Sorry you lost your tubers. Mine overwintered OK... had to cut a couple of bits off... just brushed the soil off, wrote their names on with markers, and put in a paper bag higgeldy piggeldy in an unheated back room of the house.
What kind are you growing? My collarette Teasbrooke Audrey just came out today. Only noticed buds last week as well. Now we have some heat yours will hopefully kick off.
I love the fun and variety that dahlias bring to the garden.:)
Mine (tubers) have barely begun to pop through the soil. We've been having an unusually cold, wet spring - if temperatures begin to climb into the normal range, do you think these will have time to grow and bloom before the first frost in October? Last year they were only just budded up when the frost hit them all.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
I find they’re late coming up when they’re in the soil, I dug mine up and started them off in pots indoors (conservatory) We had a couple of very cold spells probably sets them back a bit. Another problem with leaving them in is that slugs will have the shoots as soon as they show, then you think you’ve lost them with no show.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I could never leave them in the ground, for the reasons @Lyn describes. They'd be unlikely to survive the winter wet in the ground anyway. If you have a shorter season, as we do here, you have to grow them on undercover for a good while, and it then depends on the weather. I bought some new ones for this year, and many are producing buds, but it's been unbelievably hot and dry here compared to our usual weather. I've had one in flower for a while, but it was already growing when I got it, and it's apparently very vigorous anyway, so it wasn't surprising. Even the cutting I took from it early on is as big as the other new ones. Neon Splendour - it's well named The ones grown from seed are different though, because you're not starting with a more mature plant/tuber.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It's now in beside the Spartina [grass] and a new Aquilegia - Lemon Queen [?] @WAMS which complement it well, and it has a few more buds now. That pic is from last week. It's been flowering for a while. Bl**dy huge an' all
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My second year in the North East of Scotland has seemingly gone better with the Dahlias so far this year. So slow to get going in the growhouse but once they started sprouting they weren't too bad.
Have definitely kick on a bit in the last couple of weeks and I've put almost all of them in their large final pots now. A few buds appearing here and there.
Shorter season up here @Dirty Harry so they need protection for longer before going outside. Those look good Then it's just the slugs and earwigs to worry about...
At least the dry weather is making it easier to keep those away, but we seem to have got the east's weather, and then some. You can have it back any time you like!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
What kind are you growing? My collarette Teasbrooke Audrey just came out today. Only noticed buds last week as well. Now we have some heat yours will hopefully kick off.
I love the fun and variety that dahlias bring to the garden.:)
We had a couple of very cold spells probably sets them back a bit.
Another problem with leaving them in is that slugs will have the shoots as soon as they show, then you think you’ve lost them with no show.
If you have a shorter season, as we do here, you have to grow them on undercover for a good while, and it then depends on the weather. I bought some new ones for this year, and many are producing buds, but it's been unbelievably hot and dry here compared to our usual weather. I've had one in flower for a while, but it was already growing when I got it, and it's apparently very vigorous anyway, so it wasn't surprising. Even the cutting I took from it early on is as big as the other new ones.
Neon Splendour - it's well named
The ones grown from seed are different though, because you're not starting with a more mature plant/tuber.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Bl**dy huge an' all
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Have definitely kick on a bit in the last couple of weeks and I've put almost all of them in their large final pots now. A few buds appearing here and there.
Then it's just the slugs and earwigs to worry about...
At least the dry weather is making it easier to keep those away, but we seem to have got the east's weather, and then some. You can have it back any time you like!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...