Before and After

Before: Kasasagi, KKKKatie, Mingus Erica, Cha Cha and others having a little late season bloom fest last week. So many flowers....

This morning after the big chill; the same area but after I cut many many of those flowers for one last time last week.

Castle Drive bud

Ice cold Castle Drive bud!

Two big, boofy Karma Venturas

Two half frozen floppy masses of yellow. At least they still had color! Look at the leaves behind there.... boo hoo. I've been cutting dahlias down today like a wild woman so I don't have to look at them looking so pathetic.

On a half happy note: Cafe Au Lait got heavily frosted and is cut down now, but look at Crazy Legs way in back still going to town! Mingus Erica, Brightstar and most of Maarn survived well being close to the garage. I left them standing.

Pooch - I think I like the before better if you were asking ;)
Those black leaves are so shiny aren't they.

Pooch, would you put a circle around Crazy Legs in the picture for me? Is it the 7 1/2 footer? If so, tt looks so different than the portrait pictures you see in catalogs. Or is that Maarn? They sort of have the same coloring fom 15 feet away, don't they?

Suzy

Oh Annie, they look so sad. I haven't even gone out to look at mine yet.

Here Suzy. Yes, Crazy Legs took off and almost touched the eaves, definitely 6 +ft here, this year anyway. It was a wonderful dark orange reverse with golden front petals- stellar form. It's now faded. Almost all the orange dahlias end up looking similar by this time. Even some pink ones seem to fade to peach or apricot color. Maarn was just a lovely pale tangerine last week. The reason Crazy Legs and others didn't freeze is that it's so protected by the garage and by adjacent plants, I think. Anything fully exposed or on an edge like Cafe Au Lait was bit.

Maarn is right behind Cafe Au Lait and no blooms are visible. I left it standing even though a few leaves are darkened, just in case it heats up again and I can see one more bloom- optimist! Dreamer!

Ah, thanks! You spoil me, but I appreciate it. My garden froze in increments this year, too.

Suzy

Increments, what is that????
Not here. It froze hard and all is gone. :(((((((((((((((((((

Yes, sometimes it does freeze everything, but Pooch said she had 80% of her dahlias gone, but not 100%. So, Pooch has 20% of her dahlias still intact, even after a frost, and I had about 40% of mine still intact after our first frost. Of course, nearly everything is gone here now, but it froze off in increments this year.

Jeez, Is Crazy Legs 6 1/2 feet tall for everybody? Note to self: Cross it off!

Suzy

No, it wasn't that tall for me. I've grown it 2 years now and both times were 4 to 5ft.

My 'Crazy Legs' is very tall. Both of them. Like over 5'.

Okay, well Crazy Legs either is, or might be, too tall for me and there are plenty others, so it's crossed off.

I had forgotten the other 2 dahlias I bought when I posted the first time, but I know one was Chimacum Sam (an orange stellar) and I think the other was Alpen X, which I know a lot of people on here grow, but I was in a rush.

Rain today and then the nighttime temperatures take a dive into the 20s. I have to tell you all --I am counting on November having some really nice days because I have a LOT of bulbs to get in the ground! And those nice days better be soon, because I'm having T-giving here and if it's a choice between comfortable planting and cooking/cleaning, do I need to tell you what has priority?

Have a good day!

Suzy

I just loved Crazy Legs ( Thanks Mendy!) If you are anti-height Suzy maybe consider Fidalgo Julie. Very similar to C.L. brighter color even maybe, but grew at 2.5-3 ft max for me. It didn't take up much room width-wise either.

Pretty certainly, Pooch does NOT have any dahlias that survived the overnight freeze. It's 22 degrees and looking like Rudolph could pull up instead of Trick and Treaters : (((((((

22 - yowsers. hasn't been that cold here yet.

I really like 'Crazy Legs.' It just keeps blooming all summer long and has a neat color scheme.

Geez, we are colder than the midwest??? Unreal!
Well, I thought one of my dahlia by the house had made it but nope, it is 30 degrees here now so................
It is a sad, sad world out there now.
Beautiful clear skies but in the background are the mushy, black/green stems, etc..............................

Well, as suspected, all dahlias have frozen overnight. Even Crazy Legs et al by the garage couldn't hang on. The one other year I remember them freezing hard, all color was lost from the blooms too, they just turned into a big neutral colored blob of petals, but I still have some nice frozen orange blooms visible LOL. Crunchy!

Hey Suzy, Crazy Legs isn't quite so tall this a.m. maybe you can keep it on your list?

Carnage! Dahlia Imperialis before ( a month ago)

and today after the superfreeze. Looks like sort of a braised arbor vitae doesn't it?

Oh, man! Those with a million dahlias really get hit hard, don't you? And that dahlia tree-thing (What does Gritdig stand for?) doesn't look so hot when it's masquerading as a braised arborvitae -- or from the thumbnail pic - a dead tree with Spanish Moss hanging from it. And with 22 degree temperatures at 10 in the morning, I think my zone envy is over! As Al said, YOWSERS!

Yes, Crazy Legs is shorter, and I'd keep it on the list, Pooch, except now I don't care for the pose of the flowers. LOL! I'd hate to think I'm anti-height, but a giant plant with those little iddy bitty flowers waaaay up at the top looks a little off to me -- no doubt the look will grow on me, but for now it's a relief to be able to cross off something!

Hey! Speaking of pose...I was looking at flowers -- just sort of (ahem) window shopping -- and I noticed some cactus and scs with different poses -- some flowers are looking straight up and some are at a 45 degree angle to the stem. Which is considered better? My personal preference is 45 degrees, or a little up from that, in a "look 'em in the eye" kind of pose, but I wondered what the official ADS position is.

Suzy

I think straight up is preferred for cutting and showing. But in the garden, I'd prefer a mix of both so you have a better chance of seeing color from more angles if you're not going to routinely cut them.

YOWSERS is a great word and I said it often today. I think the temp maxed out at 38 º BUT the sun was fully shining on the thermometer at the time. It didn't feel like 38 to me. Back to 27 now and falling. sigh..... At least the dahlias can't get hurt anymore, they are toast! Some perennials are still standing tall and untouched.

Good question on the Gritdig meaning Suzy! It's been so long I forgot but it's on a way back earlier thread: May 06 or so. Great Race International T______ Dahlia Imperialis G________

I found it.
Cut and pasted from that actual thread.
GRITDIG stands for "Greatest Race Internationally, Tree Dahlia Imperialis Girls"
The actual link is below for the competition.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/603458/

Good job Carol on the location and translation. We belong to GRIFTDIG now LOL-- Greatest Race Interrupted: Frozen Tree Dahlia Imperialis Girls.

OH HOW FUNNY, ANNIE, LOL LOL
That really made me laugh and I needed that, thanks!

Annie, I suffered your fate nice flowers one day black sticks the next I need a spring fix. hugs carol

Well, Annie, are you guys still on the map or have you been washed away yet? How 'bout the earthquake in Portland last night? Are you close enough to have felt that? We didn't feel anything here.

Veeja, sorry you finally froze! So sad. Now you just need to stay dry and on high ground. Keep the dogs warm and dry.

Mgh, I couldn't feel the earthquake here because the rain was pounding on our roof so bad it would have had to be a 6.0 to register LOL I was out in my jammies and rainsuit for 2.5 hours trying to get our drain thingamajig open this a.m.( Where ARE the men in the little white coats?) I started 4 hoses siphoning the thingamajig/drain box but it still wasn't enough to keep up. I mean gallons of water per second were pouring into it from our driveway drains- even bailing out this (underground chamber where the drains end up pouring their water) with a 4 gallon kitty litter bucket FULL over and over again, it filled up as fast as I could bail. Faster. Really fast!

The Poochella garage and Part Time Dahlia Dividing station in there therefore reached maximum floodstage this a.m. I have become an excellent floor squeegier.
Hope you are all on dryer ground in Oregon.

Well, where we are it is much drier........not dry, mind you, but drier. We aren't flooding yet. I haven't called my sister to see how high the river behind her house has gotten.....maybe I should do that.

Yes, where WERE those men in the little white coats? Out in your pjs and raincoat? LOL You're going to make yourself sick! (I seem to have gotten something.......very sore, swollen throat) I guess I was thinking you lived on a hill? Your garage is getting flooded? That CAN'T be good! I heard that we have had as much rain in the last few days as we normally have in the whole month of November. That's alotta rain!!! I sure hope it lets up soon!

Oh you need to drink some hot Lemon Zinger tea with honey, and take about 20,000 GM of vitamin C Mendy! This is no time to be sick.

We are indeed on a hill and in no danger of flooding except for the garage. It's just that the land all slopes down into the very poorly sited garage with only three, 4- inch drains to handle the downpours. If they clog up with leaves, dirt, dahlia labels or dog hair it's all over for the garage, but this a.m. the little drainage chamber the three drains feed into wasn't draining- AT ALL. The outflow drain pipe had broken, I couldn't even find it digging like mad where it should have been draining down to lower land. DH came home with an electric sump pump ( just in time for the power to come back on to run it!) and found the broken pipe end. All is well with drainage for now, but all is also wet at this point! I always feels sorry for the deer and bears on a day like this. And lost pets!

I hope you feel better and stay on solid ground. Did you guys feel the earthquake in Albany?

Well, glad to hear the drainage is well for now. I hope it stays that way!

Well, right now I am drinking hot, honey-lemon water. I've never had Lemon Zinger tea, but it's probably about the same thing? I'll go raid the kids vitamin C bottle too. LOL

No, we didn't feel the earthquake. I was really surprised to hear about it last night on the news. With this cold my ears are all wacky and I keep getting dizzy, so I may have felt it and not known it. LOL