Dahlia Blith Spirit

The cultivation of the Blithe spirit dahlia presents no difficulties, however they prefer a rich and deep soil, even clayey, moist but not too wet. It is essential to enrich poor, sandy or stony soil each year with compost or well-rotted manure. Beware of slugs!!! They are formidable with young shoots. We have experienced in the garden losing dahlia tubers because the slugs ate all the emerging buds, UNDERGROUND, without us seeing them. After a few weeks, having suffered from their winter dryness, the poor dahlias have completely exhausted all the reserves of their tubers and die. How many times have we thought that the dahlias were dead, when they were simply being devoured? Nowadays, when we plant dahlias in the most infested areas of slugs, we take care to start the vegetation by first planting them in pots. When the stems have reached about 20 cm (8in) in height, we plant them in the ground because slugs are less fond of well-established stems, and it is easier to intervene, as the damage is done to the visible parts and no longer underground. For wintering, you have two options: in mild coastal regions and anywhere where severe cold is of short duration, you can leave the tubers in the ground; cut the stems to 10cm (4in) from the ground in November, then mulch the stump with a litter layer of dead leaves, that's enough. Otherwise, you can uproot the plants at the first frosts or just before, cut the stems to 10cm (4in) from the tuber, shake them to get rid of most of the soil, but never wash them. Let them dry for a few days in a windy place, then store them in a tray in a dry and preferably unheated room.