A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 a little more color

I'm surprised to see these dahlias still blooming - we've had some pretty cold nights into the 30's here already, but so far so good!

i really like those lynne, you are great!

OH, how did I miss this post??????????

BEAUTIFUL COLOR'S!!!

Those are awesome flowers you got there Lynne!!!

I love dahlia's but here they're alot of work!!!

Thanks for sharing those..

Weezie

Do you dig those beauties up for the winter, or leave them in the ground???

This is the first year I've grown them....
Not sure what I need to do.


Cindy

Thanks so much, guys.

Cindy ~ I did dig up the tubers last week and set them in a closed off room that stays just a little cooler than the rest on the main floor of the house. I noticed a few days later that they were starting to get soft and a little mushy. Our house is extremely dry, especially when the heat is on, so I don't know why this is happening. I tried to save tubers about 2 years ago also, in a different room and that didn't work either. Sooooo frustrating!

Fortunately, the place I usually get them, sells them for only $1.99, so it doesn't cost TOO much to replace, but then again, you never know which type you are actually buying - these plants were all supposed to be the same!

By the way, Weezie... they really aren't much work at all - I start them indoors in a large pot - one gallon leftovers from the previous summer - usually at the end of March. Move them outside after the last frost, and the only thing I need to do after that is stake them once they get big and tall. Some people even grow them inside tomato cages so they'll have less staking to do later on.

Lynne,
I know they're not too much work,
but here it's known as "Multiplication"
If you get my drift.....
the kids, boyscouts, mom and mom's yard stuff, my own stuff, yadda, yadda, yadda....

I do have two dahlia's, one I leave in the ground, and it over winters, the other I just keep in it's pot and let it get frosted on, then take it in my basement, *It's a stone basement with one furnace *that pumps' out here down there too* and a hot water tank.* so it's warm, just not too hot...and then the potted one I let go dry, and the top falls off... and just leave it there, and come around March I start to water it a bit and it starts to peak out, of course there's been a few years where it peaked out even without watering...
And the one I leave outside, I have to cover with mulch, which reminds me, I still have to do that!

But, it's the "TIME", hard commodity to come by these days....maybe when the kids get bigger and I have more time on my hands... *or more time becomes available on the clock, like a 36 hour day maybe! *

But I so love the one's that are huge, the one's can get up to 3 or 4ft tall I've seen, like on HGTV...and there's alot of staking involved, and the competition one's, they use shade cloth in the hot summer heat, and pinch the buds for the biggest flowers, etc..

And I love the cactus one's, very pretty!!!

Weezie

I 'm gonna have to dig mine up, because I didn't realize how BIG they got, and planted them too close to the stone steps, and they grew across them and covered the steps up. One that I staked is 5 1/2 feet long, with HUGE purple flowers. I have it staked with everything from broken mop handles to just trying to tie it to the deck with macrame cord to keep it off the ground. VERY PROFESSIONAL!

I have a big garbage bag of cedar saw dust that my daughter gave me...you reckon I could put them in a big box full of this after I let them dry out a bit? And keep it in the basement?


Cindy

Right on , Cindy! I've read that before and that's how my brother does it and he has the most beautiful cactus and dinner plate dahlias. He puts them in plastic totes (ie.Rubbermaid) with the sawdust.

Lynn, did you try drying them out first, I use sheetpans with several layers of paper towels on them.