Happy Tuesday my friends, yes I know I just blogged – but holy goodness….I have a story to tell you about today’s events in the garden.

I could go way back to 8 years ago when I first got my very first Dahlia tubers from an art teacher at a high school I worked at…..that’s why I call Dahlias my gateway flower…they were the first flower I ever grew and they got me hooked-I wanted a flower stand, I loved growing flowers, it was so grand….but then the tubers all molded and I lost every single one of them! I’ve had a love hate relationship with Dahlias ever since I met them so many years ago.

After last years fiasco with the Dahlia situation, I decided in the fall that I wasn’t going to spend a bunch of energy trying to tag and divide them, why bother, they are just going to die and make me cry like all the other years…right?

I heard some place that maybe storing them in dirt might do the trick, but I wasn’t convinced, but what did I have to lose? It seemed logical, and possibly a brilliant idea?

After my son dug them all up, I grabbed a garbage can, tossed some dirt in, tossed some tubers in, tossed more dirt in, tossed in more tubers…layered it like a layer cake and went to put it in the garage, it was a bit heavy….so the next few tubers I put in cardboard boxes. My son had to help me pack them to the garage for safe keeping.

We tucked them away for the winter. I didn’t bother to check them, walking by them day after day, I kind of just wrote them off….until a few weeks ago I went to check on the can that Joe said was full of glads that were growing out of the can….that indeed were not glads….but indeed Dahlias! When I took the lid off I was very surprised to find them already 10 or so inches, weak, frail looking, pale green…just doing their thing…they best they knew how….so I left the lid off.

Finally today, I had time to go pull them out of the garage, not only have they greened up, but they are rather healthy looking, I literally was just going to pull them out of the garage and leave them on the patio for them to grow and bloom on the patio in the garbage can….but Joe encouraged the idea of pulling them out and seeing what the other ones were doing that were in the lower level.

YA ALL…..we ended up with over 100 viable tubers from this whole mess of dirt and tubers….I think we found maybe 20 tubers that were mushy and yucky, but over 100 viable eyes, and well over 25 possible viable ones. I told Joe we couldn’t keep them….but again….being the enabler he is – oh I mean…the helper….he encouraged me to keep them ALL and gave me his fruit tree area – you know, because we can’t find the right fruit trees we want!!!!

I have no idea….at all…what I am going to do with all of those Dahlias let alone the tubers we will have coming out of our ears next year for Pete’s sake!!

Thankfully tonight, not only did we get all of those Dahlias taken care of unexpectantly, but we also managed to get most of the glads in, the Liatris and more Marigolds…honestly, I have several more Marigolds started in the green house that I think perhaps I should give away. I’m almost out of room and still need to put in my Cosmos, Zinnias, Amaranth, Basil & Celosia. My niece came over to help with the weeding, she is actually the one that put in the Liatris & trimmed some of the glads that came out of the boxes in the garage. I have well over 100 glads….why???? I only have 11 customers!! I know Linda loves them, so I know they will make her very happy and me too, because I love them so much!! I hope they all grow well & do well, they usually do, so I’m crossing my fingers they will keep it up!

I did put in some cress today, I’m hoping that pulls through to give me some filler. I can’t remember what the name of that one is in particualr but it was one that my friend Carolyn suggested.

I also put in some Moulin Rouge Zinnias….so excited to see what those are going to look like! Trying not to get my hopes up too much!

Hopefully tomorrow I will get in the sunflowers….there are a ton of volenteers coming up,but they can’t be where they are coming up, and I can’t transplant them all, it’s sad, but true. I was hoping to put in the Amaranth also, but I hear we are supposed to be getting a bit of a strom blowing through on Thursday….or will it be a good rain? It could go either way I suppose, so I’m not entirely sure what I will do. I will keep an eye on the weather and see what happens. Thank goodness for both Joe and my neice, lots was done today, more to go tomorrow and the next day!

I hope all is well with you and yours. I need to go fall into bed, so I can get up to take care of a few things for work, a doctor visit and errands with mom, then back to the garden! Until next time, hugs to you!