Spring planted Dahlias, Elephant Ears, Gladiolus, Begonias, Cannas, Agapanthus and all of those other tender bulbs have given your gardens a lot of color and interest this summer. They are planted in the spring because they can't tolerate our cold New England winters outdoors. In the olden days, that would be 300 years ago when I was a child, folks usually dug them up and brought them in for the winter. Today most folks just leave them in place and start over with new ones next spring. As we are seeing renewed interest in the ways of days gone past, I will take a moment to give you a quick overview of what to do if you want to save yours for next year. I talked briefly about this recently, but it deserved a more thorough coverage I felt.
Before you even stick a trowel in the ground, the place to start is finding a place where you would store them. They would like to be cool, but not cold. Back when houses had fieldstone-walled cellars, this was easy. Now it's a bit more challenging. Usually, an unheated garage is too cold, easily dropping below freezing, which is a point of no return. On the other hand, modern cellars are typically too warm. If you have a bulkhead, or a colder corner in your cellar, that would be a good place. Whatever place you have that would be the modern-day equivalent to a root cellar, about 40 degrees. Yes, easier said then done! I'm old enough to remember what a root cellar is. Root cellars were where everyone stored their root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.) before refrigeration and supermarkets. Cool, moist, and as a kid a bit creepy; that was a root cellar.
Back to the plants now. It is pretty straight forward. The top of the plant is going to get cut off anyway, so even if it gets a light frost, no serious harm happens. But before it gets cold enough for the ground to have any crust at all, dig the plants up, cut off the tops, shake off the excess soil, and bring them in. Exactly where you cut them, or how much soil you shake off, is not critical. What is critical is that you get them dug, and inside, before the freezing weather comes. Once you have them dug and shaken, you will see that there is a new definition of "ugly"! How something so beautiful comes out of something so, ummmm, less-beautiful, is beyond me. Anyway, enough editorializing. Toss them in a bucket, cover them with sand or peat moss. And you are all set. Every once in a while give them a little bit of water over the winter. That is probably the trickiest part. Too little water and they dry out, too much and they rot. It isn't like a growing plant. You are not trying to keep them evenly moist. You are merely trying to provide enough moisture to evaporate so that the moisture inside the bulb doesn't. Un-dry is a far better term than moist. Likely it will be a once a month kind of thing.
Assuming you are successful, and the mice didn't think you so overly kind by providing them a yummy source of food for the winter, you will be ready to enjoy your flowers all over again next summer. They will seem even more beautiful to you knowing that you nurtured them through the winter.
Before you even stick a trowel in the ground, the place to start is finding a place where you would store them. They would like to be cool, but not cold. Back when houses had fieldstone-walled cellars, this was easy. Now it's a bit more challenging. Usually, an unheated garage is too cold, easily dropping below freezing, which is a point of no return. On the other hand, modern cellars are typically too warm. If you have a bulkhead, or a colder corner in your cellar, that would be a good place. Whatever place you have that would be the modern-day equivalent to a root cellar, about 40 degrees. Yes, easier said then done! I'm old enough to remember what a root cellar is. Root cellars were where everyone stored their root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.) before refrigeration and supermarkets. Cool, moist, and as a kid a bit creepy; that was a root cellar.
Back to the plants now. It is pretty straight forward. The top of the plant is going to get cut off anyway, so even if it gets a light frost, no serious harm happens. But before it gets cold enough for the ground to have any crust at all, dig the plants up, cut off the tops, shake off the excess soil, and bring them in. Exactly where you cut them, or how much soil you shake off, is not critical. What is critical is that you get them dug, and inside, before the freezing weather comes. Once you have them dug and shaken, you will see that there is a new definition of "ugly"! How something so beautiful comes out of something so, ummmm, less-beautiful, is beyond me. Anyway, enough editorializing. Toss them in a bucket, cover them with sand or peat moss. And you are all set. Every once in a while give them a little bit of water over the winter. That is probably the trickiest part. Too little water and they dry out, too much and they rot. It isn't like a growing plant. You are not trying to keep them evenly moist. You are merely trying to provide enough moisture to evaporate so that the moisture inside the bulb doesn't. Un-dry is a far better term than moist. Likely it will be a once a month kind of thing.
Assuming you are successful, and the mice didn't think you so overly kind by providing them a yummy source of food for the winter, you will be ready to enjoy your flowers all over again next summer. They will seem even more beautiful to you knowing that you nurtured them through the winter.