Well, ted, that would all depend upon where you live! Although Arabian Night could normally be bought here, I don't recall seeing Bristol Stripe or Tahiti Sunrise here. And I know I haven't seen Myrtle's Folly, because I would snatch it up in a second. Now that I pretty much know which of my tubers did or didn't survive, I checked our local grower's website...he's all sold out...of everything. And I've been looking at the local stores and there hasn't been much of anything this year, except mixed packages of unnamed tubers. If I had decent looking tubers that I hadn't planted yet, I'd trade.

Thanx Sierra, I have this problem too. Was worried they'd be mush, but instead they're dry, shrunk and shriveled. Not optimistic, but maybe I'll try this with a few and watch closely to see if the surface begins to respond. Others seem to have had success by planting dry tubers first in pots. I'd planned to do that but it's been so chilly up to recent days, and so much to do, I didn't get tot it. This next 5 days will suddenly be 70-80 degrees. Any ideas for sudden revival of tubers in those circumstances? should I do a fast planting, water lightly & just leave em?

I don't plant my dahlias out until the end of May. The standard rule is if it is warm enough for tomatoes, then its fine for dahlias. I am a bit further north, about an hour east of St. Paul. Cold and wet encourages the tubers to rot. If you have good drainage in your beds you may be just fine. I wake up my tubers early and grow them in pots under lights, so that my late planting doesn't slow them down as much. Some are so much slower than others, I have a couple that are 18" tall in gallon pots. Most are in 4" pots 6-12" tall, and some are just starting to get above the soil line. I am planting about 80 this year, about 60 different types. I don't have the space for more - but I say that every year, and then seem to find ways to squeeze in more. They get kind of addictive - watch out.

Just last night I was reading the 1962 The Prairie Garden and there is quite the article about Dahlia culture written by Bjorn Peturson. Harvesting Dahlias In southern Manitoba dahlias are usually cut down by frost during the second half of September. In some mild seasons, with a little protection, dahlias may survive into October. Dahlias should be dug about 10 days after the first killing frost. The 10 days between the death of the top and lifting of the roots allows the roots to mature somewhat and to develop a covering more impervious to water loss. If liberal amounts of peat and barnyard manure have been added to the soil the plants will lift quite easily without appreciable root injury. After the clumps of roots have been cleaned of soil and dried for about 3-5 hours they are ready for winter storage. Storing Dahlias The dahlias can be stored as undivided clumps and the clumps then divided into individual roots in the spring or the clumps can be divided in the fall and the roots then stored much as one would store carrots. If they are to be stored as clumps some of the soil should be removed from the clumps and these placed in boxes which have been lined with water proof paper and packed in sawdust, sand, dry soil or peat soil. The boxes should be stored at a temperature of 40-50 degrees (we didnÂt have Celsius back then) in a well-ventilated room. The writer has had good results with the following storage method. 1. The soil is cleaned from the clumps immediately after digging and the clumps are then divided into individual roots, making sure that each roots has a bud. The small side roots and the tail end are cut off each root with a sharp knife and all cut surfaces covered with dusting sulphur. 2. The roots divisions are dried for a few hours and then placed in a ventilated plastic bag. Each bag is only about half filled and the unused portion rolled around the roots. The roots are then placed in wooden boxes and covered with sawdust. The roots are examined periodically during the winter. Sharon