No Kidding: My first dahlia bloom this year in Bothell

I don't know how this survived the cold snap in December and the rain, rain, rain of this spring but this Tahiti Sunrise actually kept growing and produced this flower -- my other dahlias are not even close.

That is beautiful!! ...and a survivor too, what more can you ask?

Wow, and blooming already! I did not have a single dahlia return this year, out of 30. :( They were planted in somewhat of a raised bed. I even covered them with plastic this year so they wouldn't get water logged.

Then I planted 20 more and probably have less than half that have come up. Some have been eaten down by slugs or earwigs. I finally brought out the sluggo plus last week, so maybe something will grow. Last year I planted dahlia starts/cuttings and they did beautifully. This year the man I buy from only had tubers. Starts do much better! I'm going to have to tell him he needs to provide cuttings next year!

Beautiful. You must have it planted quite deep and a non-varmint area. Mine are also just barely above ground and somewhat chewed in spite of the slug bait.

Gorgeous!

I too lost most of my in-ground dahlias; many more than any previous year. I bought a lot this year to replenish my losses. I was told by a professional dahlia grower that the cold snap in December was responsible but from my perspective I think it was the mild winter afterwards that let all of the rot diseases grow unchecked. When it's cold, and the tubers are far enough down, you get some rot but more preservation. But when warm, you just get rot. To make my point, I have two dahlias in a bed that faces East just in the protective rain shadow of a cedar tree; the ground tends to get 1/3 -1/2 of the rain that the other areas get. At this spot, both dahlia tuber clusters were huge and just about rot free. They too were in that cold spell but here the dryness seemed to be the key.

I sure would tend to agree with you. I had plants that were coming up in January and February as happy campers, but by April and May they had succumbed to the cold and wet.

The wierd thing is that I have a dahlia I planted years ago in the same area nearby that was uncovered and it came back up.

All I can guess is that the drainage there is great. Take note of that Dahlia - maybe we all should be growing it . . .

Very very pretty! How cool to have a survivor for an early show. I even lost some daylilies to rot this year and that has never happend in all of the years I have grown them...