Jack Frost was here:)

Jack Frost spared you about 2 weeks longer than he spared us! Sigh, time to go digging.

Frank, Jennifer said there was three or four days of heavy frost there. She was actually anxious for it so it would zap her dahlias and she could dig them! Whoever heard of wanting frost?

Gone here too
They wait so long to bloom it seems they get started good and zap!!!

I pulled one yesterday that had 14 buds with color just showing

Ouch, that hurts! I don't really have any nice dahlias, just ones I started from seed about three years ago and I don't have to dig them down here. Thank goodness because I have enough fall cleanup withipout another added chore.

There are a couple of really pretty ones from seed but the majority of them I think I will dig out and give away because they take up too much garden space and I cant't use them very easily for cut flowers at market because of nodding heads and the heads snap off too easily.

I love the darn things, but I don't use them for cut flowers, either, because I always seem to end up bringing nasty bugs into the house if I try to put them into a bouquet! Sigh, and they're soooooo pretty!

They are and they have an unusual smell, but one I like. But I also like the smell of marigolds! LOL!

I guess I never noticed the bugs but I had to bring bouquets in before they froze to enjoy for awhile!

Oh, lucky you! Those are lovely!
I always seem to find a somnolent wasp or some other nasty lurking in mine.

I think by the time I brought those in it was to cold for most of the bugs!

Sigh. It's been freezing here, and all the plants are dead. But we STILL have nasty flying things about!

We were only 16 this morning, all the flowers are gone but all the bugs are too.

Gotta take the good with the bad, I love it when the bugs leave!

I disturbed a lot of ladybirds when I was cutting back the dahlias, and had to handpick them and relocate their dozy selves into the hedge.

Peter can you leave your dahlias in the ground there?

Hi Susie,

Yes we can leave them in the ground, mostly. Maybe 20% of the time we get casualties. Perhaps we get too much rain, so I am planning to bury the tubers three inches deeper ( by putting three inches more soil/compost on top), and then putting plastic pot bases on top.

However I am now beginning to think that the mother tuber rots after one or two years, and may need to be separated. Sometimes when I dig tubers out they split and disintegrate, and it is mostly around the mother tuber.

It may be that the natural development of dahlias is for the center tuber to rot, and the descendent tubers to move out from that location to form their own clumps.

Peter

Peter, They are a lot of work but they are so beautiful it is worth it!

Yep Susie, that's so true. I need to sort the population out for next year, I have too many randoms, and need to stack them in three of a type for impact. I am all over the shop.

Maybe need to get a shredder for Christmas (for myself) to process the plants when they are cut back in November. They are big plants even if they are full of water and air.

Peter

And some of their roots are humongous! Digging some of the larger ones are an ordeal, and I would guess where they live over from year to year in the ground, that is especially true.