Possibly a silly question...

I have a Dahlia popping up in the middle of my raised bed. The bed is aprox. 20x40. The dahlias that I mailed out last year were primarily from this bed. The question I have, is it possible that a dahlia could have overwintered? Or would it be more than likely that seed dropped and that is growing? Although I didn't realize that vernalization was part of dahlia seed germination. The darn thing already has 3 sets of branches/leaves out, and is about 6-8" in height...but it is dahlia foliage.

I'll post a pic when I take it.

Yeah, it would be easier to answer dependent upon the thickness of the sprout. The thicker the more likely it was a tuber rather than a seed.

I bet it's a valiant tuber that escaped your digging, nestled in for winter way down at the bottom of the former clump and is now jumping for joy at the onset of more light and warmth. Please let it grow so we can see who it is that made it through winter.

Just had to add in here.....& every one knows that I know nothing about Dahlias.....BUT, I do know this for a fact......a couple year ago I bought a big ole' yellow dahlia from Lowes. It grew and bloomed that year. I'm the lazy gardener who didn't bother to dig it up. It did grow again the following year and bloomed too. However, it has not grown since that. There is no other explanation in this case cause it was the one and only tuber there.

Hurray, Thom! I bet it did overwinter. I did have it happen once long ago.

Sounds like a reasonable explanation. Some of the clumps that I dug up left giant ditches in this particular bed. The only thing I did was dump some Pro Mix into the craters left behind, and then mulched with a couple bags of leaves that I gathered from the neighbors. So, if this was a stay behind tuber, I essentially top dressed it with a few inches of ProMix, then added about 3-4" of leaves on top of it...essentially creating a mini compost pile for it to grow in/up through. Which would make sense. With all of that in mind, in addition to the ground never really "freezing" all the way, it makes sense that it came through. I think, if memory serves me correctly, this was a white/lavender giant sized dahlia also. Can't remember the cultivar, it was purchased at either Dan's, The Dahlia Barn, or Connelly's.

Thank you all for the encouragement and the advice!

I luv it when the Dahlias triumph over w*in*t*e*r ^_^ Thanks for sharing.

I had one overwinter a few years back. It was Orange Princess from Old House Gardens. It was planted in a somewhat protected area. Funny thing, though. Instead of being orange the second year it had both yellow flowers and pink flowers. No orange. I ended up shovel pruning it -- it was not very vigorous the second time around. But it did indeed survive the winter.