Dahlias: Okay it's time to show tree dahlias growing or budding, 1 by drdon

drdon wrote:
Hiya Poochella,

We get cold enough for it to go completely dormant. It dies off all the way to the ground. We leave some stumps about 12-18in long to assist in supporting new spring growth and then cut the old stems down when the new ones are sturdy enough to fend for themselves.

I first got my exposure to these plants in their habitat in Mexico. The summer rains there are at least as heavy as Washington state, it's the dry winter that keeps them from rotting. They handle snow, frost, unearthly heat (down here), and keep on growing.

Here's a pic of stems taken today. The diameter of the stems is around 5in and this one is about 13ft tall. D. exelsa seems to grow a couple of feet taller than D. imperialis for us down here. I've got a friend in Vancouver, BC that gets flowers from his D. imperialis every year.

thank you for sharing all of your amazing flowers with us.
don