Okay, I'm really going to do it with Dahlias---maybe!

So I bought the impulse buy at Costco and now have read up on how to grow dahlias and realize I have bought myself some work. First of all, they can't be planted until danger of frost is over. That's no problem. The problem is that they need sandy well drained soil and I have heavy not well drained clay. So I can add some sand to the hole and compost and mix it up for them. The next problem is the ph which they like to be 6.2 to 6.7 so maybe some peat moss will help also.

The worst problem is that they are hardy in zones 7-11 so that in most of the country they have to be cut back in the fall and then dug carefully with a pitchfork, washed off, dried and stored and replanted in the spring. This is more trouble than I usually take on. I might not do this as I am zone 7, kind of marginal since it is in the mountains and the winter weather is very variable. But I'll worry about that in the fall.

Right now all I want to think about is the glorious colors I can have this summer. In case you missed the costco sale:

At 5 Powder-Puff Dahlias Mixed Colors

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