Woke up this morning to suddenly slightly chilly weather. It is supposed to drop to mid-twenties by early Tuesday, so I felt like communing with some of my last brave little perennial flowers before I headed to work this morning. (Drat! This site isn't letting me load pictures right now.)
I never grew dahlias before, so I am not sure how they handle transition to freezing weather. Any experienced advice you have would be welcome. I plan on pulling my dahlia tubers at some point to replant/reposition in the spring. Just not sure when I should do it. Do I let the top growth wither first?
I would suggest , any buds or blooms you currently have, be brought in doors as a bouquet , because they're not likely to survive the freezing temperatures . I believe dahlias , if I remember correctly . need some cold time over winter , then grow back from the tubers in the spring . It's best to transplant them in the fall , so as to not disturb young growth in the spring , as they are growing under ground before you spy the early stalks .
It is supposed to be too hot here in peak summer for dahlias, because the night temps stay in the 80s in July and August, but I took a gamble, planted seeds of dwarf varieties and planted them among my roses, so that seems to have sheltered them enough. Yay! I only had a few fry and die mid-summer, and they were more exposed than the rest. Next year I plan to keep them all close to the larger rose bushes, which get watered daily, and to heavily mulch them.