Hello Dennis, The Dahlias I had most succes with overwintering perfectly happily in the open ground were: Dahlia merckii and it's white form, D.'Amber' which succombed sadly to voles eating all it's tubers one winter.I had masses of it and it was wonderful! I loved it's simplicity and divided it like any other herbaceous perrenial. The D.sherfii hybrid 'Ragged Robin' seems very tough too. I have no experience with it's sister seedling 'Dark Desire'. All these could easily be bought and then cuttings taken in spring to make quickly lots more for the garden. Other species and "botanical" hybrids are worth experimenting with. D.coccinea palmeri was not hardy at all for me. Your climate will be more severe though than mine ever would be I think. Mark > Message du 10/03/11 19:14 > De : "Dennis Kramb" > A : "Pacific Bulb Society" > Copie à : > Objet : [pbs] Dahlias > > I don't recall much discussion about Dahlias on PBS. Or maybe I just > ignored the discussions because I wasn't growing them at the time. But I'm > in the mood to try them again. They were one of my first garden plants, and > I miss having them. > > Are there any cold hardy varieties on the market? (I'm in Zone 6). Or is > it still necessary to lift them in winter? It was the lifting that turned > me off Dahlias all those years ago. But maybe if I have a small quantity > then I can manage the lifting. > > I see tons of varieties for sale at the big box stores. But I do prefer to > buy from specialty nurseries whenever possible. > > I'm interested to hear what you folks grow..... > > Dennis in Cincy > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >