I am fairly new to the gardening of flowers. Last year the foliage of my dahlias looked pale, droopy and generally sickly. I had poor flower production compared to the previous two years. I amend the soil each year with a compost and fertilize with an organic fertilzer. The soil is well drained and gets plenty of water and full sun. Nothing I did from mid-summer on revived the plants.

This winter I dug my dahlias up. One of the tuber balls was almost the size of a soccer ball. The others were half the size. I know I need to divide the bulbs. Is it possible the tubers were just too big to be healthy??

Any idea why the plants looked so sickly? The neighboring peonies looked a little sad last year too, although they are poking thru the soil already. Please offer some advise.