Figured we needed a little shaking up here in the dahlia world. Awfully quiet compared to that rowdy bunch on the Peony forum.

I am holding off taking the bags from the crawlspace til the middle end of March if I can manage it. Only have had one liquify in a bag but had lots of that plant so doesn't matter.

Received two rockii peony roots from a generous kind person on that thread as a gift. Truly a wonderful gesture. They are potted up and in the crawl space keeping the dahlias company. Hope they make it.

Just wanted to say hi mostly. Seems like it has been a while.

I bet they'll do just fine, Mary! The trick (I was told by Carol Adelman) to keep peonies in pots overwinter is to keep them from freezing and thawing. I wouldn't worry much this first year about really cold period, just chilled with your dahlias should be good. So glad she thought of doing that, it was a wonderful idea and I wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself getting quite a few more offers this spring!

Hi Mary! Good to see some action here! I have been following the lily forum a lot. There is a lot of activity there with the Australian lily growers. My tubers are still looking good.

I only have a tiny patio garden so can't grow Dahlias myself but I got Sarah Raven's latest catalogue in the mail this week and can't wait to go to some public gardens to see Dahlias en masse this year.

https://www.sarahraven.com/flo...

Hi Sue. Even one pot with a special dahlia perks up any patio. I envy you all who have wonderful gardens with dahlias. I am trying to get our botanical garden to put some in. They are a lot of work and would be considered annuals by them. That is why I grow so many then provide them to the garden in pots. That cuts down on their expense and labor. They can sell some and just put some out in garden beds for interest.

Liz this is the best bunch of people. I am a bit speechless. Which is quite a new condition for me. I will talk with Mike and see what he says. I think we could accommodate new plants in the research plot. He was talking about maybe developing a large display there of just peonies. Not fancy - pretty much rows - but with great signage and what would be fantastic is if we find that indeed we can grow and bloom tree peonies. NO ONE does that here. The old "they said it couldn't be done." Except it has been done by me in my garden and then this spring in their garden. We moved those trees out into the main gardens in various spots and I am absolutely chewing my nails to see what happens in the spring. They all had wonderful root masses and I bought azomite for them which Will put around all the new or moved peonies. Need to be sure they do some top dressing in spring to get food to them all. They are purely organic so I have to be careful what I buy for them. I guess I need Mike or Will to research then tell me what they need. Or simply have them order/buy it and I will pay for it. I so much want them to be successful. They work so hard and have so little.

Sorry, sounds like I am begging. I am not. Truly. I get carried away I guess. Wanting them to be successful.

Inches of snow all night and still coming down. Seeds I held all winter (iris, lily) germinated in the flats I put them in a week ago. Guess I will just have to let them grow and then try to replant in clumps to 3" pots. Never grew seeds like that before. Rather exciting. Know it has not a thing to do with dahlias but have to do something to while a way the time.

Am venturing out in the snow to meet my daughter for coffee. The plows just went by so should be safe enough. I have a Subaru SUV which is very sure footed.

I agree Mary. It is always great to hear what others are doing during the "off" season.

Dahlias will be out of the crawl space end of March for me.

My tubers are still looking to be in great shape. Unusually mild weather this last week. We had several days of rain and snow.

Here I only checked the temperature in the area where they're stored and it's in the 40's so they should be fine. I am tempted to take out two to see how soon they'll sprout, mainly because I want to take cuttings. It feels like it's taking forever to get to spring even though it's seven weeks away.

I've only checked my tubers once since I stored them. They looked good. I'll check again in a couple weeks. I promised myself I wouldn't worry about them this winter like I normally do. If some go south, I'll buy new ones or do without. Wintertime doesn't need any additional worries.

I got waaaay behind on planting my spring bulbs this past fall. The weather turned cold earlier than normal this fall/winter and the ground has been either frozen or soggy with rain most of the time. I have several hundred hyacinth and daff bulbs in the tool shed that didn't get planted. I potted a dozen or so and hope to have a few blooms indoors. I might pot a few more. Nothing to lose at this point.

I think we've had more rain recently than we had all last summer. Where's the justice? LOL

Seven weeks to spring?? Surely you jest. lol. That gets me to March. If I were on the other computer I would show you what my yard looks like in March.

I have sprouted lily bubils, and some tiny glad corms taken from the main corms last fall. Also sprouted some iris seeds. Never did that before. And some other seeds that I thought were lily but look more like Alyssum. Drat. They won't make it to go outside. To far out. Even if I repot in larger pots. I guess I was guessing that it takes them a while to mature outdoors and I wanted flowers sooner than later.

I am also holding off on dahlias as long as possible. My storage space is too warm I know (about 53F) but not much I can do about that. Should have stored them in the garage but I simply have no room. The rolling racks are jammed and will need to be offloaded to boxes to make room for flats as it is.

Neck deep in snow right now with crazy weather - tons of snow then 45F then back to single digits then up to the mid 20's.

Mary, it seems we've traded our milder temps and rain for more typical winter weather. It's forecast to be cold all week with snow every day. I wish the rain was back! Last night's forecast called for less than an inch of snow. We already had that by bedtime. So, The National Weather Service issued a " we just looked out the window" update. It was a winter weather warning for heavy snow with up to 8". We ended up with 5-6". Any time you get a "less than" forecast, have your snow shovel handy!

Want to make some easy money? Contact a meteorologist and ask them who will win the Super Bowl this Sunday. Then, find a bookie and bet the opposite. Guaranteed winner!

Cheer up! It's only a few days till the groundhog will look for his shadow. If he sees it, there will be 6 more long weeks of winter. If he doesn't see it, it will "only" be 42 days till spring! Glass half full! LOL

I don't know that it is the temp that is getting to me as much as the dark. I realize that we are gaining light each day, but when it is overcast it doesn't seem like it. Be this time of year, at least up here, you begin to identify with the groundhog -- living in a dark tunnel.

But in the spirit of gardening I will also adopt the glass half full approach and hale coming spring. Just isn't coming fast enough.

Spring just isn't coming fast enough. I have boxes of Dahlia tubers in peat moss in 50 degree storage. I check them periodically and they look good. I mist them every other time I check them. I have a question.....When I plant them this spring, am I suppose to plant the individual tubers or can I plant a clump of them and not break them apart?

I am not sure which clump is which specific Dahlia so I will be taking pictures and asking for ID if possible. Last year I had them planted in a raised bed. This year I am going to plant them in the ground and stake them so they do not fall over. I can hardly wait.

You can do it either way, Jeanne. Planting the entire clump means a much bigger hole and if dahlias aren't separated (they can often be gently pulled apart) they can send up far too many stems, making survival a bit iffy. I've lost some when I didn't know better.

We can all help by giving our best guess for identification. Giving the height and size of bloom will help.

If I do pull some of the tubers off and plant separate, how far in-between each other should I plant them? Some of the plant roots (tubers) are a large grouping. About how many tubers should be in each hole or left together as one?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Don't even consider "pulling off" any tubers! That won't work and you'll be upset.

Scroll down on this link to see how to divide dahlias. It's critical to get part of the "collar" (where the eyes will be) for every tuber. https://www.dahliabarn.com/dah...

The distance apart is different for small dahlias (short in height) than it is for the huge ones. Since yours are not labeled plant them 2 to 3' apart to be safe. Put the stake in before you plant each tuber or each clump.

Do you have any short dahlias? I'd be concerned they'd end up behind the tall ones but maybe you don't have any short ones: no worries.

I'm often faced with how many to leave together and usually judge by the amount of stems coming out of the clump. Do your best to separate them (I'll be doing the same exact thing). Otherwise, if you're faced with many stems, attached to tubers, and you plant it as one clump, you run the risk of the tubers being unable to take up nutrients and the whole clump dying.

One tuber per hole is the ideal.

Use a super sharp knife for cutting the tubers apart. As Arlene says, leaving at least two or three eyes each if you can. If not, even one works. I store in clumps and then in the spring can't resist cutting the clumps into a few smaller clumps or even down to a few tubers. Depends on how they look. I suspect a fair amount of loss to dry out (can't spell dessication to save my life). You sound like you have a perfect set up for storage.