Premature Dahlia Planting

– Posted in: Garden Tweets, Weather
9 comments

I planted a dahlia in the ground today. Should I join Gamblers Anonymous? http://ping.fm/HKOhp

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s time to reflect on what’s come before.

~Mitchell Burgess in Northern Exposure

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gerald hall October 26, 2009, 6:50 pm

we live @1500ft, have frost ,very rarely is the ground frozen, do i have to dig up my dinnerplate dalhias every year

Fig Tree September 15, 2009, 2:34 pm

Dahlias are the most amazing thing ever- we went to the dahlia festival at Swan Island Dahlias and it was truly an amazing site. Getting ready to get my own bulbs in the ground!

Craig @ Ellis Hollow June 12, 2009, 7:35 pm

Let’s coin a new phrase. Frost = ‘A Saskatchewan Pinching’.

Craig @ Ellis Hollow’s last blog post..Nectaroscordum with a monopod

Gwendolyn May 12, 2009, 8:42 am

I, too, have planted all of my dahlias– they aren’t doing anything in the basement either, so they might as well be outside. You and I will be the ones laughing at our Dahlia blooms on the fourth of July. As a perennially early planter, last year I picked my first Dahlia on June 27.

Gwendolyn’s last blog post..Pomona, Goddess of Gardens

Craig @ Ellis Hollow May 10, 2009, 8:22 pm

The soil is still pretty cold: http://met-www.cit.cornell.edu/climate/ithaca/gfr_logger.html

So they’ll just sit there happily until it warms up. It’s that early June frost after they’re up and doing that you’ve got to watch out for. Keep the pots and buckets ready to cover them.

Craig @ Ellis Hollow’s last blog post..Flower bulb labyrinth at Cornell

Taryn June 12, 2009, 12:51 pm

what do you do if you’ve lost the top 2 feet of a plant to frst on the 10th of June in Saskatchewan? Can you cut back the frozen leaves/parts and have it still grow back?

Kathy Purdy June 12, 2009, 2:57 pm

Taryn, you’re talking about a dahlia, right? (You just say plant.) I haven’t had that much experience with dahlias, but my guess is that it will continue to grow, but blooming might be delayed so long that it gets killed by autumn frosts before it blooms. You won’t know until you try.

Taryn June 12, 2009, 5:02 pm

Thanks Kathy. Yes, it is a dahlia. It’s the dinnerplate variety and I bought it last weekend for $30 and it’s allready 4 feet tall. The leaves are black on the top 2/3 of the plant now. I guess I’ll cut it back to the green and see what happens. Thanks.

Kathy Purdy June 12, 2009, 5:11 pm

Gee, gardening is tough in Saskatchewan! Are June frosts typical? Cause if they were, I’d keep any $30 plant on wheels until I was sure all danger of frost was past.