The Last Dahlia of the Season

The dahlias are quite frost sensitive, so I was surprised to see this one last bloom as I was digging up the last of my dahlia tubers in the Cutting Garden.

After the Frost: Time to Start Digging up the Dahlia Tubers

This past weekend, we had our first frost, so I started to dig up the dahlia tubers for winter storage. I finished the tubers on Goldberry Hill and the Front Border (pictured), but still need to get the ones in the Cutting and Rose Gardens. For a full how-to, read my prior post, "How to Store Dahlia Tubers for Winter."

Dahlia in the Cutting Garden

Dahlia 'Arab Queen' on Goldberry Hill

Dahlia 'Gloria Van Heemstede' in the Cutting Garden

Ask Heirloom Gardener: How to Store Dahlia Tubers for Winter

Question from the mailbag (heirloomgardener[at]aol[dot]com): What winter storage "method" do you use for dahlias? I've experimented with several different ways and am still searing for the perfect solution.
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Answer from Heirloom Gardener: I've experimented with several different ways too. One year, I put the tubers in individual brown paper bags, wrote the names of the tubers on each bag, and then stored all of the bags in a large container of peat moss. By the spring, the brown paper bags had deteriorated and I had no idea which dahlias were which!
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Here's what I did last fall which worked pretty well. After the first hard frost, I dug them up (a garden fork works better than a shovel), cleaned them off and dried them indoors on baking sheets in the sun for about two days. You want them to dry out, but you don't want them to shrivel up. Next, I wrote the name of the dahlia on the actual tuber with a Sharpie marker. Then, I stored them in individual plastic containers with peat moss. I wrote the name of the dahlia on the outside of each container too. From there, they were stored in the unfinished part of the basement, which kept them cool, dry and dark until the spring.

Dahlia 'White Fawn' in the Bird Garden

Dahlia 'Prince Noir' in the Rose Garden

Dahlia in the Cutting Garden - I forgot the name of this one...does anyone remember?

Dahlia 'Kaiser Wilhelm' in the Cutting Garden

Dahlia 'Karma Chocoloate' in the Front Border

Dahlia 'Mrs. Rose Fletcher' in the Front Border

You Can Never Have Too Many Dahlias

As a follow-up to my September Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post, here are some additional pictures of those beautiful dahlias.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Dahlias in New Jersey - September 2008

For the September 2008 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I'm sharing with all of you one of my favorite late summer/autumn flowers--dahlias (another favorite are the sunflowers that I recently posted about).

I plant the dahlia tubers in the spring and watch them grow, grow, grow. The tallest grow to be over six feet tall. They are the perfect cutting flower: the more flowers you cut, the more they bloom. I plant them throughout my garden--throughout the mixed borders, in the Rose Garden, in the Cutting Garden, in the Children's Garden, really everywhere. At the end of the season, I dig up the tubers and over-winter them in my basement.

The varieties you see here are from Brent and Becky's Bulbs, Old House Gardens, and Plant Delights. I am particularly fond of the dark-colored ones.

Check out all of the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts at May Dreams Gardens.

Arab Queen.
Arabian Knight.
David Howard.
I forget.
Betty Anne.
Giraffe.
Old Gold.
I forget.
Prince Noir.

Old House Gardens Nursery & Heirloom Dahlias

My garden planning for next year is in full tilt now. I just received the Old House Gardens email newsletter which I had been waiting for to see what web only dahlias, glads, and cannas will be offered. The dahlia 'Giraffe' was first in my shopping cart.

Old House Gardens--"Antique Flower Bulbs for Every Garden - Unique, Endangered, Amazing!"--is a great source for heirloom bulbs: cannas, dahlias, glads, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, lillies, and a few diverse others. Every shipment is carefully checked and packed. Nothing which is sub prime gets out. The bulbs come with detailed instructions on planting, forcing, and winter care.

For the summer, dahlias are my favorite cut flower and are super easy to grow. One dahlia tuber produces loads of blooms which keep getting better and better as the season winds down and other plants are calling it quits. Cut flowers mix well in arrangements and hold well in water. The heirloom dahlias offered at Old House Gardens are not the super sized dahlias that are difficult to mix with other flowers, but come in a range from small pompoms to larger 5-6 inch diameter flowers.

Dahlias can be started inside in pots before the weather warms up for an early start. But, seeing that dahlias grow so quickly, I usually wait until the weather has warmed up and plant them outdoors when I plant my tomatoes. I always topdress the soil and incorporate a little compost into the planting hole when I plant my tubers. After they start growing, begin watering them and watch them grow.

The one thing to be vigilant about, however, is staking. When planting put a tall stake in next to the tuber. Don't think it's too tall because in about six weeks you will otherwise be wishing you had. The hollow stems of dahlias break very easily in a summer storm or strong winds, so be careful to begin tying them in when they are about 18 inches tall.

Once blooming, keep deadheading or cutting for the house. The more you cut, the more they bloom.

In the fall, I will post about storing dahlias for the winter.