Jean, below are instructions for posting your photos. We are looking forward to seeing them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Posting to forums

My earliest to bloom (and many of mine won't make it this year, either):
Patches
Chilson's Pride
Peaches
Bellefleur
Tomo
Pat N Dee

As a sidenote, all of these are excellent cut flowers, Patches is the most prolific in my zone, and has 18" stems - an excellent cut flower, and my largest blossoms were 9" across.

Gerri Hoek
Tsuki Yori

These were my earliest and are still blooming fools.

Sharon

Thanks for the responses. Hope more will indicate some of their early ones. I hate it when the end is near and some are still waiting for whatever.

The earliest Dahlia I had blooming this past two years was a bright pink waterlily form called Leota Mace.It started blooming in July and is still blooming in spite of a slight frost. Another early one is Avalon.

WOW - very interesting. In NJ - was a terrible year for dahlias. My Spartacus (2 tubers) didn't bloom until end of September and beginning of October. I have a lot of Kelvin Floodlight and by FAR, earliest, biggest and best bloomer of all my 125+ dahlias. I planted mid April and started getting KF blooms mid July and they are still going strong. Lavender Perfection, Vernon Rose, Glorioso (gorgeous varigated yellow/red) all did well too - blooming by end of July. Also Mrs. Eileen, although it is supposed to be an A or B and mine are all very small, max 4". Guess all depends on the weather! I still have quite a few that haven't bloomed and since we are expecting low 30s the next few days, I am praying it stays above that freezing mark!!

What color is Avalon?

Avalon is an informal cactus. It is a yellow & pink blend. Pink outside yellow towards centre, it blooms a lot. It is like the energizer bunny.Another early bloomer here is Audrey Grace, a knockout orange red color; very unusual;one of the hottest colors in the garden.It is a formal decorative, 5 in. blooms, 5ft tall. I just love it, of course I say that about a lot of them.Another is Aztec Gold a 9 in.4 ft. semi cactus,golden yellow and it is also a prolofic bloomer.

I just saw that this was from 12 years ago? lol, I'll still make my input since this thread gave me a lot of insight in what tubers to get next. My Kelvin Floodlight and China Doll bloomed from mid-June onwards and flowered in profusion until November when the frost hit. Here are the pics

Bloom time varies depending on your temperate region, how early they get started, size and petal count of bloom, what minerals and nutrients are available in your soil, etc etc. I grow hundreds of different varieties of dahlia every year, and I've never had the same varieties bloom first year to year. Normally they are the smaller blooms with minimal petal counts, and they are the ones that had the most time inside to grow.

However, I also top my plants to encourage bushiness and a stronger flush a couple weeks later, so that skews the 'first to bloom' average, too. I often nip the first buds because they are typically inferior, and I'd rather higher quality blooms later then unattractive lopsided ones early. Personal choice.

I've talked to growers that long ago gave up on Kelvin Floodlight as a late bloomer, then there's others that claim it is the first to bloom. It all depends on conditions that are not easily pinpointed.

Regardless, its great that you are excited about the new dahlia season, and have some old favorites you're eager to see again. Up with dahlias!

Cheers!

CiCi