It was a bit rainy at the garden party so I stood under the awning and talked dahlias with Natalie's dad. He said "I always lift my dahlias so I can dig my border, I like to know where I am. In the big gardens I think they leave them in, especially if it is sheltered, but I like to lift mine after the first frost. I dry them, wrap them in paper and put them in the shed. I've only got 8 but they come on lovely in the spring. I put them out in April and by July they are so big you have to string them up. It's hard to go away in the summer, I have to ask my brother-in-law to pop in so that he can check that the neighbour is watering them properly."
Completely failed with dahlias again this year. Next year I'm not going to bother with trying to grow them from scratch. I'm going to buy some big, blowsy plants from the garden centre and watch them like a hawk. Natalie's dad sounds as though he knows what he's doing. Your photo is lovely.
ReplyDeleteI have had middling success this year. One large tub is doing well but the other (identical size, identical plant, identical location) looks rather disreputable. All that will change next year when this will be a dahlia Centre of Excellence . You heard it first here.
DeleteTried dahlias from seed this year - very easy to grow and relatively slug resistant as small plants. Managed to fill my allotment with cheap and cheerful bee-friendly open-headed dhalias. The seed I bought is mixed so you get whatever colour comes and the plants are a bit variable in size and shape (not that it matters on an allotment as the bees don't care), but there is a choice of dahlia seeds available. In theory, I will also be able to lift any tubers formed, to store over winter.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Regret to advise that OCD issues will prevent me from growing mixed colours. You are talking to the woman who had a rage when a geranium was the wrong shade of pink.
DeleteOh I wish... When we moved into our house, I was informed by the expert gardener who had lived there for 54 years, that I must lift all the dahlias, and so I did as I was told, 8 months pregnant on my hands and knees, I lifted them, carefully set them aside in the shed.. And being rather busy with a small baby and a toddler I never got a moment to replant them in the spring. They sat in the shed for several years and I think were disposed of (not by me I should add) such a sad tale and I still feel so guilty...
ReplyDeleteOh! This is a tragic tale indeed. But it makes me feel better about the awful incident of the daffodil bulbs that went from shop to shed and then to compost. I didn't even have tiny tots to excuse my idleness.
ReplyDeleteThe dahlia bed has thrived this year doubtless due to my dad's meticulous 'beefing' up of the soil with zoo poo two years ago. We left the tubers in last winter and will probably do the same this year but with some nutritious muck on top and the poly fleece in reserve if the ice age cometh. Meanwhile I also grew some from seed. Not prolific on the flowers but perhaps next year they will do better.
ReplyDeleteI am going to leave my favourite one in the pot but am considering the fate of the Bishop of Auckland. To chop off his head or no? That is the question.
DeleteAm I wrong to want more PomPoms ?
ReplyDeleteThere can never be enough Pompoms. Go Large next year.
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