Dahlias

I have found on you tube several methods of growing your dahlias from tubers into leaf.what do you do with yours?

 

All I can say from my own tiny bit of experience is that last year I accidentally knocked a piece off from a tuber, I just buried it in the ground and forgot about it until a couple of months later and hey presto!! a new plant that flowered beautifully.

 

I dig them up when the bulbs go in around late November. Chop the stems off, shake out soil, leave to dry for a day or two and put them in carbord boxes with newspaper for the winter in the garage.

In April, around 3-4 weeks before I can start ferrying them out, I bring them indoors potted up in big pots. They sprout within days and then it just depends on the weather when they start their daily walkies until they can go in the ground or containers.

Propagation is way too easy (seen that these take a lot of space in my tiny garden ), just break the tuber lump in smaller pieces ensuring that there are some growth point, pot up and bring into the house. Cuttings or broken stems root easily too I hear, haven't tried that myself.

Leaving Dahlias in the ground all year round doesn't work for me, the flowering is a pushed back to August and slugs can destroy the whole plant.

Dahlias are fabulous and easy plants, my biggest challenge apart from labelling, is to remember to stake them well early.

I grow dinnerplates and I think I have Franz Kafka somewhere.

 

as they say, I should have done my research before buying these gorgeous flowers.. I bought 4 last year, planted them on my garden edge, came winter they dried and never came back.. now I know why... thank you Selleri

 

I've got a few seed grown ones this year, nothing spectacular but I will keep the tubers of the best ones for next year the rest will have to just get binned.

 

Here in South Wales, I chance it and leave my big pot of 'David Howard' outside - on its side so it stays drier. It has survived 2 winters and started flowering last week. Worth the risk for me, but I guess Rugby is a bit colder.

 

They are very nice dahlias Pete.....you don't always need the blousey showy ones to look good in your garden. I have two which I managed to grow from seed this year and looking forward to seeing what they produce ,apart from dahlias ,,,llllll ,.....