MissyWeitzel I have a few roses that are pretty easy care, but those ones never tend to be the best for cutting. I’ve been tempted a few times to start collecting roses, but in addition to the care regimen, they also have the disadvantage of not blooming as much as dahlias, and not having quite the level of collectible variety that dahlias so graciously provide. I mean, dahlias are really the most perfect collectible plant ever for so many reasons - endless variety, they take up a pretty small footprint, you can line them up and rearrange and resort them year after year, they increase and are then tradable! I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that!
Teddahlia what you point out about the pest management and grooming regimen of roses vs dahlias is interesting. I’ve often described the process of dahlia growing to non-dahlia growers who inevitably respond with “Wow - that’s way too much work.” And rightly so - it is a lot of work. Probably, when you consider all the record keeping, digging, dividing, storing, and planting (in addition to minor grooming and whatever fertilizer/pest control regimen one uses), dahlias are actually waaaay more work than roses. For some reason, I don’t mind the dahlia work though, while I definitely mind the rose work. I think of all garden tasks, chemical spraying is my least favorite (and I try to avoid it at all cost). But I think my mind categorizes the digging/dividing/storing of tubers as “harvest” and therefore the fun part of gardening, even though it’s a huge amount of work. But I also love sorting and categorizing things, so it’s right up my alley.
