I'm near Buffalo, Rochester area, but I love dahlias! I have about 12 kinds, I did have more but they don't always overwinter well. Some always do, some are iffy. What dahlias do you grow? My favorite is Formby Royale, a gorgeous deep rose/ magenta color with long strong stems for cuttings.

Gottagarden - How do you overwinter your dahlia tubers? I do not have a cool basemnet or any cool room to store them in so I just leave them in the ground to rot. I would love to be able to overwinter them so I could have fancier varieties.

I dig them up and put them in a paper bag in the basement. They're all shriveled up in spring, but they still grow. If you have to store them in a warm room, be sure to cover them with damp peat moss, and moisten the moss a few times during the winter or they will dry out too much. I've had good luck, but always been amazed that they would come back from these dried out tubers. Cold (but not freezing)storage is best.

Hi Gottagarden and All!

Sorry I didn't get back to your question (What dahlias do you grow?) sooner, but between the Fair, and being off line I didn't get the chance 'til now.

I have a number of Dahlia's, mainly of the decorative and cactus variety. I have but one pom-pom variety, a pretty lilac . The ones I know are Arabian Night, which is my favotite, Blue Thomas Edison, Garden Wonder, Lilac Bull, Contraste, Pfitzer's Joker and Mystery Day.

I have that many more decoratives varieties that I don't know by name. I was hoping to find someone in the Syracuse area that might be of help, who had more experience.

I wanted to show a few of my Dahlias at the Fair this year, but time wasn't of the essence. You have to apply in early June for the Fair showing. I was a little disappointed (with myself) and this years floral display as they were in the process of judging on Monday, and I was unable to hang around or to get to the Fair on Tuesday. (They display Dahlias on Mon and Tue). Well, maybe I'll get a chance next year to show and see.

adina:

I box and store my tubers in peat-moss and seperate the varieties and thier colors with newspaper. I lost over 90% of my tubers 2 years ago to freezing in our new homes garage and had to start all over again with last years tubers. I had much better luck this year.

Thank you for the responses....I may try to overwinter a few and see how it goes. I didn't know if they would last thru the winter if they were kept in the house. We keep our home at about 68, so I will see if closing off one of the heat registers in the craft room will keep it a little cooler. I'm not sure what mine is called that I have now. My Mother-in-law has been growing the same pom pom type variety for years and she gave me a few tubers this Spring. It's a rich maroon color with white on the tips. There are so many Dahlias that I love, and would like to be able to overwinter them if I could.

CATS39 - Interesting. . . . How's your Mystery Day? I like the photo on the packages, but have not had luck with them. THe plants grew big and healthy, but the flowers were all over the place with their markings - some white tips, part white, none at all, it seems it is very unstable. I bought 2 years in a row and had same result with different vendors, not stable markings.

I have Arabian Night but am unimpressed. Plants are less healthy than other dahlias, flowers seem small and blah. I have an unnamed red that is far superior - blooms very early, big fat tubers ideal for storage, and bright, fade-free color until frost. Only drawback is short stems for cutting, but it looks great in the garden or short vase.

Another nice one I have is crazy love - white with fringed lilac edges.

Here are mine... I just don't understand how the flowers can be so different off the same plant.
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Adina!

Just checked out your Dahlia Photo. Beautiful; as most Dahlias can be. Don't know why you have the unusual color combination from same plant. Maybe you can get an answer from the Dahlia Forum experts?

Gottagarden!

I have one Mystery Day in bloom with several flowers. The largest measures 6" across. My Arabain Nights are doing fantastic. I have one in full bloom today and it measures 8" across. It almost rivals the "Dinner Plates".

I know the growing season is slowly coming to an end and I'm already really looking forward to next year as I made several mistakes early on and hope to correct during the next saving of the tubers and '06 planting season.

Wish I had a way to send the photos I've taken this year.