"We went from the first foliage killing freeze to a tuber killing freeze in 2 days."

Yikes! That's not much time to harvest tubers! I hope they keep firm under your insulation. I would be freak'n out, too!

I just have three of the above, (Sparticus, Tropic Sun, Myrtles Folly) so I don't think I'm much help to you. Also have Bahama Momma, but it hasn't given me a single closed centr this season, so I'm composting all the tubers.

I have around two hundred varieties, and will be actively trading/selling in Jan-March, and any leftovers will probably be donated to club or offered for shipping-only in April-May.

Cheers!
CC

I can't imagine keeping track of 200 varieties...I have enough troubles with fewer than 100. The obsessive part of me was doubly upset because I had a couple of plants that were just about to bloom that were unlabeled...no matter how careful I am I end up messing up with labeling of a couple...I get sidetracked so easily! Anyway, I had to be gone for 2 weeks to help my parents, and got back about midnight the night of the first freeze, so didn't get to check the ones that had bloomed in my absence.

If anyone wants Rock Star, I usually have an abundance...it usually produces so many viable tubers for me that I give plants away in the spring. In fact, it looks like most of the varieties that I have dug so far have produced more tubers than I can use. The key will be, without them hardening in the ground for a while before digging, will they make it through the winter...some don't seem like they will keep their firmness well.

That hurts, to miss NOID blooms. Last year, the day before the first hard frost, I cut and brought inside several new varieties with buds that I had yet to see bloom. Eleven days later, I got to see the flowers open up all the way. I left about three feet of stalk below the buds.

I actually considered going down to the flower beds with a flashlight and cutting buds, or at least getting a look at the ones that I knew had opened during my absence. But this time of year is notorious for moose hanging out in our yard all night, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor (Earlier this week, an off duty policeman had to shoot a moose that was charging towards kids running in a cross-country meet). And besides, usually our first frost doesn't obliterate blossoms...but this one sure did.

Do moose munch on dahlias? I couldn't imagine an effective deterrent for them, as I understand they habitually like to squash dogs that bark at them.

It makes sense you not wanting to meet a massive wall of muscle and antler in the dark, or a grizzly for that matter, though I would have been tempted, with dahlia craze still blazing...

The moose don't eat the dahlias, but they tromp all over them (and the iris and lilies) on the way to the delicacies they love...almost everything else in the garden.

All my tubers are now dug and stored, so I can move on to cleaning up the yard/garden for winter.