CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Subtropical flowers like dahlias, cannas and gladiolus add a lot of color and cheer in Northeast Ohio gardens.

But these exotic beauties have tender bulblike structures that cannot survive a hard freeze, so gardeners who prize these flowers are faced with a choice: buy new every year, or dig them up, store them over the winter, and replant them each spring. The decision depends a lot on cost and space.

The effort pays off most when the plants are uncommon or expensive. Named dahlia varieties from mail-order growers often sell for $10 to $20 each—if you can even get them, because they often sell out early. To preserve their large dahlia collection, Cynthia and Mark Druckenbrod, who were profiled last week , spend hours digging and preserving their bulbs every autumn

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