Dahlia Seeds?

I am trying to collect seeds from my dahlia & cannot find the seeds. What do they look like? Please help. Thank you.

ants

Check this one http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/ladygardener1_1234723331_572.jpg

The seed is in the left off flowering. These must hang down and be dry and must have opened a bit.
There will be a lot of leftovers from the blooms, but inbetween there are the seeds. You can gently blow away the leftovers from the flower, to obtain the seeds.

Jonna, Thank you so much for posting that picture. The flowers were dry & drooping when I collected them, but there really were no seeds in them. I have 5 different colors I would like to collect seeds from. Do some not make seeds? Or could it possibly be because the flowers were dry from lack of water instead of dry from being done? Thank you again for your help :)

ants

Ants, I think you have hybrids. They seldom set seed.
When Dahlia's set seed, it's very easy to harvest them, only cleaning costs some time.
I too have some hybrids in my garden and they don't set seed, or just a very few. But every year I grow Dahlia's from seed, like the dwarf Dahlia unwin and the larger Dahlia's. They easily cross, so you never know which colors are coming back. Usually I have at least 4 different colors. Here you can see the colors I got this year.
http://www.seedsite.eu/c__e_2.htm Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Jonna

Wow! Those are some very pretty Dahlias :) Very nice site also. I guess I'd better start experimenting with trying to root some cuttings. Thanks again Jonna. I've heard that some are perennial in zone 7. Do you know if this is true?

ants

I used to live in zone 7 before I moved to Belgium, but the Dahlia's didn't survive there. There might be some hardy species, but I don't know them. Maybe, if you protect them well in winter, they'll survive. They must be on a dry place, otherwise they'll rott.
You don't have to root them. Just take the bulbs out of the ground and let them dry and store them on a cool and dark place during winter. You can plant them again about 2 weeks before last frost.
Because I don't like to have so much work (our garden is full of stones, so it's hard to dig them up), I always sow my Dahlia's. Ofcourse I can't grow hybrids, because if they set seed, they will not come true. Only the bulbs will come true.

Jonna

Thank you again Jonna. Do you happen to know what Chrysanthemum morifolium seeds look like? :)

ants

Ants, I really don't know how the seeds of Chrysanthemum morifolium look like.
But most Chrysanthemum seeds look like these: http://www.css.msu.edu/Cor/WeedSeeds/Thistle,%20Canada%20-%20Chrysanthemum%20arvense.jpg


Jonna

Thank you Jonna :)

ants