Gardening: transplanting a dahlia from a pot to the ground

Self-tutoring about gardening: the tutor mentions transplanting a dahlia.

The following is according to my understanding.

My wife was given a dahlia for a recent occasion. Even a casual observer would agree it was very pretty. Moreover, it was already quite vigorous. Reaching perhaps 8 inches above the pot, it had one large bloom, with others in the works. It lived on the counter for a couple of days, then on the patio table for another couple of days. It needed water at least once per day.

My wife pointed out that she wanted it planted in the yard somewhere. Who could argue? Its bloom was a beautiful light purple. Moreover, the plant was too lively to tolerate being in that little pot for long. Yet, it posed, for me, the question of how, and where, to transplant it.

I learned that dahlias like full sun and soil that drains easily, then found such a place beside the black-eyed susans (see yesterday’s post for ongoing commentary about them.)

With the hand spade I dug a hole about as deep as the pot but wider, so I could easily install the plant there, then fill in around it as needed.

The soil in the pot was relatively dry when I got to it, and it lifted easily, all in one ball, from the pot. If it hadn’t, I would have cut the pot somehow, at least at the bottom, so the roots could easily grow out from it.

After filling in around the dahlia’s soil to make it flush with the surrounding ground, I watered the soil beside it.

Two days later, the dahlia’s first bloom was dying off, so needed to be dead-headed. However, four new blooms were by then presenting. The dahlia seems quite happy at her new location.

Source:

rootedflowers.com: “Transplanting Dahlias from Pots”