I rarely plant annuals, and I’ve always passed on flowers that have to be dug up and replanted. I’ve already made room for the near-impossible here in our greenhouse, so the garden is for naturalizing, for non-aggressive natives, for some semi-aggressive natives (sorry master gardeners) where I want to eliminate grass and yes, even ‘ditch lilies.’

But let me tell you. A two foot by eight inch patch just for dahlias - even knowing we’ll need to dig them up and store them - is worth it.