Broken Dahlia!

21 years ago

My very first Fuzzy Wuzzy was getting huge, but extreme gusts of wind snapped it off this past weekend at the base - I almost cried! It had been staked but not well enough. Might it regrow this season, if only slightly? Or is it a total loss for this year.

Thanks,

Anna

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Comments (6)

Poochella
21 years ago
It's heartbreaking to lose them. You have nothing to lose by leaving the tuber in the ground and hoping for the best.

What was the flower like, if you saw one? I tried to grow this two years ago and lost it to rot.
anna_in_quebec
Original Author
21 years ago
If there had been a visible bud that would have made it even worse. But it gave me a good lesson on the need for staking properly.

Anna
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laurelwoodfarms
21 years ago
I'm not sure how much time you have before first frost in Quebec, but I had one snapped off at the ground this time last year and I was heartbroken. But, it came back fully, and even put out tons of new blooms before frost! So maybe there's hope.
covella
21 years ago
My Otto's Thrill snapped off at the base and I was so mad I stuck the stalk into a damp pot of soil and put it in more of a part sun corner. Can't believe it, the stalk not only has not withered, it is plump and appears to be feeding its buds. I have no idea if they grow back the tuber
Poochella
21 years ago
Wow, alyrics you have the touch, or the luck of the IRish- something!
I was saddened to be watering the other day and find Jomanda, one I really wanted to see, lying inert on the ground, far from it's towering 5 foot former self. I restaked it, but many of the best stems were already crooked having aimed for the sun while sideways. I am hoping the new ones will behave and I've yelled at it to "straighten up!" The plant seems to be carrying on unphased by its little sidetrip, so I don't think anything was broken.
anna_in_quebec
Original Author
21 years ago
Well, I plunged part of the top of the stem into perlite and water and it doesn't seem entirely dead (I do that with pretty much everything that breaks off in the garden - sometimes things root and sometimes they don't). What was left in the pot is showing some regrowth, so at least the tuber will be alive for next year. But for our short season, I doubt there will be much hope for a bloom this year. On top of it all, it seems all my dahlias are "dallying" - few signs of blooms - and at this time of year when many other plants are looking tired and faded, the dahlias were supposed to kick in and exclaim "ta-da!! here we are to save the day!" Sigh...maybe by the end of September....

Anna