Caught once again by the cheap dealers. I bought some tubers this spring at my local garden center labeled Jane and Star Surprise. I can't find either of them listed anywhere so I'm not sure if they are real names or made up.
Anyway, the Jane is a dark, bright purple cactus that has the strongest stems - doesn't lean at all, and is loaded with flowers - Has 14 buds on right now.

The Star Surprise is great - only about 32" tall with super heavy stems and the prettiest lavender buds that open to a creamy center with lavendar tips. Every one who walks by does a double take and says how pretty it is.

I treated my tubers so badly last yr - I cut them off at 6", threw them in paper bags and piled the bags in a box in the garage. But my favorites survived this nasty maltreatment, and here again, they defy naming. I bought named tubers at a garden center and then couldn't find them anywhere again online so here's to the marketing geniuses that just staple things in bags and sell them to me.

Its actually been a good dahlia season. I had a few Jap beetles and caterpillars but thats it. I grow all my dahlias in giant containers on the deck which is where my sun hits. I'm still playing with soil mixes searching for the best one. Too much peat and wood chip and the leaves look chlorotic. The cool night time weather temporarily slowed the dahlias a bit but the last few days has everything coming back again.

Has anybody heard what kind of fall we're going to have - besides dry?
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Just a thought...

Cheers,
Russ

If there's excess water they will absorb it. I don't believe they'll suck your soil dry or anything like that, but if there's standing water at the bottom of a pot and they're near it, they'll rehydrate and swell up as much as they can. Then they'll give the water back to the soil as it dries out, keeping it moist.

I have dried them out and rehydrated them.

Cheers,
Russ

Do you use stakes in your large containers? I did quite a few in large pots last year, but avoided it this year because I don't care for the support system for a stake involved which was cross wires.

Good point on the water absorbing crystals, Russ. I had quite a few on the soil surface looking like globs of clear jello, as I did not hydrate them first. They worked well otherwise.

I just got lucky last year - had Dahlia JuJu - haha!
If its colder this yr it prob won't work. I also got them out at the beginning of March and used your baggie method Poochella - dampened peat. It did give me some head start.
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