Glad to see you are still alive.

Can you get bailed straw?

Check with the colorado dahlia society they have the best site on the web. http://www.dahlias.net/

I have been looking for the compacted straw with a funny name. Not here in CO. and appaarently not on the Internet. I had used it in MA> for years. There have been so many 100 degree days that I am misting them all the time. I really want to be able to grow them here. Does anyone know someone in the Denver area?

I mulch heavily with pine straw. It helps keep the moisture in the soil. Our temps have been 100+ for the last two days, and no end in sight. Good luck my Dahalies are roasting even with the mulch.

Well pine straw sounds great but I have no idea where to get it.

Have you considered setting up some kind of cover, like a shade cloth, when the weather is scroching hot. The dahlias will get filtered sun and won't get burnt as easily. The filtered sunlight should also help retain soil moisture. When the temperatures are more reasonable, you can remove the shade cloth. I've seen shade cloth sold at Lowes, Home Depot & nurseries.

I had some cover to be used with hoops. My dahlias are all staked and some with tomato cages so the cover could not be put on easily. I tried it. The last I saw of it was about 2 miles down the road!

I got the pine straw. Thank you very much for the info. I mist about 3 times a day in this heat.