We’re pretty sure everyone loves dahlias. Their eclectic beauty can stop you in your tracks during a late summer garden stroll. Here at Sweet Earth Co., they’re the focal flower in our late summer bouquets, and definitely the flower we get most questions and comments about.

Not only suitable for flower farming, dahlias are utilized for our landscape clients in cottage gardens and border plantings. Read on for more information on how to grow these beauties yourself!

The Basics

Pronounced: “da-lee-uh” (or the British, “day-lee-uh”)
Zone: 3-7 (annual); 8-11 (perennial)
Bloom Time: Late summer & early fall. They’ll bloom until the first frost!
Needs: Full sun; in well draining soil. Water very little when young, but medium water (and fertilize) thereafter.
Size: 1-5’ tall x 2-3’ wide

What Do They Look Like?

There are endless varieties of dahlias, available in a multitude of styles, sizes and colors. The eight dahlias categories include: anemone, ball or pom pom, cactus and semi-cactus, border, decorative, dinner plate, single, and waterlily.

How We Grow Them

We do not grow dahlias from seeds, rather, we plant their tubers (often inaccurately referred to as bulbs) into heavily composted beds. The tubers have either been harvested from our fields at the end of the season, or shipped to us from dealers, looking like a funky bunch of brown carrots attached at the “collar” of the plant.

Dahlia’s shouldn’t be planted outside until all danger has frost has passed, and the ground has warmed a bit. In order to take cuttings and multiply our stock, some of our dahlias are planted indoors, in pots in March or April. However, the bulk of our tubers are planted directly into our beds by mid-May, placed 4-6” deep, and spaced 12-18” apart.

Dahlia’s grow slowly at first, then explode with blooms, branches, and leaves later in the season, so supporting their stems is very important. While there are many different methods for staking dahlias, it’s universally agreed that stakes should be set into the beds at the time of planting (as not to damage tubers later).

Once planted, do not water the tubers until dahlia sprouts emerge a few inches above ground. If watered too early, the tubers can rot before they even get going!

Dahlias will produce a bushier, more flower-filled plant if the lead stem is “pinched” when the new growth is about 10” tall. This is also the point at which we begin fertilizing them with fish emulsion and seaweed every 3 to 4 weeks.

The first frost ends their flowering season, at which point we cut back all dahlia growth, then dig up the tubers (which have multiplied since planted in the spring!) and carefully store them for the winter. After a successful season, you’ll be left with even more tubers than you started with, and if properly kept, they can go right back in the ground year after year.

How We Use Them

Dinner plate and decorative dahlias are the focal flower in all our bouquets and centerpieces from late summer through the fall. Brides in particular love the beautiful “Cafe Au Lait” dinner plate dahlias, which vary in their creamy beige shades from light tan to pale mauve.

We use our ball and small pom poms as filler flowers. While anemone and cactus dahlias add interest and whimsy to arrangements and bouquets.

Need to see more? Check out our fall flower gallery for more dahlia bounty!