Blackened Dahlia Depression

[GardenGeisha]

I considered covering my dahlias late last night, but I didn't think it was going to get that cold, and I couldn't find my sheets I cover them with. I had been cleaning and had bagged them up and put them in storage and forgotten where they were. I did find one fleece blanket, but my dahlias don't have stakes by them and I was afraid it would cause the blossoms to bend. So I didn't. I had seen one weather report that said 42 and others that said 37. I knew 37 was too cold, but I hoped it wouldn't get that low. I was heartsick when I got up this morning and saw them all blackened and ugly. Now I am beating myself up for being so stupid as to lose 50 buds and several flowers on this early date of October 3, with lovely warm weather forecast ahead. It was a freak, record-setting cold snap last night. It got my ground cherries, too, and most morning glory vines. I pay good money to have gardening friends babysit my dahlias in the summer when we go on vacation, but I was too stupid to cover my dahlias to prolong their blooming season. Does anyone else go through these kinds of depressions in the fall? Can you see any silver linings at all? I can't. I'll bet I would have had blossoms up until Thanksgiving had I not been so careless. To make it worse, I was away this spring and didn't get my dahlias out until late, so I had a very short blooming season, as it was.

 

[GardenGeisha]

It actually got down to 35 last night, or maybe even colder, in our microclimate. I can't get Wunderground to work today, to find out how cold it actually did get here.

 

[digitS']

Thru luck and some 55°f water from the sprinklers, my dahlias have mostly made it through 2 frosts. This certainly isn't early for a killing frost here. Some years, and with some plants, there have been as few as one bloom ... before fall frost puts an end to everything!

A "things could be worse" or "others have more problems" doesn't make things better for you, GardenGeshia. I'm sorry that you lost them when there might have been several more weeks for their blooms. If there are some lower stems and viable buds, maybe a pruning off of damage, some water and time will allow more flowers. If you have some marble-size flower buds and a month of warmth, I bet it would work.

Here, it is supposed to be colder tonight. I really don't think I can stop Jack Frost from beating them down, this time. Even if more luck and sprinkler action works again, their growth has slowed to where they may have no new blooms before a night well into the 20's does them in. Oh well, it will be the first necessary step towards their winter storage and the 2018 growing season.

Steve

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks, Steve. I knew you could help me feel better, and you did! I appreciate you, my friend!

 

[PhilaGardener]

Fall weather, like gardening, is unpredictable. You win some and you lose some. But there always is next year!

 

[Nyboy]

Becoming a big fan of dahlias. Even willing to dig up and store over winter, something I was never willing to do in past. I kind of look forward to gardens end, winter break.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Nyboy, I found a silver lining! My giant hot pink Otto's Thrill was at the back of the pot, facing where I couldn't really see it, before the blackening frost. I thought it would be toast afterwards, but I cut it off and put it in water, along with a smaller one blooming beside it, also still intact and gorgeous. Now I have them in a vase where I can see them constantly, as I do my chores. I was afraid to fool with it when it was still on the plant, for fear of breaking its branch (it was dragging near the ground) or uprooting other plants growing on it nearby (fancy morning glories which the frost got). So there WAS a silver lining.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Yes, PhilaGardener. You are right. Next year I will know to have my covering sheets handy from September 1 on. And I will put up giant stakes so I can cover the plants easily, without having to worry about crushing buds and branches. New plans for a new dahlia growing year!

 

[GardenGeisha]

digitS', did your dahlias make it through another cold night? I sure hope so. Some of the buds left on my frosted dahlias still look fairly good, as you say. Another silver lining is, that HAD I managed to cover the plants that night, those buds, which are the biggest and tallest and most prominent on the plants, surely WOULD have been crushed and smashed by the weight of the sheets, as I had no stakes in place. I would have had to forfeit them anyway, or their blooms would at least have been marred. But now I can still look forward to them, in all their glory, since I did NOT manage to cover them. Next year I will make sure I have tall heavy stakes near each pot of dahlias and start them inside much earlier, to get a jump on their growing season. So I've learned some things.

 

[digitS']

You know ..

. it wasn't as cold as the forecast suggested nor as cold as the night before. There was a little frost everywhere but it showed up hours later and doesn't seem to have hurt anything!

Thanks for asking.

digitS'