Looky what's growing un-invited along my BY fence. It sure seems healthy! I planned on planting lilies along the fence this fall (there's mini daylilies along the edging). Now I'm excited to see what color it is. I don't know what the plant is to the right of it is either, but I'm watching it.
You lucky dog! I about kill myself for 8 months of the year to grow dahlias and you just go about your merry business of ignoring the poor things! The foliage on the plants to the right of the tall one look like they may be border dahlias or at least shorter dahlias. Do you see buds on either of those two?
Are you going to tie a support of some kind around the tall one's stalks?
KATYMAC,
How GREAT is THAT!! Congrats. We''ll ALL be WAITING to hear all about color and such
Um, support? That thing has almost 2" stalks coming up from the ground. Is it going to flop? I didn't look for buds on the UNKs, I'll do that in the morning.
Most of the taller dahlias do need support. They get so many blooms that the weight of them can really bring the stalks down.
STAKES?? Hmmm, none of mine need staked yet, thank goodness
LOL Melissa, ignorance CAN be bliss. These things have been in the ground at least two years. Last year the area along the fence got weed whacked every week or so because I thought there was nothing but weeds there! I guess they're pretty tough after all. Here's a collage of the dahlia bud, the plant next to it (no buds yet) and a frog I almost squashed taking the pics. It should be pretty easy to just tie the dahlia to the fence if it starts to flop.
Save the frog! He'll eat up all kinds of nasty bugs for you.
Yup, support your local dahlia.... The tall ones especially. If you get rain and then wind it can be an invitation for disaster/breakage. With that handy dandy fence right there I'd just weave a tie/yarn/T shirt strip 3/4 inch wide around the heaviest stalks and secure the ends to the fence. If it grows higher you'll have to move the tie up or add another, unless you don't really care if it breaks. (She says, biting knuckle and wincing- how could someone not care if it breaks?????)
Some people have all the luck! I wish that I had ininvited "weeds" like this one in MY garden!
I will Poochella, I promise! After what it went through last year it deserves a little TLC. LOL
This seems to be a good thread for me to ask a question I've been wondering for awhile. I'm convinced that 2 of my very close neighbors leave their dahlia in the ground year after year. They are huge and blooming like crazy right now, while mine are in various stages, but much shorter and not blooming yet. Do they have a particular kind, better drainage than I or maybe nothing different and I could be leaving mine in the ground too?
Pooch, the dahila you gave me this spring are the farthest along as you had them started already! Thank you!
JBURESH;
I bought one in the pot, (actually two), from Lynch Creek Dahlia, right up the road from me, I put them in the ground, and they were the FIRST TWO to bloom over ones in the ground for a couple months. Go figure. I cant speak for everyone else, but I am leaving mine in the ground this year.
I know nothing about dahlias but I can tell you that this one is planted on a slope. Even during severe rains the water never stands in that area.
jburesh, have you tried leaving yours in the ground? Sounds like your neighbors have good drainage. If you do too, you might give it a try. I have some neighbors who leave their's in the ground too and it comes back every year looking beautiful. I'm just too chicken to leave mine in the ground. The area I have them planted in is like a wet sponge in the fall and winter. You might also mulch them really well in the winter just to be sure there's no danger of frost getting them.
I left my dahlias in the ground last year. Things got nuts and I didn't have a chance to lift them. I thought they'd be goners, so I planted a few more. They all came up, so things are a little crowded in the bed! I'm going to move some, but once they're where I want them (where they fit!) I'm going to leave them.
On another note, several of my neighbors have blooms already, but mine are just budding. Different varieties? Different microclimates? Who knows?
Hmm. I am terrible at storing tubers. They always get nasty on me. I think I'll try leaving them in the ground this year and see what happens. I have some new ones I got in full bloom at McClendon's Hardware. The soil they are in has good drainage, so I'm going to chance it. I already have too many things to dig and store..
Just make sure you have good drainage, or a raised bed to overwinter them. Plus mulch them 4-6" at least. Then they should be ok.
I have left mine in for the past 3 years and they are going crazy this year. The ones that I plant in the spring are much slower in height and blooming.
Carol
Speaking of Dhalia's, I just grew my fist this Summer. I only bought 2 bulb packs. I want to plant a few more next year. I am in Idaho and it gets really cold here in the Winter, do I have to dig them up in the Fall? Or can I just leave them there and see what happens next spring?
Also on another note, we are having to do the entire backyard. Right now I just have 3 flower beds and 4 trees and lots of dirt:-). We are looking for something low (no higher thatn 4-6 ft) and mounding that will add some color in the beds. Any suggestions? Right now we have a Forest Pansy Redbud, A Fireprarie Crab apple, a Lynwood Gold Forsynthia, Goldflame spirea and we are planning on getting 1 dark purple Butterfly bush and a dwarf flowering Almond.
Thanks!
The "Rose Glow" Barberries http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/57827/index.html are tough as nails and add color. I planted three seedlings last year and I'm so pleased I'm going to give them a more prominent place this fall.
boisegirl, dahlias won't survive a freeze, so if your ground freezes in the winter, I would think you would need to dig them in the fall....after the first hard frost, when the stems turn brown.
Yes dahlias can be left in well-drained, non-freezing soil but you need to protect them with mulch as Daisyruffles said. I've left some in the ground out here that I didn't care if I lost and most survived. I cover where the tubers would be with 6 inches of straw or fern fronds. We get about 3x the amount of rainfall of Seattle . I've had one clump in the ground for about 6 years but it's only a foot tall and had one flower last year. Spindly, thin and wimpy. Not a happy plant.
The trouble with leaving them in is the clump keeps reproducing tubers and you end up with a huge entangled mass in a few years- very tough to divide. Some people say you get healthier blooms/plants ('one tuber for one plant' theory) but whatever works. And if you fail-they are easy and fun to replace! It is really cold, wet, and miserable to dig up any number of them each November though. I am already dreading it.
Jburesh, glad to hear you've got some growth. Yes, potted up plants will bloom earlier- they have a head start over a plain tuber. Remind me to do that more next year- my blooms are so slow this year it's killing me!
Yes to the different heights. They go from 8 inches tall to 10 ft! Different number of blooms on different varieties as well. Along with roses and daylilies, there are just seemingly an infinite variety of dahlias. It's a shame I don't have 300 acres of flat land, 8 arms and about 20 clones or I'd fill each acre with tons of the little buggers!
