On Saturday, 25 August 2012 10:31:45 UTC+1, haaark wrote:

The dahlias have-at last- got flower buds on them. They're a new

variety, so at least I'll see what they look like before I have to dig

them up.

Depends where you live. In NE England my neighbour used to laboriously dig his dozens of dahlias up, immediately following the first frosts of autumn, wash the roots free of soil, dust them with flowers of sulphur and store them under his bed (his missus was less than impressed!).

Since being down here, I've never moved mine inside at all (I've a dozen or so). They all come through the winter and D. 'Bishop of Llandaff' has self-seeded every year, with seedlings coming up each spring throughout the garden. We've had -12C or worse in that time and that's done for a number of tender plants, but unlike the 1980s in the NE, I don't think it's ever lasted long enough to penetrate far enough into the ground to damage the dahlia tubers.

- Tom
Blackmore, SW Essex.