I suppose the answer to the question posed in the title starts with “What plant?” Sure, there are plants that are special (we all have favorite plant children whether we admit it or not) that many of us would go to some length to protect. But what about replaceable plants?
There was a time where my answer the question would have been that I would not go to extraordinary lengths. But a little over a week ago I found myself heading out to the garden at nearly 9 p.m. with my snow boots and winter gloves on, a headlamp strapped to my forehead.
You’ve seen those photos of flower growers with beautiful armloads of flowers? Well I didn’t quite manage to have enough flowers (that I was willing to cut, anyway) during the summer, but I managed to create a tongue-in-cheek version with what was left of the frozen dahlias.
The mission was to rescue dahlia tubers. Like in a lot of other places, the weather has been especially odd here, and we went from gorgeous fall (I spent the most lovely day in the yard just three days before, even pausing to sit on the little bridge across the creek and soak up the sun) to full on winter weather. I suppose this was well publicized but I either ignored it or chose not to acknowledge it. Just when I was coming to grips with autumn, a season with which I have a love-hate relationship, winter was upon us.
The garden went from full of fall color to covered in snow, with my dahlias (they are somewhere in the front there) buried under it all.
The air temperature was 27 degrees and forecasted to drop to 15 that night. The soil temperature (provided by the compost thermometer) was 42 degrees by the house and 38 degrees on the far side of the patio, measured a few inches down.
Although the chance of losing all my dahlia tubers was certainly part of the reason I geared up and went out there to dig through 6 inches of snow, I think the bigger reason was that I knew I’d be up all night stewing about it if I didn’t.
The latest in high-tech gardening gear or the face and outfit of a crazy gardener? This clip from the Instagram story I posted about my late-night dahlia dig doesn’t answer the question. (I’ve saved the story in my highlights if you feel like laughing a bit.)
So out I went and dug up about half my dahlias, a task made easier by Mr. Much More Patient rigging up a work light in the upstairs bedroom window pointing down to the patio. Thank goodness I hadn’t cut the stems off yet because otherwise I never would have been able to find them in the snow. For maybe the first time in my life I had labeled each plant individually a few weeks early, which was fortuitous as I never would have found plant stakes in the snow. None of this can be considered “normal” gardening.
The mess left after hastily digging dahlias was not a great look for the garden.
I finished my dahlia digging duties the following day when I got the dahlias along the house, although some of those tubers are feeling awfully suspicious a week or so into the drying period.
Tubers drying in the basement before storage.
I’m not sure if I went out there out of a sense of duty for the plants that, a fear of not finding replacements for my favorite varieties or good old frugality. Regardless, I am now, apparently, a crazy gardener. So be it.
I, and I am sure many others, was rooting for you. If you are crazy, so are we!
Just another example of dahlia madness! Also, most gardeners are also procrastinators, myself included, although sudden winter onset is a great excuse.
For me I kept waiting for a freeze to kill back the dahlias, even then I didn’t wait the full two weeks like you’re supposed to. I think most non gardeners just don’t understand how passionate gardeners can be, when you have the gardening bug we can look pretty crazy to our neighbors. ?
Hi Peggy and Erin,
Peggy I just did that too….it snowed 5″ here in MN and my dahlias all wilted so I thought I had to dig them up; not realizing I should wait 2 weeks for the eyes to grow. Since you took yours out early last winter, how did your 2020 crop do? Did they have eyes when you pulled them out, or grow some afterwards? Thanks! Terry
I swore I would not store all my canna bulbs and when the first frost hit …. guess what. Yes we are all crazy good
You just made me think of an ivy that was in a funeral arrangement from my husbands grandmas funeral. She passed six months after we started dating, we are going on twenty two together. That specific ivy lived for over a decade. I used to take numerous cuttings, at one point it went half way around my bedroom on the floor. People could not believe how big and beautiful it was. It made it through us moving into our home and working twelve hour shifts everyday. Then all of a sudden it and the cuttings I took just started losing their zest for life. I just wanted say thanks for bringing up that special memory, the stress of adulting had temporarily stolen it.
I applaud your dedication, and I would have been up all night, too — replacing that many dahlias would not be cheap!
I have to ask, what does your fertilization and irrigation look like as you end the season with dahlias? I rarely end up with tubers as big and plump as yours; consequently, I lose a lot to winter storage.