The frost came and killed the dahlias, as was to be expected.
However, there is more to dahlias than meets the eye; once the plants had their first taste of frost it was time to lift the tubers. And… Time to prove my grandmother wrong!
My grandmother, much beloved and cherished, claimed in spring that growing dahlias from seed would not generate viable tubers in the Danish climate, but I dare say I have 90% proved her wrong. (The last 10% will come when they sprout in spring!) At least it seems very likely that my tubers will be viable, since the larger of them are 2″ in diameter.
The tubers are fat and healthy-looking, and I’m quite sure that if I overwinter them properly they will grow lovely flowers next year again. Which brings me to the title of this entry… I didn’t really know where to store the tubers over the winter, since we don’t have a frost-free cold room to put them in. However, tomorrow I’m travelling across the country to visit my Mum, and she has kindly offered to store my tubers for me through the winter.
So… I’m packing up my dahlia tubers and bringing them with me to my Mum’s place! Since my grandmother will be hosting her 90th birthday in April it means that I will naturally see my Mum at that time, and so I can get my dahlia tubers in time for planting them out.
Yes, it does seem a bit silly to bring dahlia tubers across the country, but then I do seem to have a habit of travelling with plants, so why not tubers? I brought them inside last week so they have cured for 7 days in a low-humidity atmosphere, and I think they are ready for winter now. My Mum has a large frost-proof shed where my little box of tubers can spend a cosy winter and then by spring they will return to me and the garden.
Oh, and I’m going to my Mum’s place to help her plant her new garden. She has already discovered that she has bought two perennials too many; two Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ that she has decided to donate to me… So that fits in nicely with my packing; I’ll be bringing a box of dahlia tubers with me over there and bringing a couple of plants back with me on Sunday!
Can’t wait to hear how they do in the spring! Aren’t mums great for getting plants from the garden? I’ve often “shopped” in my mum’s garden when she is thinning plants. 🙂
Most of my “acquisitions” for the garden has come from my Mum, my Mother-in-law, my grandmother and other relatives. My rudbeckias are the descendants of plants that grew in my great-grandmother’s garden…
If I had a car I would have raided my parents’ garden when they moved from my childhood home, but instead I had to make do with what I could haul on a train. (A LOT!!!)
Ah back to travelling plants or in this case tubers! Happy travels and replanting 🙂
Of course I travelled back with a couple of heucheras… As one does.
(They were great for reserving a seat on the ferry, though; nobody moves or steals a bag of perennials when you leave them to save your seat while you go to the loo…)
I’m just glad to hear that you are still commuting around with plants! And that you have such a nice mom. I put in some ‘Palace Purple’ (3 actually) this fall– so pretty even in the recent cold rain–you will love them!
Well, since I don’t have any kids I can send off to visit my Mum, at least I can send some of my plants for an extended visit with her… 😉
And my Mum asked me if I knew the heuchera and was quite surprised when I told her that it seems to be a “trendy” plant these days; it’s been getting a lot of coverage all over the internet and in garden magazines, it seems. So with two of them in place my garden will be trendy! *cough*