I have an old high school friend who has traveled here and there, never staying in one place very long. It was his work that took him to many places but I'd get a post card from him occasionally over the years and it always had the same message: "Living in Kansas now, the dahlias are still with me." Or Tennessee or Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, and one time it was Maine or one of the NE coastal states.
We had exchanged 'good luck' gifts when we graduated, both knowing we would most likely never see each other again. He gave me seeds from his favorite Black Eyed Susan and I gave him a single tuber from one of Mom's Dahlias. By that time I'd staked enough of them I felt as if they were mine. When we were growing up we might have been the only 2 students in our school who cared a bit about plants. He liked the blooms and of course I knew mostly about medicinal wildflowers.
We retired at about the same time and he sent a card telling me he was retiring to N Georgia because he wanted to be back in the mountains. His P.S. was the same as always: 'I brought the Dahlias with me!' Occasionally he's sent pictures of the blooms, still the same dark pink, but always in different environments. If I ever see him again, I'm sure he will still have those dahlias, just as I still have his black eyed susans.
I tell you this because I swear I think dahlias must be the strongest plants I know, not a bit temperamental or stubborn. It doesn't surprise me that they grow well for you, even if you have to protect them from your vile enemies. You've been fighting those gophers all the years I've known you, Zuzu, I think ultimately you'll win.
