As some of may know when not being obsessed with making wine I do a bit of gardening which can be a challenge here in the desert southwest.
My SWMBO hails from Seattle and I have a little patch of home out front that each year gets planted with show quality dahlia's each Spring. This is a labour of love for sure as each Fall they must be lifted, cleaned, broken up and placed in baggies with cedar shavings and then sealed and stored in a cool dark location until next Spring where the planting process is repeated once again.
I usually store them in the garage but I have to cover them with layers of old blankets as it will drop down into the low 20's in the garage in the deep of Winter. If they get too cold they will freeze and turn to a brown gooey mush and you have to start over with new ones.
They usually don't thrive until we start getting our Summer monsoon season and then with all the rain and extra humidity they take off like a rocket. They still pale in comparison to dahlia's grown in the Pacific Northwest. They are HUGE up there. When they say "Dinner Plate" , they mean it! My Dinner Plate dahlias are more like salad plates!
Pretty none the less and we are never in need of fresh cut flowers for the table all mid to late Summer and early Fall. People walking by the house usually always stop to see what's new and blooming.
Enjoy!
My SWMBO hails from Seattle and I have a little patch of home out front that each year gets planted with show quality dahlia's each Spring. This is a labour of love for sure as each Fall they must be lifted, cleaned, broken up and placed in baggies with cedar shavings and then sealed and stored in a cool dark location until next Spring where the planting process is repeated once again.
I usually store them in the garage but I have to cover them with layers of old blankets as it will drop down into the low 20's in the garage in the deep of Winter. If they get too cold they will freeze and turn to a brown gooey mush and you have to start over with new ones.
They usually don't thrive until we start getting our Summer monsoon season and then with all the rain and extra humidity they take off like a rocket. They still pale in comparison to dahlia's grown in the Pacific Northwest. They are HUGE up there. When they say "Dinner Plate" , they mean it! My Dinner Plate dahlias are more like salad plates!
Pretty none the less and we are never in need of fresh cut flowers for the table all mid to late Summer and early Fall. People walking by the house usually always stop to see what's new and blooming.
Enjoy!
