Some people say dahlias are hard to grow??? Just throw 'em on the compost pile- it's as easy as that!

A good reminder of Mother Nature's fickle ways Jim. I wondered how hard hit some of our NE dahlia pals would be. I have one question: Why do people even LIVE in Buffalo NY? It gets hit more times each winter than I can even count.

I just cut down a "compost donor" dahlia today. From last year- a tuber I thought was eyeless was cast into the mostly shaded compost pile- just a couple hours of morning sun hits there. Well, on one of my many trips to the compost pile I noticed the long green neck of 'Chimacum Topaz!' You can't kill that dahlia. I swear. I carefully unearthed it, planted it and it went right on to grow without a care in the world.

However, Jack Frost visited early and harshly and left us with the frozen spinach look in all dahlia beds.

Plantlady did you get hit as hard to the north?

We got our first frost on Tuesday night. Luckily I had cut buckets-full of blooms on Monday morning so I'm still looking at blooms in the house while contemplating spinach in the gardens. The husband has been busily cutting off, digging & dividing for about 2 weeks now. He's got all the 06, 05 & 04 seedlings in storage & is working on the new introductions now. Then it'll be back to the seedlings & finally the seed parents- sure glad my job (besides the hybridizing) is to keep the files up to date & yak on the dahlia web- much easier on the back!

Hi Poochella! And Plantlady!

Poochella you wrote;
A good reminder of Mother Nature's fickle ways Jim. And yes indeed she can be!

You also asked: Why do people even LIVE in Buffalo NY? It gets hit more times each winter than I can even count.
Yes they do get hit quite hard at times with whats known as Lake Effect Snow but Syracuse tops them by far and coming off Lake Ontario rather than Buffalos Lake Erie. I lived in Syracuse for 32 years and now live 6 miles east whereas this 6 miles can make a great difference in amounts of snow that can be gotten living so close to the Thruway as this is considered a boundary line for heavy Lake Effect. Plus after the LE passes we get hit with a Northerly backlash coming off the Ocean as the Low moves away. Heres something to ponder over when thinking about snowfall and Buffalo:

Syracuse is known for its snowfall. With 115.6 inches (293.6 cm) average,1. [3] the Syracuse metro area receives more snow on average than any other large city in the United States.[4] Research has even shown that Syracuse is the snowiest large city in the world.[5] Syracuse continually wins the Golden Snowball Award, among Upstate cities. Its record so far is 192.1 inches (487.9 cm). The high snowfall is a result of the fact that the city receives both lake effect and nor'easter snow. Snow most often falls in small (about 1-3 inches/2-8 cm), almost daily doses, over a period of several days. Larger snowfalls do occur from time-to-time, and even more so in the northern suburbs.

One notable blizzard was the Blizzard of 1993, during which 42.9 inches (109 cm) fell on the city within 48 hours, with 35.6 inches (90.4 cm) falling within the first 24 hours. Syracuse received more snow than any other city in the country during this storm, which shattered a total of eight local records, including most the snow in a single snowstorm.[6] Ironically, virtually no snow fell during the Blizzard of 2006, where the Catskills and New York City saw over two feet (60 cm) of snow fall in about one day.

Poochella! Despite these Winter facts we have some of the most beautiful scenic land and Spring and Summer weather that can be offered, except for 2006. And with the Finger Lakes that are stunning and picturesque that produce some of the best wines in the world, and they are only a few miles away.

And Plantlady just as a side note to your saying "Some people say dahlias are hard to grow??? Just throw em on the compost pile - its as easy as that!

As I was preparing to put this years tubers to bed, I reached into one of the large boxes to pull out some of the peat moss. I was surprised to see some white growth that was coming from a tuber I overlooked and was the box last in late March or early April. The growth was curly-cued and probably at least 6 feet long. It was hard for me even to believe it could have lasted that many months on its own extraordinary ability to want to survive and grow. The are a lot hardier than most can imagine and then again yet can be so delicate.

Thanks for listening! Jim

Oh my gosh. Why do people even LIVE in Syracuse?

tee hee! I have driven through your fine state and the Finger Lakes region looked particularly appealing. We didn't have time for a sidetrip at that time. I would like to revisit the NE US but not in the winter months. I didn't realize just how snowy Syracuse could be. Buffalo gets all the news coverage it seems. May you have a non-record breaking winter this time around!

So you had a 6 ft pale dahlia straggler eh? I've left one or two behind myself and am always surprised how they strive to grow despite being treated like garbage in a dark corner or box somewhere with no water, no sun. Amazing little things.

The pale stragglers have hit enmass this year it seems. Just last week Walt brought in a crate that had been at the bottom of the pile out in the storage shed. It had about a dozen Dusty Daydream tubers in it-- all with a foot or so of pale, twisty growth & some white leaves on them. Should have put them out to scare the kiddies at Hallowe'en!