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Alllll-righty then. Got yerself some dahlias growin’? If you don’t, you gotta.

Dahlias might just be the most perfect flower. All the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” colors and so many styles of flowers: Some look like daisies, some are little pompom balls. And have you ever seen Sparticus from Swan Island Dahlias? It’s a nearly complete maroon ball of pedals, beyond the size of a dinner plate. (It actually looks a lot like a hat I saw my mother wearing in a photo from the 1940s.)

OK, I’ll admit that most of the dahlias are a little over the top. But why not? A dahlia or two, or six, keep the garden exciting. Just when I think it’s over, they poke their bright heads up. (That is, if the slugs don’t get to the tender morsels first.)

I’ve always loved growing dahlias, but I now realize that I could make it easier on myself. So this year I’ve learned some new tips that I’m excited to pass on, tricks that could make dahlia gardening a no-brainer.

Let’s start with the pests. Slugs. Tip No. 1: “Survival.” This year I tried something new. Slug bait called Sluggo. Little pellets of iron phosphate that are safe around dogs and cats. Your offering is the last supper for slugs and snails. Their tummies full of iron phosphate, the slimy monsters stop feeding, wander off like drunken sailors and die in three to six days. Sounds brutal. So, in defense of slugs … no wait, there is no defending slugs. What am I thinking? They have plenty of reinforcements ready and willing to step up to the plate.

So now that we’ve conquered the slugs, the dahlias are surviving. Instantly there are new shoots, and you’ll notice the plant grows so fast you can’t keep up with it. At this point, I usually realize that the sticks I’ve used as stakes are inadequate. So here’s where tip No. 2 comes in handy: “Look, Ma, no hands.”

Nicholas Gitts of Swan Island Dahlias taught me this: When the plants get about knee high, around 24 inches tall, cut 6 inches off the top. Come on, you can do it. Clip, clip, clip, straight across. I know, I know, it hurts just thinking about it. But here’s what happens. Although you sacrifice the first blooms, the plants are bushier and produce more flowers on stronger stems that don’t require support.

The Gitts family has 40 acres of dahlias growing outside Canby. The first thing you’ll notice as you wander around their fields is that not one plant is staked. You’ll know this “hack and whack” tactic works when you see it done on such large a scale. Besides, they’ve been growing dahlias for eons.

Time for tip No. 3: “Make them last.” You can add days to the freshness of the cut flowers with this trick. Place the stems in water heated to just below the boiling point. Too hot and the stems turn to mush; just right — 170 degrees works best — and it works better than any flower food. Leave the stems submerged until the water cools (you’ll see them turn slightly off-color, from bright green to light brown), then arrange in a vase.

Finally, tip No. 4: “To dig or not to dig, that is the question.” Here’s the good news. You don’t need to. Dig, that is. More dahlia tubers die from too much moisture than from frost. Unless you are going to cut up your tubers to increase your cache, they do fine left alone in our climate. Just cut off the stems when frost withers the leaves and give a blanket of mulch for the winter.

Does that take a load off or what? So, get yerself some dahlias, will ya?