Can I officially get the title of weirdo garden lady if I pull on a coat and garden gloves to go out at 9 p.m. in 35 degrees F to dig up my dahlias in the dark? In my defense, it’s supposed to get super cold for the next few days, and I started fretting that we’d get the ground freezing hard enough that I wouldn’t be able to dig them out. And also, look at all those lovely corms! It would be a shame to waste them. I even wrote a poem about that once….
While you can dig earlier, that first frost that blackens the leaves, jumpstarts the dahlia shift into dormancy. Cut off the stems, pack them in shredded bark in boxes or bins, stick them in the basement or garage, replant after May 31st next year.
You can divide if the corms have gotten big and healthy. Just hoping I can grab the gladioli tomorrow before it gets too cold; we’ll see.