I have ordered more new dahlias this year than in a long long time. Between the purchases and the trades I have going I already have over 50 that are coming in the spring. With probably another 30, that aren't selected yet.

I have a pinterest page where I am posting them, so I can drool over pictures instead of looking at lists of names.

https://www.pinterest.com/stou...

You're infectious, Geoff! I saved three photos from your Pinterest page that I'm sure I'll order. We all know three can lead to thirty! Thanks so much!

I so envy your dedication. I can't even muster up enough interest to go down and check on the bags in the crawl space. Course having to negotiate the trap door, the almost vertical ladder and bed in half to get to them might account for that. lol. I will enjoy looking at your picture though. Thanks

OMG. They are all so gorgeous. Many I have had or have. Some I ordered but they didn't produce. Was so disappointed. I am sure that my losses were the result of overwatering in the time they were in pots before they were put out. It is such a long run. I wonder sometimes if I should just leave them in the bags they were sent in and plant those directly outside. By the time I get new ones I have survivors from last year well into growing and then to forget to not water the new ones at the same time.

I am pretty excited about them - I am not sure I would call it "dedication", its more of an obsession (though dedication certainly sounds healthier)

Mary , once I put my tubers to bed for the winter, I don't check on them until its time to start waking them up. I figure, if they are gonna go, then they are gonna go. If I had to run an obstacle course like you do, I definitely wouldn't be checking on them.

I lost quite a few last year too, some of which I am replacing, some I just let go and move on to others. Its amazing how many beauties are out there that I still want.

I have two 4x10ft beds that have been home to my tomatoes for the past 5-6 years. I have decided that next year I am planting dahlias there and only growing 2 tomato plants elsewhere, instead of the 8-10 I have been growing. That will be enough for fresh eating, and I have frozen tomatoes and frozen sauce from the last 2 years. I figure I can squeeze another 8-10 dahlias into each of those beds!

Good thinking, Geoff!

I can hardly wait to see your flower beds. I keep telling Damien if we got another house with a larger flat yard I could grow lots of vegies and then I think I would plant dahlias all in a row, well two or three rows. Forget any design. Just grow beautiful dahlias, and of course peonies and lilies. Not very attractive I guess but a lot less worry and work.

I think that'd be beautiful, Mary Stella! Green from spring until fall and beautiful flowers for the same period, what else can you ask for from a flower garden?

Oh there are so many wonderful enables-people here! I too have about 50 new dahlias ordered and I fear I'm not done yet either. A local grower here (Labaughs Dahlias) has several ones I would like to have but have not ordered yet. I don't lack space to grow either. I have 6 acres that I don't use to keep livestock on any longer. I'm now considering buying a used rototiller to attach to the back of my tractor. My walk behind one died on me last spring and I'm going to need something.

Six acres

Its maybe a good thing I only have a half acre, I can imagine what I'd be getting myself into if I had that kind of space to spread out into.

My lot is 13000sf but there is a 1900sf house on it plus a large driveway to the garage which sets back on the lot. Eats up a lot of the usable land. Plus front yard is pretty much a crap shoot in the early months as moose can occasionally wander by. Yuk

Hello Geof, my dahlias have started their season, the first are Berger's Record and Duet! I started to place them in their position in the various beds! They are grown indoors in plastic containers until the first flower buds show up, then hardened off and finally planted in their permanent place sometime in early December/late November which allows us to enjoy blooming dahlias all the way until late April almost 5 months of blooms. My neighbour, fence to fence ,has a huge ranch of 148000 acres ( it surrounds the local airport) , while my little farm ( that was originally part of this ranch is only 6.2 acres)...and after almost 30 years I still have left quite a few corners to deal with. Gardening forces one to concentrate one's spatial attention very intensively and also derive better forms on land use... perhaps God gives each one of us the size that really is within the scope of what each can manage...and steward it for those than will come after us... just some mutterings within , of an early Sunday morning... warmly Arturo

Congratulations on blooms Arturo!

I am fascinated that you grow them inside all the way until they are budding. Do you have a green-house?

I pre-start mine inside under lights. But I don't have the space for them to get that large before planting. Mine usually come out of cold storage in mid-March and get planted outside mid-late May, with blooms starting in mid June for the earliest dahlias but many not blooming until August.

I hope you will take the time to post pictures - this time of year pictures of blooms are always exciting to see.

Like Geof mine tell me when they want OUT of storage. Some are sending sprouts during storage but I just ignore them or nip them off. About the middle of March they will be ignored no longer and out they come. I lay the ones that have not sprouted in moist media in flats and mist a little until they sprout, then pot them up. Saves a lot of work in potting things that won't grow. A trick I learned here at ATP or maybe DG. Don't remember

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new laptop - the Edge 3. So not the new one but the one on Sale within my reach. Nice little machine for sitting reading mail and surfing the net. And I can type along without the &%^%^%#@%^&* cursor jumping all over the screen or wiping out what I have written or moving to an entirely different page.

@jmorth You surely had fun adding some of my picks to the database. Didn't realize that I had a couple that I had never added. Thanks.

My pleasure Mary. We both are beneficiaries acorn wise. I sometimes grow dahlias and after looking at all the beauties here plan to resume. Here's the last one I grew:

Thanks for all the additions you made of my dahlias as well, Jack.

You're most welcome.
I hadn't realized how deep you were into dahlias until now.

I grew 60 this year. Not many compared to those who grow 150 or 200 but I've got them beat with age!