Obscene Tubers and Echeveria Update

Mothers, don't let your daughters grow dahlias. Or at least, only let them see the flowers. I'm growing dahlias from tubers for the first time this year, having purchased 10 tubers in a bag from Costco. This particular tuber made me laugh:

I never realized how large the tubers were. I'm going to need to take over another room to house the group of large pots. I've been told that I should start the tubers now so that they have a chance to bloom before our short season is over. These ones are "Star Surprise", a pink and yellow cactus-flowered dahlia. Since these grow into large plants, I'll probably share a few with friends as well.
This yellow Phalaenopsis (orchid) has been blooming since Christmas time:

The ongoing succulent propagation experiment went well, in my first attempt at rooting cuttings of Echeveria. I just returned the re-potted succulents to my sister-in-law. Two months ago, I cut the tops off all her gangly Echeveria and rooted them as new plants. The aloe simply took a nice vacation under the grow lights in a separate pot. I ended up with another 30 plants left over, having rooted a bunch of individual echveria leaves as well. Unlike the original planting, I did not GLUE the rocks and plants back into the pot. I'm sure the plants appreciate their new freedom.

Meanwhile outdoors, the icy cold has been replaced by some good mud-making weather. I'm hoping to see green shoots of bulbs in a few weeks. The dog will be finding long-lost toys in the snow while icicles disappear as drips onto the snowbanks below.