Dahlia Delight: Growing Summer's Most Spectacular Flower
It’s spring time and gardeners everywhere are beginning to plant dahlias into their gardens. I have to admit, it wasn’t until a couple years ago that I decided to actually start to grow dahlias. From what I had read, those of us in zone 7b, would have to dig them up each year and replant in the spring to have beautiful blooms. I was a perennial flower girl. I want to be able to plant them and rely on them to come back year after year.
Then a friend of mine brought some to of her dahlias to work and shared them with me. They were beautiful! Hers were a deep dark red and the bloom was around 4” wide and gorgeous. She told me how much she enjoyed growing them, yet I still wasn’t sold.
Then as summer faded into fall and winter came, I started researching dahlias and decided to try my hand at growing them. There were cut flower farmers in zone 7b, who overwintered their tubers. I was a little apprehensive about doing that, but felt I would give it a try.
My first order was in the spring of 2023. I ordered around 40 tubers. They grew beautifully and I decided to leave them in the ground and heavily mulch them.
Spring 2024 came and I decided to jump in and ordered around 150 tubers. While waiting for these new tubers to arrive, I noticed the ones I overwintered were starting to grow! Wow, that made me so happy! All of the tubers grew wonderfully in 2024!
Now it is the spring of 2025, I have divided my tubers and have over 200 tubers, with around 150 of them already in the ground! I love growing them and will continue to overwinter some and dig some up store over the winter, that way I know for sure if we have a bad winter, I will still have tubers to plant.
There is so much joy in watching dahlias grow! There blooms are simply beautiful and there are so many varieties to choose from. I am so glad that I decided to plant my first dahlia, they have become one of my favorite flowers to grow.
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How Do I Grow My Tubers?
I get a lot of questions concerning how I store my tubers and so I thought I would share with you how I store them and prepare my beds. This is just one of my dahlia beds. It is 3’ x 72’ and is positioned next to my driveway as you enter my property.
I have found that storing tubers within cedar shavings gives me the best results in having healthy tubers in the spring. I place the cedar shavings in plastic containers and store in the basement where it is cool and dry. This year I didn’t loose any tubers to dampness!
All of my dahlias are planted in raised beds with drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is a must due to the amount of flower beds I have. I also mulch them heavily in the fall and if needed touch them up in the spring.
I use metal and plastic posts and start placing them about every 12’ feet, with twine stretched the length of the bed, three rows of twine on each post. As the dahlias grow I will use either round supports made from fencing material of additional posts to help the dahlias stay strong and tall.
I punch part of my dahlias when they get between 6”- 10” tall and I leave the other dahlias to grow as is. Pinching allows for thicker, shorter bushes around 4’ - 5’ but they bloom a little later than the non-pinched. Some of my non-pinched bushes will get 5’-6’ tall.
Even though dahlias have a shorter vase life than other flowers, I still find that their blooms are beautiful and they have a way of creating gorgeous bouquets. I always pair them with other flowers that have a longer vase life, so you are guaranteed to have flowers blooming for at least 5 - 7 days or longer.
There are many varieties of dahlias, with varying height. If you are interested in growing dahlias, go for it! Pick up a couple from a local greenhouse and try your had at it. You might just find, that you will stumble upon another favorite flower to add to your garden!