Have you met my friend, Dahlia?

Have you had the pleasure of meeting my friend, the dahlia? Well, let me tell you she is beautiful and is truly a powerhouse producer of blooms if you choose the right varieties. Dahlias are a summer loving plant with blooms typically starting in late summer and continuing to bloom in our area until the first killing frost-sad but there is an incredible amount of time that they will produce if you keep them harvested and dead headed and hydrated.

I love so many flowers and dahlias are definately on that list. Years ago I bought a dahlia at a Big Box Store and killed it within a week or two. I was sad. I thought I was destined to never be able to grow them. Lots of learning later taught me they love sun and water in that order. Yes, you may be able to grow some of them in shade or partial shade but they produce best and produce the most when in full sun-seriously don't try shade or mostly shade because it may just kill your plant. Yes you may find a nursery or plant place that suggest shade but I'm serious please don't because they need at least 6 hours of sun.

As far as watering goes, they love a deep watering at least once or twice a week depending on the heat outside. And when I say deep I mean more than just a 10 second dribble with the hose or watering can. When the tubers are planted they should be planted 4-6 inches in the ground so you can imagine it takes a decent amount of water to make it to that tuber(the bulb-like structure the plant grows from). If you get lots of pouring rain then you can skip a watering and be just fine. Something to note as well is that these ladies prefer well draining soil so if you plant them in soil that keeps standing water you run the risk of the tuber rotting which equals bye-bye dahlia.

I know all this makes dahlias sound like they are little plant divas (actually one of my favorite varieties is called Diva) but they are actually pretty easy to care for when you get all their likes lined up. I plant my dahlias in mid April (about the time of the last frost). I don't worry about any frost because it usually takes 2-4 weeks for their first sprout to shoot up out of the ground. Don't water them unless the ground is exceptionally dry. A little water won't hurt them unless the ground is already saturated and because the temps still stay a little low in April the ground is usually already moist-so know how much moisture is in your soil by digging down or putting a finger an inch down in your soil to get an idea if it needs water. After the plant gets about 8-12 inches I pinch it back to about the 3rd leaf node (the point where leaves come out of the plant) from the ground and then just let it grow. This keeps the stalk from becoming super huge and also encourages your plant to send out more stalks and that means more flowers for you. It's important that you stake your dahlia-just like you would a tomato plant because these girls can get heavy and a storm or strong wind will knock it down and you will be crying on the inside (and maybe the outside too if your girl was almost ready to bloom ).

It's hard to imagine but these beauties will bloom for 2 -3 months easily so with proper care you can get a lot from your dahlia. You can even keep it for the next year. Pull it up after the first killing frost in October, store it properly, and pull it out in the spring. There are videos all over youtube and the internet about properly storing and diving dahlias that you may find useful. My favorite resource to use is floretflower.com. If this doesn't satisfy what you are looking for just do a google search and it will populate tons of other videos and pages to research.

So.....if you haven't ever met my friend dahlia, I think it's high time you did. We planted over 500 tubers in our field this year and I am estatic to see them bloom. We are also planning to host our first ever upick event in our field and hope our dahlia girls will be center stage. We are even planning to host a few "Designing with Dahlias" Workshops. It's going to be a ton of fun and excitement if everything lines up like I hope. We shall see! If you have any questions about dahlias feel free to message us and we will be glad to help recommend a resource or share what we know. Happy gardning flower friends!!!