There's a gopher under it holding on tight.

It just looks thirsty, Paul!

I suspect trouble at the roots too, whether its a gopher [;p] no idea. it does look a little on the dry side. does it have the same depth of soil as the others and soil of the same quality[no stones in it for instance]. perhaps it is just naturally a dwarf!

Has anyone seen the movie Caddyshack?

Thanks Sheila & Seaburngirl. I knew I'd get some sensible answers. I'll be more diligent about the watering. Perhaps I needed to clear away some of the weeds. Big storms are forecasted for the next few days so big watering is on the way. :)

That's good . . . let's hope you get flowers very soon :)

Thanks Sheila. I'd love to see that :)

Just a thought but is it a bedding dahlia or a tuberous one?
I had one that was also lagging when I investigated I found the problem - the tubers had been half eaten.

Interesting. It's a tuberous dahlia. I broke off the tuber from the parent plant and planted it back in April. Hopefully it will soon pick up speed. Should I feed it some fertilizer?

a general feed wont do it any harm. if it only had a small piece of tuber then that would have given it a slow start as there wouldn't be as many food reserves for it.

and yes if it has weeds close to it they will be competing for the water and nutrients too.

hope the storms wont cause too many problems for you.

It does look short on nitrogen, Bathgate.