From gardener to farmer In 2006, she tackled the daunting task of turning the weed- covered lot into a flower farm. “We pulled out piles of weeds and shrubs and blackberry vines,” she says. Years ago, the former owners used the property as a private dump. “So, we still find the occasional shoe.” Healthy soil equals healthy plant, so Albrecht added plenty of organic matter. In addition, she joined the local dahlia society—even served as its president for a while—and learned from the experts about growing dahlias. She produced such an abundance of flowers she turned to local florists to see if they were interested in buying the extras. They were happy to have the flowers for bouquets, she explains, but told her they wished dahlias came in soft, muted shades of mocha, cream, pink, burgundy and blush. The challenge was a big one since dahlias typically come in cheerful, bright colors. There are plenty of highlighter yellows and bright reds, she says. Meeting the challenge Albrecht’s standards were high: She wanted to breed new colors for the floral industry but also wanted the plants to adhere to the rules of the American Dahlia Society. ADS requires that flowers last well in a vase or in a bouquet, and plants need to produce plenty of healthy flowers and tubers. It’s a long process, and not always successful. “Sometimes you get what you want quickly; other times it takes years and more crosses, and sometimes you fail,” she says. “But I learned I have a good eye for what parent plants make good crosses. And I like to jump in 100% whenever I do something.” Her efforts paid off, and her dahlias attracted the attention and praise of dahlia experts and judges across the country. She developed the award-winning KA’s Papa John, a creamy white dahlia up to 8 inches across and named for her late father, who taught her about gardening. It’s one of her favorites and great for decorating arches at weddings. “The petals look like they’re waving in the wind,” she says. Her creations KA’s Cloud and KA’s Khaleesi also won awards. She won again for the largest dahlia ever shown in the U.S. in 2012, 2016 and 2019. She credits her family and friends for her successes, especially Jan Palia and Iris Wallace for their help with the farm. “Jan works her magic with bouquets and Iris keeps things organized,” Albrecht says. She adds that both grow beautiful dahlias as well. Almost year-round process While she gets a short break from farm chores in the middle of winter, her new year starts at the end of the previous autumn when she digs all the tubers out of the ground, labels them carefully and puts them in a climate-controlled shed that keeps
Plant hybridization is combining the pollen from two different plants and creating a new plant that is a cross between the two. Perhaps the hybridizer wants to create a new color. Hybrids cannot be propagated from the seed they produce because it will produce seedlings that vary widely. A new dahlia hybrid can be propagated from the many tubers it creates. To create a hybrid dahlia, Santa Cruz farmer Kristine Albrecht uses a paintbrush to collect the pollen from one dahlia flower, perhaps a cactus-type dahlia, and transfers it to the flower of another dahlia flower, perhaps a pom-pom-type flower. She repeats the process several times to ensure good pollination. She then takes an organza bag and covers the flower so the bees cannot get in with pollen they collect from other flowers throughout the garden. She lets the flower mature and produce seed, and collects the seed when it is ripe. The following spring, she plants the seeds. As the plants grow and bloom, she evaluates them and decides if any are worth keeping. WHAT IS HYBRIdIZATION?
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