Dahlia Black Wizzard

Their cultivation poses no difficulty, however they prefer a rich and deep soil, even clayey, fresh but not too wet. It is essential to enrich a poor, sandy or stony soil each year with compost or well-decomposed manure. Beware of slugs! They are formidable with young shoots. We have experienced losing dahlia tubers in the garden because slugs were eating all the emerging buds, UNDERGROUND, without us seeing them. After a few weeks, having also suffered from their winter dryness, the poor dahlias completely exhausted all the reserves in their tubers and died. How many times did we think the dahlias were dead, when they were simply being devoured? Today, when we plant dahlias in areas infested with slugs, we take care to start their growth by planting them in pots first. When the stems have reached about 20cm (8in) in height, we transplant them into the ground because slugs are less fond of well-established stems, and it is also easier to intervene, as the damage occurs on the visible parts and no longer underground. For overwintering, you have two options: in mild coastal regions and wherever severe cold spells are short-lived, you can leave the tubers in the ground; cut the stems to 10cm (4in) above the ground in November, then mulch the stump with a litter layer of dead leaves, that's enough. Otherwise, you can dig up the plants at the first frost or just before, cut the stems to 10cm (4in) above the tuber, shake them to remove most of the soil, but never wash them. Let them dry for a few days in a ventilated place, then store them in a crate in a dry and preferably unheated room.