They pretty much one ruined one of my dahlia's this summer. The other I only saw a few on. They use to love my tropical hib, but since I planted a rose this year most of them left it alone and went for the rose.

In the old days most dahlias bloomed in the fall when Japanese beetles were gone. Nowadays there are dahlias that bloom all summer and Japanese beetles eat them just like most other flowers. You can cut back your plants til the beetles are done for the season - sometimes they are only in my yard for a month.

Dahlias must be one bulb/flower that requires absolutely full sun. I have never had any luck with them. They get very leggy with few blooms. I have some Bishop's Children right now with such sparse flowering, but lovely purple leaves. Guess I'll have to gaze at Monet's home at Avignon to get my dose of dahlias. I give up on them...and i'm just about done with lavender too. There are too many things to grow to just keep beating your head against the wall with a couple that don't cooperate.

Japanese beetles gobble them up.

Never a bloom on my dahlias either. I suspect you are right about them needing ALL day sun, Claire. I have one poor thing that has come back 3 yrs in a row and never flowered. It's close to a small silver maple and that may be contributing to the problem, but it does get "full sun" technically. -Ais.

Just when I throw the towel in on lavender, I pick up GardenGate Magazine an hour later with another surefire method of growing it in the South. What is turkey grit?

Dahlias love full sun. They also won't get leggy if you pinch off the top shoot after the third set of leaves have grown. I grew dahlias in Alaska and now have them in New York. I have 25 flowers at a time on my plants in New York.