I believe you are correct Mike. Also, I left all the long roots on (I grew them in containers). Perhaps next year I should trim them.

Jennifer, we are always learning. It's exciting!!!

I pulled out my dahlias today to unwrap them. A few had just a tiny bit of mold or fungus




This was my first year using the saran wrap method. It was awesome. The tubers look great. I did store one tuber in vermiculite and peat. It came through great also, but the plastic wrap method takes up much less space. Here are some tubers after I unwrapped them

They look good!

I ordered tubers from J Parkers Wholesale in Europe. The tubers from them and Sarah Raven are sold in whole plants, not divided into single tubers. Consequently the plants come in bags with broken necks , damaged, and in some cases dried up.

I guess the theory is that you get a multiple shoot plant from the whole plant, and a bigger plant. What you actually get is the work of chopping off the broken necked tubers, and all the thread like roots, and sometimes you end up with bigger tubers.



There is the additional problem that if you don't tidy up the tuber, you are planting something damaged , and it may rot much more easily. When you tidy up what you get you end up with a bag of blind tubers like these:



When you have tidied up the tuber it may end up looking like this. I dare not take any more off, but this looks busted out to me.



The tubers may be dry, like these , from a very reputable supplier of previous years ( and yes I have written to them and they sent me three more)



In the USA the single tuber, beautifully packed in slightly moist ultrafine peat seems to be the norm, like this one from Swan Island.



They may all grow, but I know which model I prefer, the USA model, easier to handle, easier to plant. I have sent photographs to the European suppliers so they can save on postage, get more tubers from a plant, and store product more easily. I am surprised they don't already do this.

Anyway, most are planted, but I think I will cut up the ones I have left , and the forty or fifty I left in the ground under different storage conditions, and cut them up into separate tubers as taught by Frank Richards among others.

Have a great season, lets see the photographs.

By the way, have you ever seen as many ladybirds as are in the gardens already. We had an exceptionally mild winter, with more rain than seen since records began 250 years ago, maybe four days of light frost, and as a result the garden is bounding ahead, and we are rattling with insect pests and friends.



These little fellows were sitting on top of a 6ft Echium Pininana, which looks like it will flower spectacularly this year. The flower spike will probably put on another four feet or so.

All the best,

I'm not thrilled with those big, messy "pot tubers" either, Peter. I much prefer single healthy tubers but some companies find it's just too much labor to separate the tubers, sad to say.

Love the ladybugs! They seem to be enjoying that spot.

Very good illustrations and pictures. I got one from a reputable dealer that was a bit dried up and I was told I could spritz them just a bit to perk them up. It was also a bundle like #4 and now I am worried because I do not know the difference between a blind tuber and one that is good, I would have planted the whole thing. Now I will get a picture of my tubers and show you tomorrow. This is my only problem right now because the rest are coming from Swan Island.

Pictures would help. The single tuber is what Peter showed, Nadine Jessie. The clumps are "pot tubers". Don't feel you have to do any separating - just plant the whole thing.

Thanks, I am not quite ready to plant them but just wondering if they needed a squirt of water? I have not idea what to plant as far as a good part or a bad part, since they mailed it to me this way I was assuming they want me to plant the whole thing.

Plant the whole thing. Don't try and search for good tubers. You'll probably get a lot of sprouts. Some of us remove extra sprouts, just leaving one stem (the strongest one) to grow while others let them all grow. You are free to do as you please.

Yes, spritz them with lukewarm water. Maybe even cover them with a paper towel and spritz again to try and get them to retain the water.

Thanks Pirl, I stuck a wet paper towel in there and resealed them. I will check them tomorrow and see how they look.

Good. It may take more than a day and another few spritzes of water.

That is fine. I actually have another one that looks worst than that! Those tubers are kind of round, more like sacks.

Ugly! You can trim off the stringy parts but that's just using time you may not have and won't make the plant perform better or worse. If I had it, I'd just plant the whole thing. What company sent these tubers?

Those are the ones I got from Bloomingbulb. They might have froze along the way because they mailed them quite early for a normal year but the first of March was terribly cold. I had other bulbs like Caladiums and Gloriosa Lilies and I do not think they are supposed to freeze. I am going to plant them in pots and keep an eye on what comes up and what does not. B@D waited much later.

I only buy from Bill (Caladiumbulbs4less) because he really does a great job keeping an eye on the weather in each area so he's not risking the caladiums to chance. I pot up lilies, too, just to be 100% sure of colors.

If I like these I will get some from them next year. This is my first year planting caladium bulbs, I am desperate for some color in the shade garden and I think they will do well. I have never had a shade garden before, this is so much fun. LOL.

Here is what I got


23008 Rosebud Fancy Leaved Caladium - 3 tubers 1 $5.15

23003 Red Flash Fancy Leaved Caladium - 3 tubers 1 $5.15

23028 Fire Chief Fancy Leaved Caladium - 3 tubers 1 $5.15

I've had (and loved) Red Flash but haven't had the others.

Just a note to remember that makes caladiums pure delight - they ALL do well in shade!

I have a feeling I will love these and will probably get a lot more next year. I have more shade than ever now that my Birches are big and my Cherry Tree is big too. The back yard is like a paradise compared to before with hot blazing sun all day.