On Aug 25, 11:15*am, "Dartmoor Will"
wrote:
"Tom" wrote in message

...

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.
=======================================

I get lovely dahlias year after year, never do anything to them!
We rarely get harsh frosts though, snow yes, severe frost - no (too windy).

Will (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
--

My part of Bristol has good breezy S. exposure and is sheltered to the
N. by wooded hills. My lowest min. in 27 years is -9C. Dahlias
survived for 15 years in the ground till the winter of 2009-10, which
did for them. Since then I've dug them up and planted new varieties.
These may be less robust. I dig most of them up, leaving the odd plant
in as a test. None have survived!